We’re here in Phoenix, Arizona, where President Donald Trump is slated to speak at the Students for a Trump conference, hosted by Turning Point Action. Despite Phoenix’s mandated mask ordinance, no social distancing is being observed and very few are wearing masks. 
Attendees were offered masks upon arrival, but temperatures were not taken. I asked the person checking press in if they had masks available to give members of the media— they said no.
In a statement yesterday, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego wrote, “The event was not sanctioned or permitted by the City of Phoenix, as the city does not permit political events,” and that the church said they’d be conducting temperature checks. They’re not. phoenix.gov/newsroom/mayor…
Ryan Fournier, the Students for Trump founder, is emceeing today’s conference over video, addressing the audience remotely. The organizers tell me Fournier is on site but due to security around the president they’re restricting the number of people backstage.
Onstage at today’s Students For Trump conference, Congressman Matt Gaetz just asked Ric Grenell if he’d accept the position of Secretary of State if Trump offered it.
“I don’t think I can answer that,” Grenell chuckles.
“I don’t think I can answer that,” Grenell chuckles.
We were told the third floor of the Dream City Church here in Phoenix, AZ where President Donald Trump is scheduled to address Students for Trump in the next hour, was reserved for attendees practicing social distancing. That has not been the case.
We just got out of a break in programming here in Phoenix— during which time there was a photo line to take a photo with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who we also saw at Saturday’s rally in Tulsa.
Just some signs at Students for Trump in Phoenix, AZ.
Donald Trump, Jr. takes the stage in Phoenix, Arizona, to “High Hopes” by Panic! At the Disco, further proof I will never escape “High Hopes” by Panic! At the Disco.
President Donald Trump takes the stage in Phoenix to a standing ovation, boasting right out of the gate of his Tulsa rally Saturday, telling Students for Trump, “It was the number one show in Fox history for Saturday night.”
In AZ, President Trump hits the “left wing mob,” says, “They’re tearing down statues, desecrating monuments, and purging dissenters, it’s not the behavior of a peaceful political movement, it’s the behavior of totalitarians and tyrants and people that don’t love our country.”
President Trump, on protests that sought to remove the Andrew Jackson statue from Lafayette Park in front of the White House last night: “We stopped them last night, did you see that? Andrew Jackson, and brought some to jail, and others were very bad.”
Speaking in Arizona, President Donald Trump laments that there are too many terms to reference COVID-19, says, “Wuhan, Coronavirus...”
Members of the audience begin to shout “Kung flu!” and the President repeats the racist term.
Members of the audience begin to shout “Kung flu!” and the President repeats the racist term.
Trump talks Joe Biden’s event today with former President Barack Obama, says “He’s fighting for Sleepy Joe. So strongly, he wanted everybody to win but Joe.” On his 2016 race against Hillary Clinton, Trump says “Obama fought me hard...who won? That’s right.”
Donald Trump suggests, without evidence, expanding vote-by-mail in California will lead to widespread voter fraud, asking if ballots will be “taken from the mailmen & mail women? Will they be forged? Who is signing them? Will they be counterfeited by groups inside our nation?”
Trump warns that expanding mail-in ballots will lead to “the most corrupt election in the history of our country... People went to the polls and voted during World War I, people went to the polls and voted during World War II, we can go to the polls and vote during Covid-19.”
Worth pointing out that World War II spread through the rise of autocratic regimes and a complicated network of alliances and not through human contact, like COVID-19 does.
