President Donald Trump closed out his 2020 re-election campaign in much the same way he’s conducted his presidency: off-script, paranoid, repetitive, and catering to the slice of America that loves him unconditionally.
Amid a flurry of campaign rallies and desperate tweetstorms, Trump’s closing pitch to the voters who braved a pandemic and near-freezing temperatures over the past week was a mishmash of petty grievances with political rivals and celebrities, dated pop-culture references, attempts to relive the glory days of his 2016 campaign, disdain for public health guidelines, rambling comments about his appearance, obscure right-wing pet issues, and culture-war staples inscrutable to anyone but the most loyal Fox News viewers.
With the polls showing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in a nearly double-digit national lead and Trump once again needing to pull off an inside straight to eke out a slim Electoral College victory, the president has struggled to put together a comprehensive final message to convince Americans he deserves four more years in the White House.