Former Republican President Donald Trump made a combative first public appearance on Saturday night to start 2022, the year of the mid-term elections that must renew the entire House of Representatives, a third of the Senate and elect the governors of 36 states. and three territories.
To show muscle, he chose Arizona, a Republican state that in 2020 lost by just over 10,000 votes to Joe Biden. A year and two months later, he painted a bleak picture of the country that for four years he ruled from polemic to polemic: “It’s going to hell. It’s a disaster. We have to be strong and take back our country and our future,” Trump said before a massive audience of tens of thousands of people at an event that makes it clear that the battle for the presidency in 2024 has already begun.
“Inflation is the worst in 40 years. The stores are empty, there are no merchandise… The streets of Democratic cities are full of blood and homicides, there are four times more cases of covid than before,” he assured in a speech that lasted more than an hour and a half and began with a funeral march and a huge message on the screens: Joe Biden is a complete failure.
The tens of thousands present roared with laughter, just minutes before Trump took the stage, with a montage of goofs by the president. From his tripping up stairs to his forgetfulness of speeches. Supporters peppered speakers’ speeches with “Let’s go, Brandon,” a coded insult to the president that has become popular among Republicans. The slogan Fuck Joe Biden (Fuck you, Joe Biden) is everywhere. “Biden body bag,” a local senator called him onstage.
“Biden has humiliated our country. Putin is playing with us. Russia and China no longer respect us. They no longer fear us,” Trump said. The former president, who has not yet clearly confirmed his intentions to run again in the 2024 presidential elections, leaves everything between the lines. “The easiest thing would be to continue with my life. I competed twice and won twice…” he suggested at one point before digressing to another topic.
