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This president’s fragile ego is of primary concern to his advisers. The New Republic’s Walter Shapiro points out “the desperate absurdity” of launching his reelection campaign by “sending the president to a state that has been safely in Republican hands since 1964.”
As Shapiro explains: “It’s not just that they’re sending him on useless trips to Oklahoma so that he can bask in the adulation of his faithful. The campaign is also advertising heavily on Washington cable television, so that Trump can revel in the commercials even though there are no swing states within the D.C. media market.”
Mainstream media will dutifully cover Trump’s hate-filled campaign rallies. The New Republic’s coverage of Trump’s reelection campaign is honest and fearless. So if you’re looking for the real story, we have a special offer:
“A major goal of the Trump reelection effort has become shielding the president from the truth about how widely he is reviled. The contortions necessary to appease Trump would qualify campaign staffers for starring roles in Cirque du Soleil,” writes Shapiro. “In 80 years of presidential polls … no candidate had ever threatened a lawsuit because of poor survey numbers. But after a CNN poll gave Biden a 14-point national lead, the Trump campaign (zealously safeguarding the president’s ego) sent CNN a legal letter so absurd that it was worthy of the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.”
Covering his eleventh presidential campaign, Walter Shapiro sums it up this way: “Other incumbent presidents have run feel-good reelection campaigns, most notably Ronald Reagan with his 1984 ‘Morning in America’ TV ad that resembled a McDonald’s commercial. But Trump is running the first campaign in history designed solely to make the candidate feel good.”
Please consider joining Walter Shapiro and the best investigative reporters, opinion writers, and cultural critics in America this election season. Subscribe to The New Republic today.
