President Donald Trump now has an impressive new campaign surrogate: his wife.
The normally reticent Melania Trump will headline two fundraisers for Trump in March, Politico reported. The first lady has generally tried to stay above the fray, but she appears ready to play a more public role, as her husband’s re-election campaign kicks into gear.
Melania to headline campaign events
Mrs. Trump will lead a Beverly Hills fundraiser on March 18 and another event at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida on March 25. These scheduled appearances mark her first significant involvement in the president’s campaign efforts since the 2018 midterms when she made a scorching statement attacking Democrats and the media.
“Democrats and the opposition media are doing everything they possibly can to discredit Donald with false accusations by spreading their fake news and making it appear that he does not have the support of America’s voter,” she wrote at the time.
The president has enjoyed the support of a number of outspoken campaign surrogates, including Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was recently named chair of Trump Victory, a joint committee of the president’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee and 11 state-level GOP committees. The March fundraisers featuring Mrs. Trump will benefit Trump Victory.
Fundraising dominance
Trump’s 2020 campaign has dwarfed Democratic fundraising efforts of late, raising $46 million in the final quarter of 2019 alone. Meanwhile, Trump has been involved in an escalating war of words with fellow New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who is funding his own campaign.
Bloomberg, whom Trump has dubbed “Mini Mike,” is running a campaign parallel to the crowded field of candidates and is waiting for Joe Biden to collapse before he makes his play in March, starting on Super Tuesday. The former New York mayor has poured millions into advertisements attacking Trump, and his campaign has indicated that he plans to double his ad spending after the Iowa caucuses that took place on Monday.
Trump juggernaut?
The first lady played a prominent role in President Trump’s State of the Union Address Tuesday night, where she awarded conservative radio legend Rush Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her husband’s speech focused on the theme of a “great American comeback” and ended with a promise that “the best is yet to come” for the country.
The heroic speech underscored an unbelievable recent streak of luck for the president, whose address came just hours before his long-anticipated acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is in disarray after an embarrassing meltdown at the Iowa caucuses on Monday evening that left voters and candidates alike without a clear outcome in the first nominating contest of the primary season.
Trump’s speech to the nation was extremely well-received, registering 82% approval with Independents according to CBS. In another indication of Trump’s good fortune, a recent Gallup poll found that he is heading into the start of his re-election campaign with 49% overall approval — his highest rating to date.
The Democrats have vowed to pursue their endless investigations of Trump, as their party struggles to identify a candidate capable of taking on the president in November. But at this rate, and with Melania there to support him, Trump is looking pretty unstoppable.
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