PHOENIX, Arizona – Thousands of people turned out for a town hall event by Turning Point USA with former President Donald Trump Thursday afternoon at Dream City Church in north Phoenix. Trump and Turning Point CEO Charlie Kirk were the sole speakers at the “Chase the Vote” event, urging patriots to make the margin of victory in the 2024 election “too big to rig.” The rest of the event focused heavily on illegal immigration, highly critical of the Biden administration’s record.
Trump’s last visit to the state was 18 months ago. One attendee told The Arizona Sun Times that when they arrived at 8 a.m., over 4,000 people were already in line. Outside temperatures reached 108 degrees, and vendors with water and drinks were sprinkled throughout the church property. The event officially began at 2 p.m., but Kirk came out a little after noon and spoke in advance of Trump’s appearance. The crowd held up signs with Trump’s mugshot on them.
Trump began his speech by denouncing the lawfare against him. He said the impeachments and court cases are what he doesn’t want to say, “bull***.” The crowd responded by chanting, “bull****, bull****!” He said, “It’s all fake. Everything is fake,” referring to the impeachments and lawfare against him.
Trump gave a strong endorsement of Kari Lake for the U.S. Senate, discussing how the machines broke down only for Republicans in her gubernatorial race. “Kari Lake is going to be your next senator,” he said. The crowd went wild, cheering for her.
He mentioned some of his other endorsements, including Abe Hamadeh for Congress in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.
Trump declared, “Joe Biden is the worst president in the history of the United States!” He denounced Biden’s border policies as causing the “largest invasion in history” and said he would reverse all of Biden’s border policies as president. He said border crossings were up 1,000 percent in May over a year ago in May 2023, which was up 1,000 percent over May 2022.
The former president announced that he is leading with Hispanic voters in polling. Ridiculing Biden, he said, “You know what my catch and release was, I released them in Mexico.” He called Biden’s policies “a deliberate demolition of our sovereignty and our borders,” reasoning that it is “probably” for “votes.”
Noting that it was the anniversary of D-Day, Trump said he has a 92 percent approval rating with veterans. “I ran for president because I saw such stupidity, and I won because of you here,” he said to great applause.
“Arizona is being turned into a dumping ground for the dungeons of the Third World all coming in,” he said. Trump added that crime is down in Venezuela by 72 percent since they are releasing felons from prisons and allowing them to leave for the U.S. He added that countries around the world are emptying out their mental institutions and sending the patients here.
Trump said he doesn’t blame Third World leaders for sending them to the U.S. “They get cell phones, they get hospitalization, yeah, they get education, even though they can’t speak a word of English and taking the seats of people…” he said.
If he were to win, Trump said during his 2024 administration, “We will not be apologizing to illegal alien criminals. … With his actions on the border, Joe Biden is the ringleader of one of the most violent criminal conspiracies of all time, aiding and abetting human traffickers, child smugglers, and terrorists.”
Trump pointed out that the average drug dealer will kill 500 people over their lifetime and that 300,000 a year die from the drug smuggling problem. He said the solution is to enforce the death penalty for those smuggling fentanyl over the border.
When Trump found out that former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was in the audience, he called him up on stage to a standing ovation. Trump referred to the longtime sheriff, who was defeated in 2018 after left-wing billionaire George Soros poured $2 million to support his Democratic opponent, as “170 years old.” Arpaio is 91 and running for mayor of Fountain Hills. Arpaio said Trump called him seven times to check on his late wife when she had cancer. Trump and Arpaio became friends when they investigated former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate together several years ago.
Trump lambasted the Biden administration for allowing 88,000 children to go missing. He said many of them are dead. He said the open border is “economic warfare” on the country, hurting minorities, and union workers. He noted that black employment is down 6 percent under Biden. “Joe Biden puts illegal aliens first, he puts the cartels first,” Trump said.
He explained why he was indicted. “The only thing I did wrong was I beat somebody that I wasn’t supposed to beat — we won the election … they use COVID to cheat,” he said.
Trump spoke directly to the Christians at the church. He said Evangelicals, Christians, and gun owners “don’t vote like they should.”
Next, he addressed the economy and inflation. He said that although Americans make the same amount of money under the Biden administration stretches half as far as the grocery store. Trump held up two boxes of Tic Tacs, demonstrating how the newer one was about half the size of the older box.
Trump discussed foreign policy.
“I was a radical for not having wars,” he said. He said the Biden administration has gotten the U.S. involved in “endless wars and people don’t even want us.” He said, “Europe should pay a lot more.” He said he got Europe to pay a lot more for NATO.
“But they would always say Trump is gonna get us into war … nope, my attitude kept us out of war. We defeated ISIS, totally defeated ISIS,” the former president said.
He addressed energy. “I’m a big fan of electric cars. I’m a fan of Elon, I like you. You want to buy electric cars but if you want to buy a different type of car, you’re gonna have to have a choice,” Trump said.
He pointed out that electric cars don’t go very far. “They said they want us to switch to electric trucks. They have to stop six times going to California with a load of diesel.”
Trump directed people to trumpforce47.com to sign up for volunteering on his campaign.
The first attendee to ask Trump a question, a Latino woman, said she grew up near the border and saw “firsthand how a secure border has impacted my family and our community.” She asked what could be done about the drugs being brought over the border.
Trump responded, “I created the safest border in history. … We’re going to stop this whole thing with human trafficking, which is to make your homeland safe for you to stay with your family with thousands of people pouring in, and look into your windows and what they’re doing here in Texas. And by the way, the governor of Texas has done a very good job of closing the door, and in California, 82 percent of the people coming in are from California, Arizona, so we’re gonna have to close it up.”
A black pastor named Peter asked Trump what he would do about the cost of everything increasing, especially gas. He thanked Trump “for tapping into the greater grace,” prompting cheers and clapping.
Trump told him there should be a pipeline from Texas to Pennsylvania and said under his administration, he would “get energy costs down to less than 50 percent of what they are now.”
A man named Sasha Avos, who owns a Mexican restaurant in Tucson, told Trump, “Latinos really do you love you, Mr. President,” sparking thunderous applause.
Jeanette Garcia, who is running for Avondale City Council, introduced herself as an Army combat veteran, a former federal police officer, and a survivor of sexual assault.
“I’m a single mother and the crime rate’s rising,” she said. “I’m really worried about the safety of our communities and families. What specific steps are you planning to take to tackle and make our community safe again?”
Trump responded, “We have to back our police.” The crowd roared.
He said the “minority communities” are the ones most affected by crime, which is why that’s one of the reasons we have so many African American people supporting us. … They’re leaving the Democrats in numbers that nobody’s ever seen before.”
Another Latino named Jose asked Trump what to do about all the illegal immigrants getting government assistance. Trump said, “It’s not sustainable.” He said countries are sending them to the U.S. because “they’re smart. … Send them to the stupid people in the United States who are led by idiots.”
In his speech, Kirk said he’d never seen the MAGA base so revved up. He denounced the jury verdict against Trump several days ago in the “hush money” case. He said Trump raised $200 million after the conviction.
“Trump is only guilty of doing what he said he would do,” he said. When Kirk announced that former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, who hosts the popular War Room show, was ordered to report to prison on July 1 for refusing to comply with the Democrats’ January 6 Committee subpoenas, the crowd erupted in deafening boos.
Kirk said every time the Left repeatedly says “democracy” they mean “oligarchy.” He said since they can’t win, they are using indictments and cheating to win, so the election needs to be made too big to rig, referring to chasing enough ballots to give Trump a commanding victory. Turning Point USA has launched a huge effort in this area, focusing on swing states.
Watch the event:
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times, The Tennessee Star, and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
