Trump campaign scrambling to find ways to make his second-term agenda sound like something new: report

GOP insiders are privately warning President Trump that he can't win in 2020 with his 2016 pledges, so on the eve of the Republican Convention, Trump's campaign team is scrambling to "find new twists on old favorites to quell concerns about the question that has bedeviled him for months: What would he do with four more years?" writes POLITICO's Nancy Cook and Meridith McGraw.

"A working group of top aides spent the last several weeks reviewing proposals attempting to answer that very question. They’ve discussed ideas to lower capital gains and income taxes, adopt new immigration measures, strike new trade deals and ax additional regulations," their report states. "And on Thursday, the president is likely to speak about these ideas and more during his convention speech as he tries to draw a sharp contrast with the agenda of former Vice President Joe Biden. On Sunday night, the campaign released the broad outlines of its second-term goals — eradicating Covid-19, creating jobs, ending America's reliance on China, cutting drug prices, expanding school choice and defending the police — and promised to tease them out further over the next week."

According to Trump administration officials, Trump's message will focus on the continued implementation of his policies rather than new ideas -- which creates the tricky challenge of appealing to his base while acknowledging the critiques from his own party. According to veteran GOP political strategist Karl Rove, Trump has to convince voters that he has a "second act" in him.

"Informal Trump advisers like Rove and former Gov. Chris Christie have been telling Trumpworld both publicly and privately for months that the president must develop more serious second-term plans in order to win reelection," POLITICO reports.

Read the full report over at POLITICO.