Donald Trump’s first high-profile campaign rally in 2024 made him sound more like a politician than at any of his rallies in 2016 or 2020 – showing the ex-president may be ready to “play ball” in his third presidential campaign.
He also said that Joe Biden, who runs the country, makes every day feel like an April Fool’s joke.
While Trump resurrected some of his biggest hits during remarks at the New Hampshire Republican Party’s annual convention on Saturday afternoon, he mostly stuck to the script.
However, he assured voters that he was still “angry” and still invested in victory, promising the rallies would be “coming soon”.
“The rallies that are starting very soon, although it’s still very early,” Trump said. “They almost force me to the rallies. “Why doesn’t he do rallies two years earlier?”
Donald Trump has defended himself against claims he was slow to start his 2024 presidential campaign at his first high-profile event with a speech in the nation’s first primary state, New Hampshire
“But we’ll do it soon. I think we should make a big one up here. let’s make a big one They love our rallies,” Trump said while previewing a future rally in New Hampshire.
Some strategists and politicians have pointed to Trump’s slow-starting campaign to support claims that he has lost the spark or drive to get a second term in the White House – but the former president dismissed those claims.
“The fake news…said when I announced that I just wanted to put my cards on the table. As you know, if you’re playing this very big game right now, the biggest game of all, because it’s about the country and the survival of the United States of America,” Trump told a group of New Hampshire Republicans in Salem.
“But when I put the cards on the table — and then I said, ‘Okay, let’s go.’ They said, ‘He’s not campaigning.’ This is like about a month ago when I announced it. I said, well, you know, ‘I have two years.’
“They said, ‘He doesn’t do rallies, he doesn’t campaign, maybe he lost that step.’ Well, I’m more angry and committed than ever now,” he said.
Speaking in the nation’s first primary state, Trump announced that outgoing New Hampshire GOP chairman Stephen Stepanek will step in as senior adviser for his campaign in Granite state.
With Stepanek on board, Trump says he actually has a shot at turning New Hampshire red.
Trump also said that if he doesn’t succeed in 2024, “that will be the end” and the “communists and marxists” had won and would now rule the United States.
Trump announced at the event that he would use outgoing New Hampshire GOP chairman Stephen Stepanek (right) as senior adviser to his campaign in the Granite State
“He’s going to help us make sure we win at Granite State in 2024,” Trump said of Stepanek. “We stopped the communists, we stopped the marxists, if we don’t stop them this time, I think that will be the end.”
“Everyone in this room shares one key mission — we’re going to defeat Joe Biden and the Radical Democrats,” the former president said. “These are radical leftists. I think in many cases they are maxists and communists. I used to rarely say that, and now I say it all the time.’
Trump spent a lot of time pointing out Biden’s failings and said it made him feel like every day was April Fools’ Day on April 1st.
Among the failings listed was the catastrophic misuse of the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was widely criticized. He also mentioned the Defund Police movement, which led to massive crime spikes, as well as migrant policies, which allowed drug smuggling and human trafficking to flow across the border.
“We have people in the midst of the greatest crime wave in history who want to defund the police. It’s an April Fool’s joke, isn’t it?’ Let’s disappoint the police.’ You can’t even get your car — you’re going to New York, nobody’s ever going to be prosecuted,” Trump accused.
“I’m the only one they’re after. It’s true,’ he said, to massive laughter. “No one will be prosecuted, they are prosecuting me.”
Trump urged Americans to be “careful” with the “fragile” United States.
“It’s crazy — this is a crazy world we live in,” Trump said. “And we have to be very careful because we have a very fragile country – this is a very fragile place.”