Waco was the scene of a tragedy 30 years ago that some extremist groups still blame on the Deep State. And in the same Texas city, former United States President Donald Trump has delivered the first rally of what he dreams of being the campaign for his triumphant return to the White House. Trump has specifically accused the “Deep State” of the judicial investigation against him. With an incendiary speech, but without directly invoking violence, Trump has conjured up the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and asserted: “I am probably the most innocent man in the history of our country.”
Trump paid tribute to those who stormed the Capitol the day after telling his social network Truth that there was a risk of “death and destruction” if the Manhattan DA investigating him accused him of the Stormy Daniels case allegedly paying (and lying about where the money went) money from his 2016 presidential campaign to a porn star so he wouldn’t disclose a relationship with the then-candidate.
With several thousand supporters waiting for him, many holding signs reading “witch hunts,” Trump has arrived by plane at the local airport where the rally was being held. He descended the ladder and opened the rally with the song Justice for All, which mixes a chorus of inmates jailed for taking part in the attack on the Capitol singing the national anthem (Star-Spangled Banner, The Star Flag) with Trump himself reciting the Promise to the Flag, and concludes with the prisoners’ USA chants. During the game, the giant screens showed images from January 6, 2021.
Donald Trump, three step off plane to give rally at Waco (Texas) airport LEAH MILLIS (Portal)
In case there was any doubt, Trump expressed his support for the attackers at the beginning of his rally: “Under Joe Biden, American patriots are being arrested and held captive like animals,” he said, assuring that the prison he is in located Some of them considered the “hell”. The former president has backed conservative media’s new narrative, which is based on unreleased images provided to Fox’s star host Tucker Carlson by new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Having access to more than 40,000 hours of exclusive footage, he has chosen to broadcast a few minutes where there is no violence. Because of this revelation, many Trump supporters claim the attack on the Capitol was a polite visit by onlookers and tourists.
In addition to this support for the Capitol attackers, Trump spent a good portion of the rally speaking about the investigation he is the subject of. The ex-president denounces an alleged use of the judiciary as a political weapon and declares himself a victim of a new “Stalinism” or a “banana republic” judicial system.
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“The enemies really want to stop us. Our opponents have done everything to break our spirit and break our will. But they failed. They only made us stronger. And 2024 is the last battle, it will be the big one. Take me back to the White House, his reign will be over and America will be a free nation again,” he urged his supporters.
Trump assures he supplied or requested 11 million pages of documents and still they found no crime (ignoring ongoing investigations). “That probably makes me the most innocent man in the history of our country,” he said. He has portrayed the cases against him as a political maneuver: “The new weapon used by runaway Democrats to cheat in elections is to prosecute a candidate and give them bad publicity. The craziest thing is that I have bad publicity and my poll numbers have gone through the roof. And people see that it’s a hoax (…) by the Department of Injustice.”
Trump supporters during the rally with signs reading: ‘Witch hunt’ and ‘I’m with Trump.’ LEAH MILLIS (Portal)
The grand jury meets this Monday and can at any time indict the former president, who called protests last Tuesday when he said he would be arrested, with an unfulfilled prophecy. Trump said this Saturday that the prosecutors leading the investigation against him are “absolute human scum”. He said he was being investigated “for something that is neither a felony, nor a petty felony, nor an adventure.” And he addressed his followers: “You will be affirmed and proud. The thugs and criminals who corrupt our justice system will be defeated, discredited and utterly disgraced,” he told them.
“So we have to stop them from cheating in the elections. Because if we don’t win these upcoming 2024 elections, I sincerely believe our country is doomed. Prosecutor misconduct is their new tool and they are ready to use it to an unprecedented level.” “Either we surrender and be happy with the demonic forces that are abolishing and destroying our country, or we defeat them with them a landslide victory on November 5, 2020. Either the Deep State destroys America or we destroy the Deep State,” he said in another passage.
Trump has resorted to his usual exaggerations and lies, firing in all directions: New York prosecutors (“human scum”), Joe Biden (“worst president in history”), the radical left, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, the media… But also this time against Ron DeSantis, probably his biggest rival in the Republican primary if he decides, it seems, to take the plunge and run.
Trump has accused DeSantis of being disloyal, has said he “falls like a stone” and tries to downplay him: “Remember one thing. Florida was tremendously successful for many years, long before this guy became governor. Florida was tremendously successful under Rick Scott. Or with Charlie Christie, like it or not, it was very successful. He was a Republican at the time. But Florida has been successful for decades. In fact, probably more successful than now,” he said, again referring to his hypothetical rival as DeSanctimonious, a pun between his last name and prudish.
Aside from inciting the attack on the Capitol, insisting on what he felt was an unfair prosecution, and attacking DeSantis, the rally was the same Trump has been delivering for more than six months, with the same apocalyptic speech. the same staging, the same jokes and literally the same messages.
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