As President Donald Trump descended the stairs from Air Force One on Saturday evening, with a patriotic country song playing and thousands cheering, the 2020 election season officially began.
For 45 minutes, Trump existed in a world where there were no falling approval ratings, no calls for investigations, no criticisms from fellow Republicans, no leaks, no snarky "Saturday Night Live" impersonations, no legal challenges to his authority, no critiques of his Twitter grammar and definitely no questions shouted by reporters. For 45 minutes, everyone had to just listen to him.
"I'm here because I want to be among my friends and among the people," Trump said, as the crowd cheered. "This was a great movement. A movement like has never been seen before in our country, or probably anywhere else. This was a truly great movement. And I want to be here with you. And I will always be with you. I promise you that."
To speak to his followers "without the filter of the fake news," to detail his "incredible progress in making America great again" and to share his plans for the future.