Trump looks to 2022 with the return rally

Donald Trump has held his first rally since leaving the White House on Saturday night, addressing thousands of supporters in a free speech at a trade fair in northeastern Ohio that the former U.S. president has billed as the “first rally of the 2022 elections”.

“My fellow Americans, our move is far from over,” Trump told a crowd of fans in Wellington, Ohio, a small rural town 30 miles southwest of Cleveland. “In fact, our struggle has only just begun.”

Trump, who did not rule out running for president in 2024, reiterated his false claims that the 2020 elections were “stolen” in a 90-minute speech boasting of the successes of his administration. and snatched his successor Joe Biden.

“It puts America first.” We put America first, “Trump said.” It’s very simple. Very, very simple. “

“We won the election twice,” Trump added, in a reference to the 2016 and 2020 elections, before hinting at a possible third run in the White House: “And it’s possible that we’ll win a third time. It’s possible. “

Saturday’s “Save America” rally in Lorain County, Ohio – a region where white working-class voters have supported Barack Obama but have become increasingly conservative and pro-Trump in recent years years – marked the former president’s return to the campaign track after several months of relative silence.

It unfolded in Biden’s inauguration and was banned by most social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, after Jan. 6, when crowds of its supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and they interrupted Biden’s Electoral College victory certification. The riots left five people, including a Capitol police officer, dead.

Trump made few mentions on Saturday of the January 6 siege, but continued to reiterate his claims without proof that last year’s U.S. election was full of fraud and fraud against him.

“You have to look back.” We will win the elections in 2020. Who the hell knows what will happen in 2024? “the former president said in chants of‘ Trump has won! Trump has won! “from the public.

Trump has ordered the crowd to back up a list of what he called “America’s First Patriots” ahead of next year’s midterm elections, when control of the House of Representatives and Senate the United States will be on track.

Trump has approved several candidates ahead of Republican primary contests that are expected to be a key one proof of its lasting influence on party voters.

On Saturday, he shared the stage with Max Miller, a former White House aide who is running against Anthony González, an incumbent Republican from Ohio who was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him. Trump for his role in the January 6 riots. Trump also backed Mike Carey, a former Republican coal lobbyist, in a special election to be held in a congressional district near the end of the year.

While Trump’s return rally was anticipated by many of his most ardent fans, Saturday’s event was poorly attended by Republican lawmakers and other establishment figures.

Mike DeWine, a Republican governor of Ohio, declined to participate, as did Rob Portman, the Republican who represents the state in the U.S. Senate who said he would resign at the end of his term. next year.

Trump was instead introduced Saturday night by two of the most divided members of Congress: Georgia MP Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ohio MP Jim Jordan. Greene was fired from his Congressional committee duties earlier this year for his approval of QAnon and other conspiracy theories.

Trump’s return rally came just a day after it was announced that the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, could face criminal charges by Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance just next week. On Thursday, Trump’s family business lawyers were warned of possible charges related to the company’s accounting for fringe benefits.