As a slogan, KAG fizzled on arrival

For such a confident slogan, KAG got a soft launch.

The stage on which President Trump formally announced his reelection campaign Tuesday had his old slogan written across it. He didn’t get around to mentioning the new one until about 30 minutes into his speech.

Trump brought up “Keep America Great” as he has at previous rallies, prefacing it by praising its predecessor and asking whether the crowd prefers to change to a new slogan.

“How do you give up the No. 1 — call it theme, logo, statement — in the history of politics for a new one?” he asked. “But you know, there’s a new one that really works. And that’s called ‘Keep America Great.’”

Trump joked his eardrums would “never be the same” after asking the audience if they liked his reelection slogan, but it wasn’t the centerpiece of his speech. Trump rolled out his reelection message as a question.

Electronic billboards in the arena showed off “Keep America Great,” but there are still no “Keep America Great” hats for sales in the Trump campaign store. In fact, of the 60 items for sale in the 2020 collection, none of them appear to feature the phrase “Keep America Great.”

There are, however, $40 red and navy “MAGA 2020” hats. Make America great again, again. Or as Trump put it during his remarks, “We did it once, and now we will do it again, and this time, we’re going to finish the job.”

Trump raised an impressive $24.8 million in less than 24 hours, according to RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, but he promised nothing particularly new with “Keep America Great.” Rather than unveil a 2020 agenda or position his reelection message as forward-looking, Trump revisited familiar topics, like crowd size, his disapproval of the news media, and Hillary Clinton. There were “lock her up” chants. The swamp he promised to drain still has to be drained, he said. Turns out there wasn’t much news to be made at an announcement event for a candidate who never stopped campaigning in the first place.

Trump wondered out loud during his speech what would happen if he didn’t win in 2020 and said his loss would be blamed on a rebrand.

“If I do it with a new theme — I give up the greatest of all time — and if I lose, people are going to say, ‘What a mistake that was,’” he said, before brushing the thought aside. “But we’re not going to lose, so it’s not going to matter.”

Trump announced his 2016 campaign in a tower bearing his name in front of paid actors. Four years later he launched the reelection campaign in an arena bearing the name of a multi-level marketing company and didn’t have to pay anyone to show up. While the former rally shocked and was turned into a “Simpsons” cartoon and a Politico oral history, the latter felt like just another Trump rally.

And he ended both the same: “We will make America great again,” he said. “Thank you.”