Trump gave an overly long, mostly subdued announcement speech. It won’t make much of a difference because larger forces are at play, but it was a mistake to tease his announcement prior to the election, a mistake to go through with it tonight, and a mistake to do it in an uninspiring venue in front of an uninspired crowd.
Most of the speech was a compare-and-contrast between his record and Biden’s, which is probably Trump’s best message. He notably avoided talking about the 2020 election, a reflection of how badly election denialism fared on Election Day. His allies praised the speech, saying that if he keeps up like this, he’ll be unbeatable, clearly an attempt to keep him off the election denialism going forward.
Overall, it had a familiar and tired feel. The ending was an extended riff on “Make America Great Again,” because he hasn’t been able to come up with a fresh slogan. When he descended the escalator, Trump represented the shock of the new. Now, he’s the same old guy with the same old riffs, trying to hold on one last time. He might succeed, but it’s not going to be because he’s new and interesting.