Eli Lake, Columnist

Trump Is Still Obsessed With 2016

Before the president brought up Joe Biden in his call with the Ukrainian president, he wanted to talk about his previous campaign.

September 25, 2019 at 9:30 PM UTC

By Eli Lake

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

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Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America

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Following the release of the summary of President Donald Trump’s July 25 phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Democrats are focusing on whether he was trying to enlist a foreign government to help him win the 2020 election. Call it Collusion 2.0: Last time Trump was looking for help from Russia, this time it’s Ukraine.

It’s not that simple, of course — not least because, judging from the call, Trump is still obsessed with 2016. In fact, he may be as preoccupied with that election as his would-be impeachers.