2023-09-18 00:08:28
Facing a total of 91 charges in four criminal cases, the former president Donald Trump was in South Dakota on Friday for his first big event after taking his photo in Georgia. “They are destroying our country,” Trump told a crowd of about 7,000 people gathered in Rapid City. “And if we don’t take it back – if we don’t take it back in 24, I really believe there will be no country left.” »
“I’m indicted for you,” Trump added. “This is not part of the job description. »
Trump spent part of his rambling 110-minute speech singling out contenders in the 2024 presidential race. “You know a guy who was very disloyal because I got him elected, so I call him Ron DeSanctimonious.” , he said, nonsensically, about his main rival for the GOP nomination, the governor of Florida. Ron DeSantis. President Joe BidenTrump’s likely counterpart in the general election, was both “grossly incompetent and very dangerous” – a confusing combination of attributes – and “the most crooked president in history”.
Trump boasted that he was the “only person in the history of politics who was indicted and whose poll numbers went up.” While it is certainly true that Trump’s grip on the Republican primaries has only strengthened over the past six months despite two federal and two state indictments, polls on his criminal cases are rather mixed. Most Americans believe the criminal charges against him are justified, and Trump’s conduct in these criminal cases is viewed far less favorably than that of Biden and DOJ officials.
Trump was also in South Dakota on Friday to accept the state’s governor’s endorsement, Kristi Noem, who has long been a staunch ally of Trump. “I will do everything I can to help him win and save this country,” Noem said before the former president took the stage. She added that other GOP candidates, including Vivek Ramaswamy et Tim Scott, had been invited to Friday’s event, but “everyone told us they had better things to do.” Noem’s support makes her one of the few Republican governors in the country to have supported him so far.
The early endorsement is sparking growing speculation that Noem is considering becoming Trump’s running mate. Several rally attendees seated behind Trump held up Trump/Noem 2024 signs and a Trump/Noem graphic appeared momentarily on the screen behind the stage during Noem’s speech.
Two Republican insiders familiar with Noem’s thinking told the Associated Press she planned the event to increase face-to-face time with Trump as he considers potential running mate and Cabinet choices. Time is running out for Noem, whose term is limited to 2026 and who is considering her next move to maintain her prominence in the GOP.
Trump continues to spend less time campaigning in early-voting states than most of his rivals, according to AP. But he will return to Iowa, the first state on the GOP nomination calendar, on Saturday to attend the college football game between Iowa and Iowa State.
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