Thread by @LauraJedeed

The water is beautiful. The beach steps away. The weather perfect

And I am watching Trump give a speech at the "Save America Rally" in Ohio like the goddamn degenerate I am

Let's see what happens

I'm especially interested in Trump's speech because, a few days ago, DeSantis beat Trump in a straw poll

Will Trump bring it up? Congratulate DeSantis? State his intentions?

I predict he'll congratulate DeSantis but not rule out running in 2024

thehill.com/homenews/campa…

Currently watching on Newsmax where I was just treated to a commercial for testosterone replacement, helping poor elderly Jewish people, and prostate supplements.

Trump is running late on speaking, as usual

Apparently Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke earlier and Jim Jordan is speaking now. Tragically, the Newsmax people are blathering on instead of letting me listen to his bullshit. Sad!

They're saying this is Trump's first campaign rally

OK they've cut over to Jim Jordan who's doing the "we can't even assemble to worship God" thing

The crowd is very, very energized. Looks pretty packed, it's outdoors so it's hard to tell whether it's at capacity or not

Jim Jordan making COVID restrictions a free speech issue

It's always the same points, I've been reviewing my CPAC notes for the book I'm writing and it's just...

You're a gentleman and a scholar,
@FreeSteveeboy

https://twitter.com/FreeSteveeboy/status/1408924667193221124

We've got a hype man hyping Trump, I'm not sure who he is, but he's hyping Trump's anti-immigration action

"Sadly we've gone from America First common sense to Joe Biden's America Last nonsense"

"Common sense": who needs facts when you can reason your way to victory?

The hype man is now going after a Ohio politician for "betraying" Trump by voting to impeach him

This is the language of populism. It's not about different ideas, it's about personal loyalty

From a friend: "It'll never stop being funny to me that these tough America First guys are supporting the prissiest real estate queen from New York City"

OK his name is Max Miller and he's running for something idk, this is one of those things where they're trying to primary a "RINO" republican by sucking Trump's REDACTED onstage

They're playing Macho Man, just vibin'

We've got "Proud to Be an American playing" which traditionally means Trump's about to come out

This is part of the hype. It's the same high-energy songs, followed by Lee Greenwood crooning patriotically and it's predictable and it's a ritual and they love it

Ope never mind it's some other crooner we have time

Newsmax is comparing about "Antifa damage" vs "grandmothers walking into the capitol" and then "being thrown into solitary confinement" absolutely majestic

A moment of silence for what Newsmax describes as "grandmothers who walked into the capitol" on January 6th

Fun fact: Fox News will not play in Mexico, you can't watch it on their website here

OK this is actually interesting: they're playing Macho Man by YMCA again, which is the first song they played

Which means they're replaying the playlist, which implies Trump's actually late instead of hype-up-the-crowd late

Newsmax reporters also know that repeating the Trump soundtrack is unusual and they're freaking out pretty hard about how late Trump is while pretending not to freak out

And Trump emerges at last, throwing MAGA caps to people in the audience. Taking his time walking to the stage, working the crowd

Cannot overstate how effective the slow walk to the stage/podium is live, it's impossible to capture on film

(I'm not there, just reminiscing)

Trump calls this "The very first rally of the 2022 election: We're going to take back the house, we're going to take back the Senate"

This is different than Newsmax' description of the rally as the first for 2024 and sends a VERY different message

Biden's Sins, per Trump:

*Police "being gutted"
*Illegal immigrants flooding the country
*Drugs and human trafficking is once again a huge issue
*Schools have "left-wing indoctrination camps"
*"Critical race theory is being forced on our military*

(huge boos for the last one)

Biden's Sins Per Trump, Continued:

*China is humiliating the country
*Some other shit I missed

But it's OK because "We will send Joe Biden and the Fake News media--there's a lot of people back there, look at that"

Trump points at the media people and everyone boos

Trump just said the media misses him and that his absence is taking their ratings and everyone cheers and he's probably not wrong

Trump says he'll talk about election fraud later unless people don't want him to talk about it and the crowd cheers him on and he smiles

This kind of interaction is key to Trump's charisma. You really feel like you're part of it

Meanwhile Trump is just hammering the immigration scare rhetoric as hard as he possibly can

Trump is talking about how beautiful Ohio is and I see some active duty military asshole in a red beret which means he's from an Airborne unit and probably the 82nd and boy howdy I hate that for me

We're already onto the Election Fraud rhetoric and Trump is tying illegal immigration to election fraud, not like blatantly that I've seen but by going back and forth there's this impression that they're the same issue

Hmm, Trump is talking about ICE fighting "packs" of MS-13 and winning

He emphasizes that it's called a pack

Maybe that's true or maybe we're doing the "they're animals" dog whistle again and my money's on #2

We're getting a crowd shot and it looks like the signs they handed out say "Save America!"

They're chanting "Four More Years!"

"We took a massive victory--they did--into something that never should have been allowed. Kamala Harris--you're vice president--"

HUGE Boos

"--finally went to the border yesterday, and she's only doing that because I'm going to the border next week"

That above quote is just iconic, this meandering style

Like chatting with some incredibly self-centered guy at a bar

We now have a litany of very violent crimes perpetrated by already-deported "illegal aliens" who snuck back due to Democrat's bad border policies and then murdered the fuck out of people

Trump asks if the crowd wants to hear about "the snake" and the crowd goes wild

I'm not familiar with this one but I'm not going to make the obvious joke here, I'm too classy for that

"The snake" is the lyrics to this song

It's about a woman who saves a snake from freezing to death and then the snake bites the shit out of her and she's like "but why tho" and he's like "bitch I'm a snake what did u expect"

songfacts.com/lyrics/al-wils…

Anyway the snake is immigrants

He mentions briefly that some are good people, but mostly horrible. Other countries are "emptying their prisons." Reminds people that Middle Eastern countries are also doing this

My father came over from Syria in the late 70s

https://twitter.com/amylouky/status/1408942722409508864

We're onto the police now, a smooth transition that links the immigrant/American dynamic to criminal/police

The racial subtext is I think obvious

Chicago is "worse than Afghanistan," says Trump

Now talking about bringing troops home from Afghanistan and Syria

"And I talked to a general, he was a good general, he wasn't one of those 'woke' generals"

Boos

I can never get over the way Trump weaves narratives together to subtly transfer the anxiety one feels over one issue onto the other

It sounds jumbled but it isn't, it's actually a brilliant rhetorical tactic and I think it's all instinct and that's fascinating

Trump endorses Max Miller the hype-man from the beginning, guess the REDACTED paid off

Trump says a lot of his advisors were terrible on account of he was a Washington outsider and didn't know how bad some of the people were, but Max Miller was a great advisor

Good news everyone, Trump brought peace to the Middle East but Biden fucked it up

I'm sure the people of the Middle East will be fascinated to learn this

We now endure an extended story about Trump saving a tank plant in Ohio

It's time for Trump attack RINO (Republican In Name Only) Tony Gonzales for voting to impeach

He tells a story of Gonzales repeatedly asking if he could fly on Air Force One, and Trump generously lets him ride on the plane

Then Gonzalez had the audacity to impeach Trump anyway

Again we have the theme of personal loyalty and favors over idealism: Gonzales' vote to impeach made worse because Trump let him ride on his plane

Max Miller invited to the stage. Everyone cheers

This is what I think Trump will become permanently. As Kingmaker he will never be defeated in election but can exercise power over the Republican party

Oh damn Max Miller just relaxing those throat muscles live onstage

"Trump is my role model"

Miller says Trump is going to run and win in 2024

Another candidate running for a vacant seat comes up. "Mike"--not sure of last name. He's older than Miller. Trump tells him to be brief, and he is. Trump endorses him heartily, but not as heartily as the hype man

Trump now shouts out Marjorie Taylor Greene, whomst he describes as "kind" among other things

Standing ovation from the crowd, but he doesn't invite her to the stage

Jim Jordan now summoned to the podium

"Well thank you Mr President, but they already heard from me, they want to hear from you." Jim Jordan says everyone hopes Trump runs in 2024

The crowd chants "Trump!!" over and over again, fists in the air

Trump now discussing Jim Jordan's incredible wrestling career and how in shape he is

How Jim Jordan doesn't wear a jacket because he's so fit

"Me, I wear a jacket," Trump says with a self-deprecating smile

We've got a Kristi Noem shoutout

Don't sleep on her, by the way. I predict big things for Noem

Cancel culture again. Wanting to take down statues

"They're sickos," Trump says

Also something about fireworks bans being Democratic bullshit instead of, like....about forest fires idk

Apparently America will lose energy independence next month and be reduced to buying oil from the Middle East and Russia. "Remember Russia? Russia Russia Russia"

Trump meanders through foreign policy and the threat of China directly to the fast vaccine development (which he implicitly takes credit for) to the recent post(ish)-COVID economic recovery (which he also takes credit for)

"And frankly I had a good relationship with Xi until we got hit with the virus, and then I couldn't look at him in the same way--you can understand that, right?"

He says so many things without saying them

Trump talks up his great relationship with Kim Jong Un, Putin, Xi (until COVID), etc

He then pivots to talking about how he doesn't like ALL foreign leaders--for example, Canada is taking advantage of America

North Korea > Canada, you heard it here first

We're on to the economic effects of reentering the Paris Climate Accord

This on a weekend when the Pacific Northwest is seeing life-threatening record heat

He accuses Biden of putting America last by doing this

Trump claims 92% support of all veterans

What he means is 92% of all veterans who are REPUBLICAN

Which, for Trump and his friends, are the only REAL veterans

pewresearch.org/social-trends/…

"We would have had a deal with Iran in a week had the election not been rigged and stolen"

Trump is so much more effective when NOT in power. This is why he'll stay kingmaker despite all this noise about running in 2024--that is, if he has any sense at all

We've had a lot of sporadic talk about Iran throughout and Trump is now touting the murder of Qassim Suleimani

And then immediately to Space Force obviously, it's just...dizzying

Watching Trump live is mesmerizing

Watching Trump on TV is torture

Something weird about Germany, a slight to Angela Merkel

Big applause for making Jerusalem the capital of Israel

Talking about getting the Golan Heights recognized as officially part of Israel

Hmmm

Biden has been getting the kid glove treatment from the fake news media like CNN and MSDNC

"MSDNC" is a pretty good joke, credit where credit is due

"Fox News isn't doing so good either," he says and big cheers

Trump hammering on fake news, pointing them out to the crowd as they cover the rally from the back

Crowd booes and shakes their fists

Chant: "CNN sucks!"

Trump just said that the Democrats are "weaponizing law enforcement to go after Republicans"

HE DOES NOT EXPLAIN THIS

I really want an explanation

Trump talks about how he called the "Wuhan Virus" coming from a lab the entire time

If it turns out that virus did come from a lab, it's gonna be real bad

Trump says Hydroxychloroquine works and should have been used earlier

We're rapidly cycling from Hunter Biden to Hydroxychloroquine again to election fraud to a dizzying array of other things and back to COVID

"Oh wait, the cameras are shutting off!"

He says the media will switch them back on again eventually, that they're afraid of the truth

Election 2020 "The crime of the century"

Lotta issues with that statement but it's a little early to call that one buddy, we've got 79 years left

Trump says MAGA is "a movement based on peace and strength and law and order. And above all it's a movement based on common sense"

Trump teases winning a what he descibes as a third presidential election. Says it's "possible"

He'll keep people guessing until the very last minute. Best way to keep attention focused on him, and also to keep the Republicans in line

Trump saying that the size of his rallies is proof that he couldn't have possibly lost Pennsylvania and other swing states, which is certainly a string of words that form a sentence

Absolute moon logic on display as Trump heavily implies the fact that he got more votes in 2020 than 2016 means he won

We're back to the woke generals, a phrase he repeats several times

He says the army is so woke that privates are going to stop following orders

"The military's brass have become weak and ineffective leaders"

Undermining the military is a genuinely interesting move

Traditionally fascists take over with the help of-party-run groups that mimic the function of government agencies. For example: the Proud Boys and police

I'd argue we saw the beginnings of a parallel army with DHS/ICE this summer, and now Trump undermines the military

"Election was the lie, it was the Big Lie"

He repeats that it's the big lie several times, doubling down on a phrase he's used many times in the past

If you know your history you know what an interesting choice that is

Trump asks the crowd if he should keep talking or let them leave and there's a halfhearted cheer to keep going, so here we go some more with stories of "unmanned dropboxes" that have 96% votes for Biden, per Trump

Trump compares America's stolen election to things that happen in "communist countries"

A shoutout for "Mike, the pillow man!"

If this thread is giving you whiplash imagine how I fucking feel

Trump is talking about how Georgia is deleting 100,000 people off the voter roles and wants to know why Georgia didn't do that before the election and I can hear Reed College election expert @gronke screaming from Portland all the way here in Mexico

@gronke Just so much nonsense about the election getting stolen, very specific stories about election fraud that happened, I'm very tired

Trump is frustrated with the Supreme Court for not stepping in

He's still going. Still talking about the many instances of election fraud

Trump shouts out Arizona for doing an audit of the vote

He then shouts popular Republican opinion on massive voter fraud as further proof, absolute moon logic once again

HAS CANCEL CULTURE GONE TOO FAR?!

Trump just said Rudi Giulianis's license was "cancelled"

Trump sure has brought up Hillary Clinton a lot, always a crowd pleaser

And here's the crux of it

Trump says it's not enough to win in 2024 because a) "we're not going to have the country left" and b) the election fraud will continue

There's a dark logic here for limiting voting rights

"They used COVID! They used COVID to rig the election and steal the election!"

Standing ovation

Trump accuses Eric Swalwell of having "a chinese lover, a chinese lover who is also a spy"

I'm sorry, I just missed about 5 minutes of Trump doing whatever he's doing on this stage looking up what in the FUCK

Here's what the fuck apparently

businessinsider.com/eric-swalwell-…

Trump promises to:

end illegal immigration
reject cancel culture
restore the right to free speech in America
uphold judeo-christian values
strengthen our military
"100% support" all law enforcement and border patrols

"We will restore patriotic education to our schools"

Trump going fire and fash:

"This nation is your heritage and our magnificent American liberty is your God-given right"

"Our ancestors are people who crossed an ocean to live and speak and pray as they saw fit"

"America is still the nation that conquered the Wild West"

😬

If you're gonna watch any of this speech I recommend this last bit, because it's got all the good quotes in it. I didn't get all of them

"Our fight has only just begun," Trump says and surveys the crowd with narrowed eyes and a determined expression as they cheer

"We will make America powerful again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America Great Again!"

The end. YMCA plays

It's over

Analysis:

Trump is at his best when he's not in power because his whole schtick is to say that things are bad and he can solve them

We saw a lot of that tonight. He's actually in a stronger position, rhetorically, than he was a year ago, which is especially worrying for 2022

We're seeing Trump shift from primarily talking about the economy to an emphasis on immigration and law and order. He DID talk about the economy but illegal immigration was the star of the show

Trump continues to push the "big lie" of election fraud. He's using the same anecdotes, stats, and "facts" to push the narrative

When Trump says they can't win in 2024 without "fixing" what happened in 2020 he's not wrong. Just, "fixing" means voter suppression

Trump did NOT mention Ron DeSantis, who recently beat him in a 2024 presidential candidate straw poll, a single time

He alluded to running in 2024 but did not say whether he would or not

The people he called up to the podium, however, DID say he'd run in 2024

I still have a very hard time believing that Trump's going to run in 2024 but he'll keep teasing it either way and who the fuck knows what he'll do honestly

Trump did not mention the word "antifa" at all, which is unusual for him

Nor did he talk about the "Chinese Communists" as much as he has done over the past few months

It seems that immigrants are the big villain for Trump right now

Anyway that sure was a speech and it looks like I can just catch the sunset if I go now so I'm gonna grab a beer and a camp chair and have myself a wholesome one, goodnight

Epilogue: