Trump says only one person in history acted more presidential: 'Abe Lincoln with the big hat'
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President Trump went to Tampa on Tuesday to hold a rally for "two unbelievable people" running for office in Florida, but he spent a fair amount of time musing on the presidents that came before him.
Trump said he likes to "be a little wild, have a little fun" during rallies, and it's "a lot easier to act presidential than do what I do. Anybody can act presidential." To demonstrate this, he began speaking in a monotone voice, telling the crowd "you are tremendous people and I will leave now because I am boring you to death, thank you," before lurching away.
Trump then turned his attention to Abraham Lincoln, announcing that he's long said he "can be more presidential than any president in history, except for maybe Abe Lincoln with the big hat. Abe looked pretty presidential, right. What do you think? He's tough. He's tough. I admit it, Abe Lincoln is tough. But we love Abe Lincoln."
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The rally lasted only an hour, but Trump packed a lot in, talking about tariffs, polls, and the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. He said he believes that shoppers show their ID cards "to buy groceries," so they should have to do the same thing to vote, and proclaimed that people are saying "Merry Christmas" — presumably when it's not July — "only because of our campaign." Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
