Trump Shocks the World—by Nearly Putting Us to Sleep

For all those tuning into Donald Trump’s announcement of his presidential candidacy Tuesday night expecting to see a rip-roaring, fired-up Trump tearing into Joe Biden, trashing the fake news, and just generally riling up the crowd, you were disappointed. Trump was unusually calm, almost somber even, and spoke mostly in a slightly-hoarse monotone. While he certainly delivered some of his red meat lines, he rarely went into his trademark ranting mode and stayed away from hot topics like the 2020 election, Crooked Hillary, and January 6. The words “Russia collusion” never came out of his mouth.

Even the actual major announcement was delivered with a surprising lack of excitement, at least by Trump’s standards:
 

THERE IT IS!

TRUMP: "In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States!" pic.twitter.com/BaULct2DcP

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) November 16, 2022

Remember, that was the Big Moment of the night. Yet, it didn’t feel that big.

One can assume he’s doing it to appear more “leaderly,” more of a statesman, more presidential. Will it work? For me, frankly I thought it was a snoozefest. Friends who were all excited to watch texted me halfway through saying they’d left it on in the background to do laundry. Fox News, who I reported Tuesday is no longer a reliable friend of the 45th president, didn’t even stick around till the end:
 

Fox News cuts away from Trump 2024 presidential announcement speech https://t.co/d3cMEyFWsp pic.twitter.com/PTKSaa5eKl

— The Hill (@thehill) November 16, 2022

At one point when the crowd started to chant, “drain the swamp, drain the swamp!” Trump just smiled, didn’t encourage them, and quickly went back to his speechifying.

If you’ve ever watched or been to a Trump rally, you know that those are an entirely different affair. There are rowdy fans with their trademark red MAGA hats, music, famous guests, and most of all, Trump’s surprisingly brilliant sense of humor. His rallies feel like festivals as much as they do political events.

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