Trump campaign: Four years ago he slid down an escalator and changed America forever – but it’ll take a lot more to win in 2020
The IndependentThe latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Four years have somehow slipped past since Donald Trump, failed businessman and wildly successful reality television star, slid down those shimmering escalators in New York to declare that he was running for the White House. At the time we had little idea how Trump, wearing a white shirt and bright red tie, and with both thumbs aloft, would change America’s presidential politics. Wounded by the two-year investigation into alleged collusion with Russia by Robert Mueller, abandoned – if the results of the 2018 midterms were an indicator – by many of the women voters who voted for him in 2016, and with polls showing him down in key states such as Pennsylvania, some Trump haters are already rubbing their hands in the belief he will be a one-term president. They also point to Biden’s clear ability to get under Trump’s skin, and his responding by coming up with a new nickname – “One per cent Joe” – for the man the president’s advisers fear could represent the biggest threat in appealing to the white, blue-collar voters who helped him in 2016.