The Patriot Post® · 'Yuge' Florida Crowd Celebrates Trump's 2020 Launch

President Donald Trump officially announced his “Keep America Great” reelection bid to a packed house in Orlando, Florida, yesterday. Trump strolled to the podium amid the deafening chants of “USA” from the filled-to-capacity 20,000-seat Amway Center arena. He thanked the crowd for coming and quipped that if two or three seats had been empty, “The fake news will say, ‘Headlines: he didn’t fill up the arena.’” Trump thrives in such an environment, touting his administration’s accomplishments while blasting his opponents to adoring fans.

“We stared down the unholy alliance of lobbyists and donors and special interests who made a living bleeding our country dry,” Trump asserted, once again embracing the image of the anti-establishment Washington outsider. Setting aside his expansion of the ethanol boondoggle, he’s right. He added, “The swamp is fighting back so viciously and violently. For the last two and a half years, we have been under siege.”

Trump heaped criticism on the Democrats, charging that the creation of Robert Mueller’s investigation was their seeking a “do-over” of the 2016 election. He highlighted the extreme Left’s takeover of the Democrat Party, noting, “There’s so many great things we could do right now in a bipartisan way. But they’ve been afflicted with an ideology sickness that protects foreign borders but refuses to protect our borders; that promotes jobs overseas but allows our factories to close; that promotes democracy abroad but shreds our Constitution at home; that declares support for free speech and free thought but relentlessly suppresses them both; and that constantly savages the heroes of American law enforcement. We don’t want that.”

However, his most critical statements against the Democrats were reserved for the border crisis. “On no issue are Democrats more extreme and more depraved than when it comes to border security,” he correctly argued. “The Democrat agenda of open borders is morally reprehensible. It’s the greatest betrayal of the American middle class — and frankly American life — our country has as a whole.”

He then called out the Democrats running for president: “In the ultimate act of moral cowardice, not one Democrat candidate for president — not a single one — has stood up to defend the incredible men and women of ICE and Border Patrol. The job they do is incredible.” Clearly, Trump still sees illegal immigration as a primary election issue.

Trump also warned, “A vote for any Democrat in 2020 is a vote for the rise of radical socialism and the destruction of the American Dream.” He then urged, “Vote, vote, vote. This time, we’re going to finish the job.”

All told, it was a successful opening rally for Trump. The huge crowd will gin up excitement within his base in Florida, a major swing state he will need to hold onto. On a final note, Trump’s campaign raked in $25 million in donations yesterday alone.