(PresidentialHill.com)- Last Saturday, the Trump campaign held its first rally of the 2024 election season in Waco, Texas, the Associated Press reported.
The former president, who spent much of his rally speech complaining about his ongoing legal problems, opened the rally by standing with his hand over his heart while “Justice for All,” the song recorded by January 6 detainees featuring Trump reading the Pledge of Allegiance, played over the loudspeakers while video screens showed images of the Capitol riot.
During his speech, Trump railed against the “thugs and criminals” investigating him, telling the crowd that those who corrupted the justice system would be “defeated, discredited, and totally disgraced.”
The former president again claimed his innocence in the probe by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office into the 2016 hush payment to Stormy Daniels. He accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of investigating him over something that isn’t illegal and wasn’t an affair.
Trump said his “enemies” want to stop him by trying to “crush our spirit and break our will.” Claiming that their efforts have only made him stronger, Trump declared the 2024 election “the final battle” and told his fans that if he is elected president again, his enemies’ “reign will be over” and the country would be free.
After some in the media questioned the wisdom of the Trump campaign holding a Waco rally during the 30th anniversary of the deadly standoff at the Branch Davidians compound, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign said Waco was selected because of its convenient location near four of the largest metropolitan areas in Texas, Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. According to the spokesperson, Waco also had the infrastructure necessary to accommodate a large crowd.
When Trump wasn’t complaining about the politically-driven investigations, he was complaining about Florida’s popular Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, whom he accused of disloyalty and claimed was “dropping like a rock” in the polls.
DeSantis, who has not officially entered the 2024 GOP race, is widely considered Trump’s most formidable opponent.
According to the New York Post, Trump’s attacks on the Florida governor were largely met by silence from the typically raucous crowd.
