Former President Donald Trump held another "Save America" rally on Saturday, this time in Sarasota, Florida. He took the stage at about half past eight to a particularly enthusiastic crowd chanting "USA!" He addressed the 4th of July holiday and called for a moment of silence for the building collapse in Surfside, Florida.
The beginning of the speech was just as much a warning against cancel culture of our nation's history and Founding Fathers as it was to celebrate Independence Day.
"Tomorrow we will celebrate 245 years of glorious American Independence. And it will not be cancelled, by the way, it won't be canceled," he said to applause.
"And we will teach young people across the country that George Washington Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin. John Hancock will forever be American heroes. People want to take their names off buildings. Can you believe it? They took names of buildings like George Washington. And I told you this is where they're coming from. We're not going to let that happened. They will never be purged from history or cancelled from our hearts. The mission for all of us here tonight is to preserve the legacy of July 4th 1776," he continued, which also earned more applause. "And to defend our liberty from the radical left movement that seeks to cancel this date, demolish our heritage and destroy our beloved nation."
As he has done at previous rallies, Trump not only warned about his successor, but about who it is that's running the show. "In just five months, the Biden administration has launched an all out assault on everything we cherish and we value. Under Joe Biden and the left--I don't know if it's Joe, to be honest with you. It's somebody. Does anybody know who it is? It's somebody," Trump offered, before listing off grievances the country faces now that he is no longer in office.
The crowd reacted in particular to critical race theory, which has not only found its way into the education system but into the military, as well as biological men competing in women's sports.
There was substance on other issues as well, though, with the former president reminding the crowds of the motivation for these rallies. "There's only one way to save our nation. We have to work harder than ever before to win the colossal victory for America. First Republicans in the midterms next year we have to keep fighting exactly like we are for right now." He vowed "I'll be doing exactly that," to take power back in the House and Senate, and to fight back against the Biden agenda and list of grievances Trump would list throughout the night.
Trump also made reference to his trip at the southern border. The crisis at the border is a popular topic for the former president to mention, but particularly relevant this time in light of his trip, a trip which Julio also has made, in addition to the Republican Study Committee.
The former president lamented the 1,000 percent increase in illegal immigration crossings compared to when he was in office, though he noted the actual number is higher.
The mention of "the rigged election" made a relatively early appearance this time, as Trump brought it up as distinguish not only where he and his successor differ, but what put a stop to his administration and its successes. The "far left Democrats," Trump mentioned, "thanks to a totally rigged and dishonest election, now control the United States government."
"Just as I predicted, under Joe Biden, America has no borders and if his policies are not reversed immediately we will have no country," Trump warned.
When it comes to those Republicans who say "we have to immediately go back to the Trump policy," he pointed out it's "not so easy," since "you've got to make a new deal with these countries," which is a well-known point of pride for Trump, who, in this instance, spoke specifically about the Mexican president.
It was not merely a "rigged election" which Trump lamented, which he warned 'I told you so' about. "They lied during the campaign. I told you they were lying, but a lot of people didn't believe me. They lied like hell. Did they lie about energy," Trump mentioned.
Considering the particularly bizarre talking point from the White House that it's Republicans who want to defund the police, it was likewise expected that Trump would address such an issue, which he said is "disinformation like Russia, Russia, Russia, Trump was so friendly with Russia."
Trump warned the crowds not to give into this narrative, which the Democrats will likely continue to spread as a "disinformation campaign" in hopes that if they say it enough times it will catch on.
"And so now they're getting killed by the defund the police, which they're doing by the way, but they're getting absolutely killed," Trump said about Democrats. "So all of a sudden, they said today I heard and there's a word, disinformation, disinformation it's called and if you say it enough and keep saying it, just keep saying it, they'll start to believe you. We can't let that happen because now they're saying the Republicans wanted to fund the police," Trump pointed out.
He went on to warn "it is such a disaster. What these people do. It's disinformation. They say it again and again and again," also expressing concerns that the media couldn't be trusted to tell the truth on it because "the free press is truly, other than a few sources, it's gone. So they get away with this stuff. We cannot let it happened. We have to be much tougher, stronger and smarter. We have to be."
Trump also brought up the surge in violent crime, a particularly relevant issue right now, and one where Biden is earning low favorability marks. "The radical left is bringing a nightmare of mayhem and lawlessness," Trump said, going on to note that the surge takes place all in Democratic-run cities, where people are afraid to go. "Who the hell wants to go," Trump asked. He specifically raised concerns about shootings in New York City and Chicago.
On this issue, though, the former president did once more get positive as he relived his win in Florida, and encouraged the crowd to, "If you want law and order and justice, you have only one choice, you must vote Republican, or MAGA."
When Trump did make reference to the prosecutions against him, he likened it to "something you see in a third world nation" and "reminiscent of a communist dictatorship targeting your political opponents."
Though Trump did not reference Allen Weisselberg, the indicted CFO of the Trump organization, by name, he did lambast the political crusade New York's attorney general, Letitia James, has had against him.
"It's unprecedented, unheard of, and totally unacceptable in America for prosecutors to run for office on a promise to get their political enemies. How about the one New York state? We're going to get Trump. I'm running. She's running. I'm going to get Trump. I promise him knows nothing about me, all she knows she's going to get me, from the day she got in. I'm going to get Trump. But you know the people are wise to it. The people get it. I'm going to get Trump, vote for me. I don't know a thing about him, but I'm going to get him. But even if they've committed no crimes, no problems. It's a fascist and authoritarian and the people who talk about democracy are literally destroying it before our very eyes," he said about and while imitating James.
Of the overall charges against Trump, which he called "prosecutorial misconduct," the former president also spoke about it to the crowd from the perspective of how it wasted time and taxpayer dollars. "There's no depth to which the radical left will not sink to stop our Make America Great Again movement," he lamented.
Another way in which Trump drew a distinction between his family and the Biden family was by pointing out the unfairness of prosecutors not going after Hunter and Joe Biden, with Trump disputing that the president didn't know anything about his son's crimes and dealings with Ukraine, Russia, and China.
"They leave Democrats alone, no matter how bad they are, but they've mobilized every power of government to come after me, my family, my wonderful employees, and my company, solely because of politics. They want to do things to hurt us."
Trump did also give the Democrats a sort of backhanded compliment, though, in that while "the Democrats have horrible policy," they also "stick together" and are "far more vicious than Republicans," which Trump said "I respect that.' Predictably, he took the opportunity to criticize his Republican critics like Mitt Romney and "little Ben Sasse," with Trump saying Democrats "don't have these people."
The issues of crime surges and prosecutions against Trump were grouped together in one topic, as the former president complained that murderers and traffickers were not prosecuted, but he and his family were. "Every abuse and attack they throw my way is solely because I have been fighting for you against the corrupt establishment. That's all it is," Trump said, to much applause.
Trump also tied in the 2020 election to the prosecutions from New York. "This last group, the radical left, they said, listen, we failed in Washington to get him. Here's the papers, see if you can take him out New York. Radical left New York." It's because I have called for there, and I called him out on the lies and expose their incompetence and taken away their power. And perhaps most importantly, it's because I got... 75 million votes. And by the way, and by the way, it's probably a lot more than that. But that's by far the most of any sitting president in history," he told the cheering crowd.
In emphasizing the 75 million votes he did win, Trump still believed he would have earned more had there been "fair elections." He did tell the crowd though that "a lot of things are happening" and to "stay tuned."
The rally did nevertheless have some rather positive moments, though. "We won the presidency. We changed the world. We gained respect all over the world for our country again," Trump reminded the crowd. "And wait til you see what's going to happen, Because great great things are going to happen for our country. But there's never been anything like it has never been anything like it. We've already accomplished more than anyone thought even possible."
Upon being asked "how do you take it" and "how do you do it," Trump said "we do it because I love what we've done and what we've done is going to get better and better." He also, referred to it as an example of what can go wrong, though. "And the beautiful thing about what happened is now people can see how bad it can go and how quickly it can be taken away and we can't let that happen," he said to much applause.
The speech almost toke on a wistful tone when the former president reminisced about the best parts of his term. "I was starting to see that there was going to be unity. And then we got hit by the plague, and we had to get to work," he shared. "And I'm telling you had we not been hit by the played. This country would be very unified. I really believe it."
His administration, did, however, produce the vaccines, and ahead of schedule, as Trump reminded the crowd. He offered "it would have been a whole different world," and like "another 1917 Spanish flu." As he lamented that Biden went on to take credit for the vaccines, Trump went on to list his issues with his successor once again.
"The leftist Democrats truly seemed to hate our country. And really despise our way of life," Trump said, as in contrast he offered that the Republican Party "is the party of common sense."
While Trump is known for calling out the mainstream media, as he did already at this point in the rally, and he has done at others, he earned a standing ovation when taking credit that the media's "credibility is at an all time low," as he did when he went on to say " I think one of my greatest achievements is explaining to people that the media in this country is corrupt and it's corrupt. Going to go down as one of my greatest achievements."
On the eve of July 4, it seemed to be particularly disappointing for Trump to recall how Biden canceled the 1776 commission, and that the White House also just sided with Gwen Berry, who threw a temper tantrum when the Star Spangled Banner played as she won the Bronze at Olympic trials, claiming it was "a setup."
Speaking once more about CRT, Trump, to applause, vowed that a stop must be put to it infiltrating school and the military, and that Republicans, when they take back control of Congress must refuse to pass any spending bill that does not stop it.
Another particularly memorable moment, especially in the eyes of the enthusiastic crowd, came as Trump cheekily wondered aloud, after already pointing out that "Joe Biden's agenda is every bit as radical and disastrous as I predicted," that "I wonder what I'll be proved right about next." To a standing ovation, Trump mentioned "perhaps it will be the election, perhaps."
Trump didn't merely have ire for Democrats though when it came to the 2020 election, but Republicans who he said "in many ways are worse than the Democrats." He offered that "if Mitch McConnell had the courage and the guts, and f he was a real leader, he would have wanted to look into all the corruption that took place" and that "McConnell rushed in and approved Biden." The Republicans, Trump emphasized, "have to get themselves a real leader."
Bringing up a point he mentioned recently in a press release, Trump asked "who shot Ashli Babbitt," sharing he's spoken to her "devastated" woman. He actually did speak up more about January 6, calling not only for the officer who shot and killed her to be revealed, but to decry that people were still imprisoned for the events that day, when they weren't to do with the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer, "when nobody paid a price for the fire and carnage and death that took place in Democrat run cities throughout our country?"
Trump took the opportunity to call out McConnell once more as he criticized him and other Republicans as "a disgrace to our country" for being "afraid to take up the subject and talk about it."
As he has in the other recent speeches before, Trump closed this one with a heartfelt plea reminding the crowd that "Remember this, I am not the one trying to undermine American democracy. I am the one trying to save. American democracy."
Trump listed off his hopes and plans and promises he has for the country, with the promises and assurances that it's going to be done through a Republican congress. This time, he did so with a special harkening back to July 4, 1776 and the American Revolution. He did so with a reminder that "245 years ago tomorrow, 56 brave patriots in Philadelphia proudly declared our Independence and boldly proclaimed the eternal truth, that we are all made equal by the almighty hand of our Creator. For eight long years of the American revolution. Tens of thousands of ordinary citizens sport bled and died in an epic struggle against the most powerful military on the face of the Earth. They were the most powerful. They were farmers who bravely stood their ground at Lexington green and Concord bridge. They were soldiers who marched barefoot through ice and snow to seize a pivotal victory in Trenton. And they were selfless patriots who did it all so that we the people would forever rule our great country."
He made his closing words "with love of America, swelling in our hearts and the spirit of July 4th, 1776 stirring in ourselves."
You can also read my write-up from last week's rally, in Wellington, Ohio, here.