Trump Gets Mixed Results From Presidential Announcement At Mar-A-Lago

Ryan SaavedraNovember 16, 2022

Former President Donald Trump received mixed reactions from the political Right to his announcement Tuesday night that he was launching a third presidential campaign.

Trump made the announcement in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago estate in front of a crowd of supporters after he filed the federal paperwork required to run for president. His announcement came despite calls from top former aides, including Kayleigh McEnany and Jason Miller, to postpone his election announcement until after the U.S. Senate runoff election in Georgia.

“My fellow citizens, America’s comeback starts right now,” Trump declared to a cheering crowd. “In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.”

The reaction from Democrats, Left-wing activists, and the mainstream media was predictable: pandemonium, outrage, and panic.

However, this report focuses solely on the reaction from conservatives, which was fairly split between two main camps: Die-hard Trump supporters who are ready for more and a growing number of people who are ready for change.

One of the surprising chief complaints of Trump’s speech was that he seemed to have lower energy than he has in the past.

When Trump announced his first campaign for president in 2015, he had just turned 69 years old, and he immediately directed his attacks at the front runner at that point, Jeb Bush, who he labeled “low energy.” Trump, now 76 years old, would be going on 78 years old by the time he would be inaugurated if he were to win the 2024 presidential election.

Watch DeSantis election night speech and compare it to this lame effort. Wow.

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 16, 2022

A senior Republican official texts their response to Trump’s 2024 announcement: pic.twitter.com/gNgp6shj9p

— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) November 16, 2022

I remember Trump’s campaign for 2016 like yesterday. He looks exhausted in comparison.

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) November 16, 2022

2024 Trump, aged 78, wouldn’t have beaten Jeb in 2004. You win by matching the man with the moment. Jeb ran long after his moment passed – as Trump is doing now, insisting that it’s still 2016. https://t.co/q2GjsVOEui

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) November 16, 2022

I’ve seen Trump more fired up at random ceremonial events while covering him at the White House than he appears tonight https://t.co/NETPwwxpJ3

— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) November 16, 2022

Low energy

— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) November 16, 2022

He sounds…old

— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) November 16, 2022

This is one of the most low-energy, uninspiring speeches I’ve ever heard from Trump. Even the crowd seems bored. Not exactly what you want when announcing a presidential run.

— Sarah Matthews (@SarahAMatthews1) November 16, 2022

Trump Season 2 just doesn’t have the freshness and spontaneity of the original. Unless the writers have some new ideas to keep this interesting, it’s going to be more like a lame remake rather than a worthy sequel

— Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) November 16, 2022

Others criticized things that Trump said, things that Trump left out of his speech, or just indicated their desire to move on:

Trump midterms: “232 wins and 22 losses.”

The losses included Senate races in PA, AZ, NV, and NH. And governors in AZ, PA, and MI.

Wins included dog catcher in Pahrump, AZ.

Not the same thing. And people know it.

— Mick Mulvaney (@MickMulvaney) November 16, 2022

Would take the “swift execution for drug dealers” Trump pitch more seriously if the First Step Act weren’t 1 of his admin’s 2 legislative wins & he hadn’t resisted calls to get the Guard out to stop the country from being lit on fire in Summer 2020. And yes I said so at the time.

— Inez Stepman ⚪️🔴⚪️ (@InezFeltscher) November 16, 2022

So over the last two years Trump has demanded Republicans humiliate themselves by endorsing his stolen-election nonsense and in his announcement tonight he didn’t even mention it

— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) November 16, 2022

In order to win, Trump needs to bring some fresh new ideas to the table. Really sell it to people weary of him.

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) November 16, 2022

There are NeverTrumpers, ForeverTrumpers, and OverTrumpers.

I’m in the third category.

— BowTiedRanger (@BowTiedRanger) November 16, 2022

Others liked some of the things that he said during his speech:

Donald Trump says he will abolish every Joe Biden covid mandate and re-hire all military who were fired for refusing the covid shot, provide full back pay, and apologize for their firing. Love this.

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 16, 2022

Doesn’t mean we need a redo. But this myth that Trump withdrew from the world stage or refused to engage or whatever just isn’t true. He constantly threatened the use of force. And he used it.

— Rebeccah Heinrichs (@RLHeinrichs) November 16, 2022

Death penalty for drug dealers is one of the best suggestions Trump has ever had

— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) November 16, 2022

Thought it was a good speech. Way too long and boring but it was a smart message for 2024: “Life was better under me