Whatever else might be true of Donald Trump, the former president knows how to work a crowd — whether in-person or virtual.
His skills were on display once again Tuesday night at a Fox News town hall event moderated by Laura Ingraham, when Trump made several comments that, whether they were calculated to or not, certainly pleased the audience in attendance.
One of the highlights came when an audience member named Chandra read her question about Trump’s priorities, should he win in November.
“Our country is so divided right now,” Chandra said. “I know you have suffered endless attacks, no doubt, but how can you assure independent and undecided voters that your focus as president will be on improving the state of our country and not settling those old scores?”
Trump, 77, chuckled a bit at first, noting that Chandra had raised an “interesting question” before responding to it directly.
“Look: I did it before,” Trump said. “We had a great four years, especially before that very last part where COVID came in, and we did a great job there. We’ve been given great marks on the economy and on the military and our foreign affairs, but never got the credit we should’ve gotten, in that we did something amazing and the stock market was higher in the end.
“But just before the China — I call it the China virus, because I like to be accurate — came in, onto our shores, we had the greatest economy in the history of the world, even going up to the end. But this period of time — and it was success.
“Success is the word I’m using to answer your question,” Trump said.
The former president explained that just prior to the pandemic, the U.S. economy had been so good that people “on the left and far left” were reaching out to the president to work with him.
Will Trump win in November?
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said. “I said, ‘Can you believe this?’”
After Ingraham redirected him a bit, explaining that a lot of women voters liked Trump’s policies but not so much the “name calling” and “score settling.”
“We’re going to get together through success,” Trump said in response to that, saying that the country actually had been uniting under his administration prior to the disruptions caused by COVID — or, more accurate, prior to the disruptions caused by state and federal responses to COVID.
“I don’t care about the revenge thing,” he concluded. “My revenge will be success.”
You can watch the entire exchange below.
Fox cut the video as Trump started speaking, but the the audience reaction was published elsewhere on social media.
Trump just dropped the mic on the “revenge” question during a Fox News town hall: “My revenge will be success,” he said to rapturous applause. pic.twitter.com/z7S3tbHLpY
— Raheem. (@RaheemKassam) February 21, 2024
Response to Trump’s comments on social media was similar to that of the audience at the town hall.
“My revenge will be success.”
— DONALD J. TRUMP!!!
This man is a national treasure.
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) February 21, 2024
President Trump: “I don’t care about revenge. My revenge will be success.”
THIS is the type of man and leader we need in the White House! pic.twitter.com/p6Nb7ruuTK
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) February 21, 2024
Personally, I hope the former president is sincere (and I have no reason to think otherwise), if only because his policies are unlikely to succeed unless he is focused on them rather than on tracking down and somehow punishing his opposition.
But it’s more than that. Those who set themselves up in opposition to God Almighty don’t tend to enjoy “success,” at least not for very long. And one thing that Scripture is very clear about is that the Father has reserved the enacting of revenge for Himself.
“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
I would certainly understand any temptation to vengeance Trump might experience if he wins in November, and it may in fact be difficult from the outside looking in to determine what actions he is taking from that motivation as opposed to investigations and other actions he must do to deal with a highly corrupt federal bureaucracy.
Christians everywhere should pray for God’s grace to guide the president for the next four years — and, in fact, we’re commanded to do just that.
