Former President Donald J. Trump delivered a loose speech in which he used dehumanizing language to describe immigrants, a steady stream of comments, on Saturday at an event ostensibly designed to boost his preferred candidate for Ohio’s Republican Senate primary maintained insults and vulgarities and made predictions that if he did not win in November there would never be another election in the United States.
With his general election matchup against President Biden clearly in sight, Mr. Trump reaffirmed the country’s doomsday vision that has energized his third presidential campaign and strengthened his base during the Republican primaries.
The dark view resurfaced throughout his speech. While discussing the U.S. economy and its auto industry, Mr. Trump promised to impose tariffs on foreign-made cars if he wins in November. He added: “If I’m not elected now, it will be a bloodbath for the whole – that’s the least of it. It will be a bloodbath for the country.”
For nearly 90 minutes, Mr. Trump delivered a discursive speech full of attacks and biting rhetoric outside Dayton International Airport in Vandalia, Ohio. He noted several times that he had difficulty reading the teleprompter.
The former president began his speech by praising those serving prison sentences in connection with the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. Mr. Trump, who is facing criminal charges in connection with his efforts to overturn his election defeat, called them “hostages” and “incredible patriots,” praised their spirit and vowed to help them get elected in November. He also repeated his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, which were refuted by a wealth of evidence.
If he doesn’t win this year’s presidential election, Mr. Trump said, “I don’t think there will be another election, or certainly no election that is meaningful.”
Mr Trump also stoked fears about the influx of migrants arriving at the US southern border. As he did during his successful campaign in 2016, Mr. Trump used inflammatory and dehumanizing language to portray many migrants as a threat to American citizens.
He claimed, without evidence, that other countries were emptying their prisons of “young people” and sending them across the border. “I don’t know if they’re called ‘people’ in some cases,” he said. “In my opinion, they are not people.” He later referred to them as “animals.”
Border officials, including some who worked in the Trump administration, said most migrants crossing the border are members of vulnerable families fleeing violence and poverty and that available data does not support the notion that migrants cause an increase in crime.
Mr. Trump mentioned Bernie Moreno, his preferred Senate candidate in Ohio and a former car dealer from Cleveland, sparingly. Despite having the support of Mr. Trump, Mr. Moreno, whose super PAC hosted Saturday’s event, struggled to hold his own in a heated Republican primary against Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat, in the fall. Mr. Trump was rerouted from a planned trip to Arizona to make a last-minute appearance with Mr. Moreno.
Mr. Trump made vulgar and derogatory remarks about a number of Democrats, including those he frequently targets, such as Mr. Biden and Fani Willis, the Atlanta prosecutor overseeing his criminal case in Georgia, as well as those widely viewed as potential candidates future presidential candidates. like Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois.
Mr. Trump called Mr. Biden a “stupid president” several times and once referred to him as a “stupid son of…” before trailing off. He also compared Ms. Willis’s first name to a vulgarity, called Mr. Newsom “Gavin New-scum” and criticized Mr. Pritzker’s physical appearance.
Mr. Trump’s harsh words were not reserved for national politicians: He briefly took aim at one of Mr. Moreno’s primary opponents, Matt Dolan, a wealthy Ohio state senator who has surged in recent polls. Mr. Trump returned to his prepared remarks, saying he did not know Mr. Dolan but describing him as “trying to become the next Mitt Romney.”
“I believe that anyone who changes their name from the Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians should not be a senator,” Mr. Trump said, referring to the professional baseball team in which Mr. Dolan’s family owns a majority stake.
When Mr. Moreno was briefly called back to the stage toward the end of Mr. Trump’s remarks, he praised the former president as a “good man.” But Mr. Moreno did not explicitly remind the crowd on Tuesday to support him in his Senate run. For his part, Mr. Trump said Mr. Moreno was a “fantastic guy.”
Mr. Trump’s campaign speeches generally oscillate between scripted remarks and seemingly spontaneous digressions. On Saturday, he admitted he had trouble reading the teleprompter as he tried to quote inflation statistics.
“Everything is fine: the chicken is ready, the bread is ready and I can’t read this damn teleprompter,” Trump said. “This idiot is moving. It’s like reading a moving flag in a 35 mile per hour wind.”
Then Mr. Trump, who before his presidency was known in New York for refusing to pay his bills to a variety of service providers, joked about not paying the teleprompter company.
“Then they say Trump is a bad guy, because I say this: Don’t pay the teleprompter company,” he said as the crowd laughed. “Don’t pay.”
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2024-03-17 02:10:05
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