‘Diminished’ Trump Will Attack Dr. Fauci, Slam President Biden Over China, Reparations in NC Speech
(Al Drago, Getty Images)
Ex-president Donald Trump will be speaking in North Carolina on Saturday evening at the state GOP convention, and is expected to talk a lot about the last election (and maybe the one before it) as he spins up a new post-defeat rally schedule.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that though Trump’s “next act” begins with diminished operational capacity and staff, his near-total grip on the Republican Party remains, giving him power to turn bitter grievances or delusion into consequential actions.
Even without his favored megaphones and the trappings of office, Mr. Trump looms over the political landscape, animated by the lie that he won the 2020 election and his own fury over his defeat. And unlike others with a grievance, he has been able to impose his anger and preferred version of reality on a substantial slice of the American electorate — with the potential to influence the nation’s politics and weaken faith in its elections for years to come.
In North Carolina, Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni write, “it remains to be seen” what exactly he’ll say about the election, though certainly anyone who pays attention to the news will have some idea. But he also plans a few other attacks, including toward NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, whom he recently called a “radical masker.”
Mr. Trump was eager to take back the microphone on Saturday night in Greenville, where aides said he planned to attack Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, as well as the Biden administration.
Presumably this will cover a few of his own grievances as well as those of his base, following the release of thousands of Dr. Fauci’s emails in the last week. Fauci’s quick defense that none of his emails “never in the emails said anything derogatory about President Trump” won’t likely spare him any red meat wrath.
Obviously a lot of the non-“stolen election” content will focus on Biden’s term in office so far. According to Haberman and Karni, at least part of that will relate to the topic of reparations.
“Joe Biden wants American taxpayers to pay reparations,” Mr. Trump was expected to say, according to an aide involved in drafting the speech. “I want the Chinese to pay American taxpayers reparations.”
Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian quoted in the article, had quite a quip to quantify Trump’s Take Two.
“[Trump] sees himself as leading the revolution,” Brinkley said. “And he’s doing it from the back of a golf cart.”
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