During the "Save America" rally in Florence, Arizona on Saturday, Former President Donald Trump pledged he would be staging a "comeback," hinting at another run at the presidency come 2024. The Republican leader said people would witness a "comeback the likes of which nobody has ever seen."
According to the Washington Times, Saturday's event was Trump's first rally speech of the 2022 election season, in which he took aim at "tyrannical" vaccine mandates, massive inflation, and the spike in national crime rates. The 75 year old former POTUS also named another major Biden administration defeat in his nearly two-hour long speech: the Supreme Court's rejection of President Joe Biden's COVID vaccine mandate for private companies.
"We've had more problems, we've had more destruction than five presidents put together in the last year," Trump lamented on Saturday, donning his signature "Make America Great Again" cap. "These decisions they're making, they're wrecking and devastating people's lives, firing Americans from their jobs, forcing innocent children to grow up in masks."
Trump also blasted the House select committee investigating the Capitol Hill attack on January 6, 2021, claiming that Democrats were using the riot to "justify an unprecedented assault on American civil rights and liberties." The Republican leader expressed his sympathy for arrested rioters who are now in jail awaiting trial for their involvement in the attack, saying that they are "living in hell" and have "bathrooms [that] are horrible." He added that they must help the rioters who they believe are innocent.
According to Fox News, Trump sees major support in Arizona, where his Save America PAC has raised over $441,000 from more than 9,000 unique state residents from January to June 2021, as per Federal Election Commission filings. While he did not explicitly confirm or deny running for the presidency in 2024, he promised a "comeback" for his supporters.
Despite blasting the Biden administration for its vaccine mandates and push for Americans to get vaccinated, Trump is in fact vaccinated and has gotten his booster, and has earned backlash from some supporters and praise from the White House for his choice to get vaccinated. But at his Saturday rally, he chose to be critical of the current White House.
Trump insisted that he won the 2020 presidential elections, claims that earned thunderous applause from the crowd. As per The Independent, the former president remarked, "I ran twice and we won twice and we did better the second time. We did much better the second time."
Trump also denounced how authorities failed to investigate his claims of voter fraud. He said, "Why aren't they investigating November 3rd a Rigged and Stolen Election. The people are very angry. They got duped and they found out what happened. The people have to be free to find the answers and if not, they will never trust again and our country will be absolutely decimated."
Trump is gearing up for a busy year as he is launching his own social media platform called Truth Social on President's Day next month, well ahead of the midterm elections this November.