Thousands of MAGA fans traveled to the city of Coachella, California, not for the eponymous music festival by the same name, but to hear former President Donald Trump speak at the Indio fairgrounds in the desert on Saturday during a late-afternoon rally.
"We have to make California better," Trump told supporters in the rally, which aired live on Newsmax and simulcast on the Newsmax2 online streaming platform.
"The Republican Party will always put America first and lead us on to victories like you have never seen before. We've got a big victory because we've become the party of common sense," he told supporters before putting on a red MAGA hat, quipping, "That sun is hot."
Trump said the Californians in attendance have "one of the worst governors."
"California is a paradise lost, but we're bringing it back," he said.
"California stood as the beacon of what our country aspired to become. It really did. It had everything. It had the weather. It had the water. The state had the best schools, the safest communities, and a booming middle class.
"But all that was eradicated by decades of the very policies that Kamala Harris wants to now force upon America. I don't think it's going to happen," Trump said, before pointing to higher taxes, regulations, utilities, homelessness, crime, decay, and illegal immigration in the state.
"Other than that, I think you're doing quite well," he said, arguing the November election is a time to "send a message that the people of California are not going to take it any longer."
"Kamala Harris got you into this mess and only Trump can get you out of it," he said, citing the increase in illegal immigration in the state.
Trump said he "built one hell of a wall."
"What the hell is wrong with our country?" he asked.
"She's [Harris] imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the Third World," he said. "What the hell is happening to our cities?
"When I win on Nov. 5, the migrant invasion ends, and the restoration of our country begins," he said, arguing the border is the No. 1 issue in the U.S.
Trump said we are known through the world as "an occupied country."
"It's no different than if we lost a war," he said.
"I make this pledge to you: Nov. 5, 2024, will be liberation day in America. Liberation day. Liberation day, we're going to be liberated.
"Did you ever think you'd hear that 10 years ago? 15 years ago? We're going to liberate our country from criminals," he said.
"How stupid are we? How stupid are these leaders as stupid people? I will rescue California and every town across America that's been invaded and conquered. And we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them the hell out of the country, which is No. 1," he said.
Trump said 86% of the country feels we are on the wrong track.
"Doesn't that tell you something? It tells you ... we got a problem. I actually worry about the next three months, I really do. I worry about the next 3 1/2, four months. We'll end up in a world war because of this, the people that we have," he said.
Trump reiterated his "no tax on tips" and "no tax on overtime" platforms.
"By contrast, Kamala is known as the tax queen," he said.
Trump also criticized her and her boss, President Joe Biden, for their response to dual hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida.
"Biden and Harris have done a horrible job on North Carolina and some of the other ones. In particular, the first of the first of the hurricanes that came in, it really wiped out North Carolina," he said, before praising Elon Musk for getting Starlink to the region.
"I said, 'Elon, they're in big trouble in North Carolina. They need Starlink, and you guys are doing so well with it.' It's a very hard thing to get. So I said, 'You guys, is there anything you can do, because it's' — in the meantime, my phone rings and it's the guy from North Carolina thanking me. And I'm still on the phone with Elon. I said, 'Elon, what the hell did you do? You told them that you've got it before I even hung up,'" Trump told the crowd.
"... He's a great guy and he's done a great job. And it's too bad that Kamala didn't do — I don't even know. She, she's essentially not even gone there," he said.
Trump argued that on the geopolitical stage, it's the "enemies from within" that are the most potentially problematic, including "the sleazebags like a guy that you're going to elect to the Senate: shifty [Rep.] Adam Schiff."
"Adam Schiff. He's a sleazebag, right? This guy? No, no, he's a major lowlife. ... But you're going to have shifty Adam Schiff, one of the true — I know him well because he conceived of the Russia hoax, right? The Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.
"He is a bad person. He's a sick person — not a stupid guy, but he's a sick puppy. That guy, one of the least — I'm not allowed to say this because this could cost you your president because you're not supposed to talk about somebody's looks, and so I won't. But to me, he's one of the least attractive human beings I think I've ever seen," Trump said.
"Not a stupid person. He's got the smallest neck I've ever seen. No, he's got the smallest neck. His neck is, like, so small, and his head is large. So he's not being held up by much. I can guarantee you he will not, he will not be playing for your local football team," Trump said.
The 2024 Republican presidential nominee addressed supporters at Calhoun Ranch, which belongs to GOP donors the Haagens, who have contributed at least $400,000 to Trump's reelection campaign, reported The Los Angeles Daily News.
The desert landscape was punctuated by a sea of MAGA hats and Trump flags, as Trump supporters waited in line to catch a bus to the rally.
The city of Coachella is strongly blue, with 78% of voters voting for President Joe Biden in 2020, and is home to roughly 42,000 people, situated just southeast of Palm Springs.
The rally in the Democrat stronghold comes just 29 days before the election.
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