Former US President Donald Trump held a meeting in Arizona this Saturday, an opportunity for him to repeat, in front of a conquered public, his criticisms of his successor Joe Biden and his unproven allegations of fraud during the 2020 elections.
After forgoing a press conference he wanted to hold on Jan. 6, the first anniversary of his supporters’ deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol, this time he faced a sympathetic crowd.
“We won the elections”
Donald Trump repeated that he had won the last presidential election in the United States and criticized the “politicians of Washington” who want to “control” the lives of Americans. “We’re tired of Washington politicians controlling our lives. We are fed up with obligations, ”he thundered.
“Extremist democrats want to make the United States a communist country,” he added, before singing his leitmotif since the last presidential election in November 2020: “We won the elections. We have largely won. We can’t let them off the hook.”
Loyal supporters
Before him, speakers had already heated up the crowd, designating Joe Biden as someone “weak” and “deranged”, and targeting the “lame media”, whistled by supporters of the former Republican president. Most of the hallmarks of Trumpism have been used, from the stolen election to media injustice, to open borders and the fact that the United States has become “the laughingstock of the whole world”.
Some of his supporters had arrived in Florence, a rural town southeast of the state capital, Phoenix, several days in advance from Florida or Texas. In the desert wind floated, on a vast field, the flags “Trump 2020” and “Trump 2024”, to encourage the billionaire defeated at the polls after four years in the White House to run for the next presidential election.
A great influence among Republicans
“It’s almost like a Woodstock MAGA”, a mix between the hippie festival of the 1960s and the “Make America Great Again” meetings of the ex-real estate mogul , enthuses Jonathan Riches, who claims to be at his 40th public meeting of Donald Trump. “These are patriots from all over the country coming together for the good of the country. We love our president,” he says.
Among the guests was Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who was endorsed by Donald Trump and who has claimed in the past that she would not have certified Joe Biden’s victory in the key state. if she had been in office at the time.
Donald Trump retains great influence over the Republican Party, many of whose elected officials wishing to keep their seats in the next elections wish to benefit from his dubbing and therefore often adhere to conspiracy theories suggesting that the presidential election has been stolen, or at least do not refute them. not openly.
Trump recommends vaccination
The meeting in Florence was the first with a large audience since October for the billionaire. As he often does, Donald Trump proclaimed it to be the “biggest audience”, going “beyond the eye can see”. No precise figures were provided, however, and the crowd did not have the magnitude of those who came to see him before his victory in 2016.
Donald Trump, banned from Twitter and who since leaving the White House has preferred to intervene on ultra-conservative media and committed to his cause, gave an interview on Tuesday to public radio NPR.
After recommending that Americans get vaccinated against Covid-19 – a politically sensitive issue in the United States – he cut the interview short when the journalist questioned his unsubstantiated allegations of presidential fraud.