Trump running his 'laziest' campaign ever: analysis
A new analysis shows that former President Donald Trump is not working nearly as hard on the campaign trail as he did back in 2016 and 2020.
As documented by Washington Monthly's Bill Scher, the 78-year-old former president has held significantly fewer campaign events this year compared to what he had done by this time in the 2016 and 2020 campaign cycles.
What is particularly remarkable, writes Scher, is that Trump hasn't significantly picked up the pace after Labor Day, which is traditionally when campaigns kick into overdrive for the final sprint to election day.
"In that span, Trump has held four rallies, two town-hall-style events (one aired on Fox News’s Hannity), one speech at the Economic Club of New York, and one via satellite to the Republican Jewish Coalition," writes Scher. "One of the rallies was on Wednesday in New York, a not remotely competitive state. It was initially scheduled to coincide with Trump’s sentencing for his fraud convictions, but it was kept on the calendar after the sentencing was delayed."
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By this time in 2016, in contrast, Trump after Labor Day had already done 11 rallies, delivered seven speeches, did a town-hall-style event, and a small business roundtable.
Trump wasn't quite as active in 2020 after Labor Day, but there was a good reason for that: The deadly COVID-19 pandemic made large-scale indoor campaign rallies a health hazard.
Nonetheless, Trump still managed to do 11 rallies by this time in 2020.
"If we count the days in which Trump held events, as opposed to the total number of events, Trump was on the trail seven out of 18 days since Labor Day versus 11 days in 2020 and 12 in 2016," Scher explains.