Lunatic on stage

"The 2020 presidential election, that election, the 2020 presidential election, was by far the most corrupt election in the history of our country," Trump baselessly claimed in a speech before the North Carolina Republican Party, continuing his false grievance about an election he lost.

He said Democrats "used COVID" and "used mail-in ballots to steal an election." He called it a "third-world election, like we've never seen before." He derided it as the "crime of the century" and claimed that the "country is being destroyed, perhaps by people who have no right to destroy it."

  NPR

Begging the question: who HAS a right to destroy it? I guess himself?

"I'm not the one trying to undermine democracy," Trump said, "I am the one who's trying to save it, please remember that."

That received his biggest applause of the night.

Lunatic audience, too.

"As we gather tonight, our country is being destroyed before our very own eyes," [...] "Crime is exploding. Police departments are being ripped apart and defunded. Can you believe that?"

Frankly, no.

Trump warned of "vicious" and "violent" people who "hate our country" and that "drugs" are "pouring in." If that sounds familiar, it's because it hits many of the touchstones of Trump's culture-war, grievance-based politics — the kind that he used dating back to first campaign announcement off in 2015.

[...]

"We're going to take back our country, and we're going to take it back at a level that is very, very good for our country," Trump said, "and it's good for our citizens, because we can't allow bad things to happen to our country."

He added that "bad things are happening, perhaps like never before."

[...]

This speech kicks off what's likely to be a spree of summer campaigning. It was Trump's first public address since his speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February.

[...]

Before his speech, Trump boasted that the room would be "packed, all records broken."

Trump himself is the broken record. Repeat detail-less bullshit about "them" being "bad" and him being the solution.

"I am looking at it very seriously," Trump told ally and conservative media personality Sean Hannity in April about whether he will run again. "Beyond seriously. From a legal standpoint, I don't want to really talk about it yet. It's a little too soon."

From a legal standpoint? The only "legal standpoint" that could be a problem in talking about it is that he's under scrutiny in several lawsuits. And that's not actually a legal standpoint. He's not legally barred from talking about it in any way.

It's a good bet Trump will likely tease out his final decision until the very last minute, effectively putting the other candidates in a deep freeze.

And raking in donation dollars to put in his pocket.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.