Former President Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail Saturday night, calling the direction of the country since his departure from the White House a ‘catastrophe’ and saying that he could run again in 2024.
‘We won the election twice,’ Trump said as the audience cheered. ‘And it’s possible we’ll have to win it a third time!’
He said the country was tilting in a ‘woke’ direction and slammed Critical Race Theory, which he banned by an executive order that was rescinded, and made fun of President Joe Biden’s military directives on race and gender that have been pilloried for their political correctness.
As thousands of people at an Ohio fairgrounds cheered him on in MAGA hats and Trump-themed T-shirts, the former president warned of illegal immigration, which he said has spiraled out of control under Biden and said the only reason Vice President Kamala Harris made a brief touchdown at the border is because he announced he’d be going there next week.
Trump welcomed the crowd gathered at the Lorain County Fairgrounds, southwest of Cleveland to the ‘first rally of the 2022 election.’
‘We’re going to take back the House, we’re going to take back the Senate,’ he announced.
Former President Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail Saturday night, holding a ‘revenge’ rally in Ohio on behalf of a former aide who’s running against a GOP congressman who voted for the ex-president’s impeachment
Former President Donald Trump addresses the crowd outside of Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday evening as he returns to the campaign trail to stump for a former staffer of his who’s running for Congress
Former President Donald Trump throws out ‘Save America’ red hats that complement the ‘MAGA’ hats of fame
The rally was billed as a ‘revenge’ rally on behalf of a former aide who’s running against a GOP congressman who voted for the ex-president’s impeachment.
Trump immediately called President Joe Biden’s tenure a ‘complete and total catastrophe.’
‘I told you – crime is surging, murders are soaring, police departments are being gutted, illegal aliens are running over our borders,’ Trump said.
Trump, whose hardline stance on immigration made him stand out when he first announced his run for the White House in 2015, sang that tune again.
‘There is no more dire threat today than the crisis on our southern border,’ he said. ‘Other than our elections, that’s a dire threat,’ he then uttered, calling it a ‘disgrace.’
The crowd took out their cell phones to record Trump as he took the stage. Many of the crowd wore their MAGA gear
Trump wore his signature dark blue suit, white dress shirt and long, red tie as he pointed at supporters at the rally
He boasted that Vice President Kamala Harris only traveled to the border because he announced a trip there next Wednesday.
‘I’m going to the border next week. Oh if I didn’t do that I don’t know if she was ever going to go.’
He said his immigration policy was, ‘We caught them, we detained them and we rapidly threw them the hell out of our country.’
‘Once we got the word out people didn’t come,’ Trump said.
He added that the current border numbers are incorrect, guessing ‘you have millions of people coming into this country.’
Trump said it’s time to return to the U.S. to law and order – cracking down on crime and illegal immigration – and said it was imperative for Republicans to take back the House in 2022.
During the rally, Trump also credited himself for the Afghanistan pull-out, which Biden said would be completed by the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Among the T-shirts that made an appearance at the rally were ones that said ‘Women for Trump’ and ‘Miss Me Yet?’ with a photo of Trump. Of course, the trademark MAGA hat also reigned supreme
Trump also mocked White House press secretary Jen Psaki, noting her ‘red hair,’ for insulting Space Force, something he pressed that the country needs.
‘We fully rebuilt the United States military, created Space Force. Everybody laughed. Remember when the press secretary, with the extremely red hair, remember what she said. She laughed at the. She laughed, remember that? And she got decimated by everybody because she laughed. We need Space Force.’
At the same time he mocked the ‘woke’ military under Biden.
‘Our generals and our admirals are now focused more on this nonsense than they are on our enemies. Do you see these generals lately on television? They are woke. They are woke. Our military will be incapable of fighting and incapable of taking orders.’
‘I know some of these guys. Boy they change quickly. They went right over to the other side.’
‘The military brass have become weak and ineffective leaders, and our enemies are watching, and they’re laughing. We need a Republican Congress to ban Critical Race Theory.’
On COVID, Trump continued to push the lab leak theory telling the crowd the coronavirus ‘most likely came out of the Wuhan lab.’
He also boasted that ‘hydroxychloroquine works.’ The drug, which Trump took preemptively, hasn’t been proven to help those suffering from COVID-19.
And Trump continued to push the so-called big lie – that he was the true election winner, which he was not.
‘This was the scam of the century and this was the crime of the history,’ he said.
