Trump gave a speech at Gettysburg in 2016. It sounds a lot like his present-day Twitter feed.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 10 August 2020

Zero score and four years ago, President Trump was complaining about the exact same things he's griping about now.

Trump announced Monday he's considering the battlefield at Gettysburg and the White House as possible locations for his presidential nomination acceptance speech, and while the president regularly makes speeches at the latter, he's not a complete stranger to the former. Just weeks before he was elected in 2016, Trump gave his first Gettysburg address.

In the 2016 speech, Trump complained of a "totally rigged and broken" political system, insulted his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and warned of supposed voter fraud that could derail the election. Trump has also aired these exact same grievances on his Twitter account in the last 14 days.

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In the lead-up to the 2020 election, Trump has taken a forceful stance against mail-in voting (except in Florida), baselessly arguing it will lead to mass voter fraud and threatening legal action to prevent the practice. The president has touted the incorrect claim that absentee ballots and mail-in ballots are different, and has completely ignored that he himself is a mail-in voter.

As recently as July, Trump took shots at Clinton on Twitter, drawing attention to her relationship with Russia and attacking her for alleged voter suppression.

So while Trump has had over 1,300 days and four years of presidential experience since his first go at Gettysburg, a 2020 Gettysburg address may have already written itself.

Although if recent poll numbers are any indication, it may be time to deviate from the source material.

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Marianne is The Weekâ€™s Social Media Editor. She is a native Tennessean and recent graduate of Ohio University, where she studied journalism and political science. Marianne has previously written for The Daily Beast, The Crime Report, and The Moroccan Times.