'A collective chorus of yawns': Trump's 'tired' Arizona speech was a tremendous flop

In a Sunday column for the Daily Beast, conservative Matt Lewis pointed out that Donald Trump's much-hyped speech in Arizona following the one-year anniversary of January 6th insurrection was a big dud that barely was mentioned by the press on Sunday morning.

Put more succinctly, Lewis stated Trump's "schtick" has grown old and was greeted with "a collective chorus of yawns."

Pointing out there was a time when the former president's every utterance "spawned breathless coverage," Lewis made a compelling case that a click-obsessed news media found little Trump said on Saturday night was worth reporting.

And that is bad news for the publicity-obsessed ex-president.

"Trump’s performance in Arizona on Saturday night—his first rally in months and his much-hyped chance to respond to the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot—was neither shocking nor terribly newsworthy," he wrote. "It didn’t even merit a mention on The Washington Post’s homepage Sunday morning. The New York Times only used Trump’s speech as a peg to write a broader story under the headline: 'Trump Rally Underscores G.O.P. Tension Over How to Win in 2022.'"

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According to Lewis, the major news outlets covering the speech instead concentrated on the cast of characters who spoke before him because the ex-president said nothing new or interesting.

Suggesting that Trump appears to have "jumped the shark," Lewis stated the twice-impeached former president has his work cut out for him if he wants to become relevant again with anyone outside of his band of rabid followers.

"The Arizona rally may have been the unofficial kickoff of his 2024 campaign. But this time around, Trump will have to work harder to break through—and not just because the media is less likely to give him ample air time free of charge," he wrote. "Call it the Andrew Dice Clay conundrum: If your entire schtick is based on shock value, eventually the audience grows inured, and the lack of substance becomes embarrassingly plain."

Making his case, Lewis explained, "Trump’s rock-concert rallies provide enough of his greatest hits for the fans and groupies who actually attend them. But for performers to remain relevant, they require new material. And politics is more stand-up comedy than rock and roll," before adding, "Trump seems like the sort of man who could appreciate the temporal, consumerist, and disposable culture of modernity. We fetishize what is new and what is next. Yet, Trump’s obsession with relitigating an election that is now two calendar years past runs contrary to this modern American tendency. In this regard, his ego trumps his marketing savvy."

Warning that no one should ever "count Trump out," Lewis nonetheless said his time may have passed as an object of interest and then predicted, "... he needs new material, and fast, because if his Arizona rally shows anything, it’s that the old routine just doesn’t land anymore."

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