“As he watches the 2020 Democratic candidates fire up campaign crowds, President Donald Trump is itching to upstage them with rallies of his own. Not so fast, say Trump’s political advisers, who are arguing that Trump’s best asset is the White House — and that he should make the most of it,” Politico reports.

“The rambunctious rallies can come later, they say. For now, Trump’s Republican allies and campaign officials believe an early re-election strategy built around his role as chief executive in dignified settings like the Oval Office and the Rose Garden will carry more weight with voters than his signature freewheeling arena speeches.”

Ron Brownstein: “In his marathon speech to a gathering of conservative activists last weekend, Donald Trump unloaded more than 16,000 words, according to the official White House transcript.”

“But amid all the meandering and asides, the belittling taunts and geysers of grievance, Trump may have synthesized the essence of his reelection strategy in just three words toward the back end of his two-hour harangue: ‘I’ll protect you.'”

“With that concise phrase, Trump revealed volumes about his view of the electorate and the coalition that he hopes will carry him to a second term. The comment underscored his determination to convince his followers of a two-stage proposition: First, that they are ‘under siege,’ as he put it, by an array of forces that he presented as either hostile to their interests or contemptuous of their values, and second, that only he can shield them from those threats.”