On Friday afternoon, ahead of the final weekend before the Iowa caucuses, Donald Trump used his social media platform to promote a new campaign ad. As a visual matter, the 30-second spot is unremarkable: Viewers simply see the former president walking down a hallway, in black and white, and in slow motion. There’s not much to it.
But what matters about the campaign commercial is the audio that plays while the Republican is seen walking:
“This is the final battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the Deep State. We will expel the war mongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists; we will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will route the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.”
Most of the rhetoric was boilerplate, though it was his first five words that stood out as notable: “This is the final battle.”
Those who don’t keep up on Trump’s day-to-day rhetoric might not realize the frequency with which this phrase comes up. The week before promoting this ad, for example, the likely GOP nominee published a related missive that began, “2024 is our Final Battle.” (The former president has long adopted an idiosyncratic approach to English grammar, which includes an apparent belief that he should capitalize words he considers important.)
Shortly before Thanksgiving, the Republican pushed the same line, publishing an item that read, “2024 IS OUR FINAL BATTLE.” A few days earlier, his online readers saw the same phrase, without the capitalization: “2024 is our final battle.” At his first campaign rally of 2023 — held in Waco, Texas — supporters heard the identical words.
At first blush, this might not seem especially remarkable. Trump has already served one term in the White House, and he expects to win a second in the fall. As such, from his perspective, it stands to reason that the 2024 race will be…
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