Donald Trump took center stage for nearly two hours on Saturday in his first rally since a gunman attempted to assassinate him last week. The fiery and rambling speech he delivered to a large crowd of fervent supporters provided several key takeaways:
Claims of Voter Fraud:
Trump did not shy away from his false claims about the 2020 election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. He reiterated his belief that the election was rigged, stating,
“The Radical Left Democrats rigged the presidential election in 2020 and we’re not going to allow them to rig the presidential election in 2024.” He further claimed that there were instances of “shoveling ballots into wheelbarrows” in some states and called for a decisive victory to prevent any potential rigging. His call to “Fight, fight, fight” resonated with the crowd, echoing both his reaction to the assassination attempt and his rhetoric leading up to the January 6 Capitol riot.
Denial of Extremism:
Trump also addressed criticisms of Project 2025, which his opponents have described as an authoritarian and right-wing agenda. He distanced himself from the manifesto, insisting, “The other side is going around trying to make me sound extreme … I’m not an extremist at all.”
In his recent rally, Donald Trump criticized the sweeping agenda proposed by the Heritage Foundation, calling it the work of “the radical right… they’re seriously extreme” and claiming, “I don’t know what the hell it is.” He noted that the official Republican platform ratified at the Milwaukee convention is less conservative than the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, particularly on issues like abortion and entitlements. Despite this, Trump remarked that many of the more extreme proposals from the Heritage Foundation closely resemble his own statements and video remarks. He dismissed claims that he poses a “threat to democracy,” asserting, “Last week, I took a bullet for democracy.”
Attacks on Biden:
Trump also targeted President Joe Biden, who faces criticism from within the Democratic Party over his age and potential candidacy for another term. Trump mocked the situation, stating, “They have no idea who their candidate is… Sort of interesting, this guy goes and he gets the votes and now they want to take it away. That’s democracy.” He derided Biden as “stupid” and a “low-IQ individual” and called Vice President Kamala Harris “crazy,” suggesting that if Biden were to step down, Harris would be well-positioned to take over.
Foreign Relations:
Trump boasted about his relationships with global autocrats, claiming that his rapport with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un made the U.S. safer. He described a conversation with Kim about nuclear weapons, advising him to “relax” and suggesting they go to a baseball game. Trump praised Hungarian President Viktor Orban as a “very powerful leader” and reiterated that, if he were still in office, Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine. He also shared that he received a “beautiful note” from Chinese President Xi Jinping following the assassination attempt, referring to Xi as a “great guy” and describing him as a “brilliant man” who controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist.
In his recent rally, Donald Trump launched a fierce attack on illegal immigration, describing it as an “invasion” and alleging that Democrats are allowing it to continue in hopes of gaining votes. He vowed that on his first day back in the Oval Office, he would initiate “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country.”
Trump declared that his administration would halt “the plunder, rape, slaughter, and destruction of our American suburb cities,” promising swift action to remove what he called “bad ones” from the country. He emphasized his intention to “crush migrant crime,” accusing countries like Venezuela of “dumping their criminals into the United States,” and asserting that the U.S. will no longer tolerate this situation.
