Trump kicks off his 2020 campaign

Editor's note:Tom Fowdy, who graduated from Oxford University's China Studies Program and majored in politics at Durham University, writes about international relations focusing on China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The article reflects the author's views, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

On Thursday evening U.S. President Donald Trump made his most significant step toward commencing his 2020 campaign yet by holding a rally in Michigan, a key swing state which played a key role in his 2016 victory.

The event, described as the first hosted since the conclusion of the Mueller report's findings the previous week, was utilized by Trump to set out his own narrative of "no collusion" in the aftermath of it all. Branding the probe as the "Russia Hoax", he proceeded to launch a series of attacks on his Democrat critics for advocating it, branding them "major losers" and vowed to hold them "accountable" for the saga.

How can the rally be understood and what is coming next? Feeling politically empowered from the report's ambiguous findings, Trump is now seizing control of the narrative and setting the stage for a political offensive which will now proceed onward to the election itself.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S., March 28, 2019. /VCG Photo

Knowing well that his critics invested heavily in the Mueller saga, we can expect Trump to utilize this in an attempt to mobilize his base, weaponizing populist, distrust and anti-establishment anger as he has always done. This will be "the final phase"of his term- whereby he will also move hastily to claim victory in a number of policy areas. Despite everything, his critics are lacking a coherent strategy to defeat him.

Michigan is a place which is core to understanding Trumpism. Once a thriving hub of industry and automobile manufacturing, the state has suffered an immense economic decline from the latter half of the 20th century since a globalized economic system has taken its toll.

Jobs have vacated, the city of Detroit is immortalized in scenes of dereliction and abandonment. The negative atmosphere of such an ill-fortuned area translates into deep abiding political distrust, a feeling of being left behind by elite disinterested and disconnected from the woes of working-class life.

It is no wonder that in 2016, as Trump pledged to restore American jobs, manufacturing and whip up anger against Washington, that Michigan flipped red for the first time since 1988 by a small margin.

On that note, Trump's return to the state for his first rally since the end of the Mueller probe is not a coincidence. It is quite clear, a statement of intent for what lies ahead. With 2020 on the horizon, Trump is already aiming to get his "base" supporters into gear, and how is he aiming to politically mobilize them? Mueller!

Although any observer would note that the report's conclusions were in fact largely inconclusive, Trump has nevertheless seized hard on the fact that there was no evidence of direct collusion.

Given it was so heavily politicized by his opponents; it has proved to be a godsend for his ambitions. Why? Because the probe fits perfectly with the angry, conspiracy themed and anti-establishment message for which he places into his discourse, connecting readily with his most loyal supporters.

Thus, Trump is aiming to do what he always does, attempting to set and control the political narrative. He is very good at this. Through a mixture of outrageous comments, name-calling and endless tweeting, he has often been able to dominate coverage and frame his opponents so easily- "Crooked Hillary" being a big example.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S., March 28, 2019. /VCG Photo

In this scenario, he aims to set from Mueller into wider themes of national betrayal, distrust and seemingly even treason against America itself, all which will aim to generate a tidal wave of nationalist anger.

This reflected in his sharp use of language demanding those advocating Russia be "held accountable". Observers noted the pro-Trump chanted "lock them up", the same as what was done with Clinton three years ago. Over the course of the next year, we should anticipate to hear this again, again and again.

As Trump seeks to orchestrate and unleash nationalistic sentiment to his own gain, we should also anticipate him to double down on getting policy victories in other areas too, especially the economy.

With U.S. growth looking shaky owing to the events of the trade war, uncertainty across the Atlantic with Brexit and a slowdown across the board, it will be core to his political priorities to pen a trade deal with Beijing to rectify to this very set of supporters that jobs, prosperity and manufacturing is being brought back to America. Whilst as the above shows, words are very important, but Trump also needs results to complete his package to voters.

In summary, things are now slowly starting to heat up. With a whole range of Democrat contenders eager to take him on, it is crucial that Trump himself, likely to be the default Republican nominee, gets ahead and gets out his message first.

Having been dogged for two years by allegations of collusion with Russia, he is now seizing the opportunity and turning what was his biggest pitfall into his biggest asset. Once again, he aims to assemble a coalition of angry, disaffected and nationalistic working-class voters and unleash them against the "Washington elite".

(CGTN)