PHOENIX — Former President Donald Trump called President Biden’s border-tightening executive order “bulls–t” as he rallied Arizona supporters at a Thursday town hall exactly a week after a Manhattan jury found him guilty in the Stormy Daniels hush-money trial.
“Joe, you’re fired!” Trump exclaimed to a crowd of more than 3,000 at Dream City Church in north Phoenix, the first event he’s held since the conviction on 34 counts related to falsifying business records.
At least 11 attendees were hospitalized after waiting in line outside in 100-plus-degree heat.
Turning Point Action and the Turning Point Political Action Committee hosted the town hall to promote their “Chase the Vote” effort, aimed at hiring field representatives to turn out low-propensity voters who would likely cast Republican ballots, primarily in Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia.
“The election is now bigger than Donald Trump, it is now about a civilization,” Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk said, addressing voters who may be hesitant to vote for the former president.
“This is a class struggle. This is a struggle between the ruling class and you,” he added.
Trump focused largely on immigration in his speech before taking questions from the audience.
Talking about the southern border, he said, “In 2016, it was beautiful by comparison. But we’ll fix it again.”
At the event’s conclusion, he mused it was “so interesting” that most of the questions related to border security and the economy.
Trump said his successor’s immigration policy has been a “heinous and criminal obliteration of our southern border,” and his recent executive order is “bullsh-t” — leading the crowd to chant the word, though the ex-prez had said he didn’t “like using the word” in “front of these people.”
He declared that Biden’s “open border” policies would be scrapped on Day One if he is re-elected.
Arizona’s Tucson Sector is one of the border’s busiest with 373,220 documented encounters so far in fiscal year 2024, per US Customs and Border Protection data.
“I tell you, it’s so sad to see what’s happened here,” Trump said about the Grand Canyon State.
“I have to say Arizona is turning into a dumping ground for the dungeons of the third world.”
Trump also touched on the Manhattan verdict, saying he dealt “with a highly conflicted judge where there was no crime.”
State Democratic leaders held a news conference on behalf of the Biden campaign Thursday morning ahead of Trump’s visit to the Valley.
“It’s jarring and yet somehow unsurprising to me that on his first visit to our state in two years, Trump’s sole mission today is not to win over Arizonans — but to raise money, undermine our democratic institutions, and promote political extremism,” Arizona Democratic Party Chairwoman Yolanda Bejarano said. “Voters across Arizona will face a stark reminder of why they rejected Trump in 2020 when he brings his campaign of revenge and retribution to the state, and we will continue to reject him.”
Arizona is a critical battleground in the 2024 presidential election, with the swing state being nearly evenly split among registered Republicans, Democrats and independents.
Trump narrowly lost to Biden by 10,457 votes in 2020, and it will likely come down to voters in the Phoenix area once again.