Donald Trump had a public therapy session disguised as a campaign rally on Saturday night.
The former leader of the free world listed his numerous grievances, pushed ridiculous conspiracy theories, lied about his record in office, and complained about his perceived enemies during a long-winded speech in Ohio.
Trump painted a dystopian picture of Joe Biden's administration, which he argued is destroying America.
TRUMP: "After just five months the Biden administration is already a complete and total catastrophe. I told you."\n\n"Joe Biden is destroying our nation, right before our very own eyes."pic.twitter.com/slJxJEijJQ— Newsmax (@Newsmax) 1624752411
"We will take back the House and we will take back the Senate and we will take back America and we will do it soon," Trump promised.
Trump's speech was loaded with red meat for his base, but short on facts.
"Didn't they send out 38 million ballots in California?" Trump asked, even though the actual number was 21 million, but he suggested a true counting of the blue state might show that he won.
Trump repeated his debunked delusions about the 2020 election, which he complained that he had been winning before all the votes were counted.
The former reality TV star even accused President Biden of violating his oath of office.
Here\u2019s a blurry Trump accusing Biden of violating his oathpic.twitter.com/aUeY50GKHv— Acyn (@Acyn) 1624753134
Trump whined about "woke generals" in the armed forces, saying he prefers "real generals." In fact, he even complained about his own staff.
"We had great people working for me, and we had some real losers too," Trump admitted.
Trump supporters chanted "CNN sucks" as he complained about the press.
And Trump said China owes America "trillions and trillions" of dollars in "reparations" and he falsely claimed that Lafayette Square was not cleared for his photo-op.
Trump also went on a bizarre rant imaging what Hillary Clinton might be thinking if she were ignorant enough to believe his "Big Lie" about election fraud.
TRUMP: \u201c@HillaryClinton is the single most unhappy person in the United States.\u201d\n\nCROWD: \u201cLOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!\u201d\n\n#TrumpRallypic.twitter.com/J7KGjsScfI— Steven Cheung (@Steven Cheung) 1624756387
The former commander-in-chief also lashed out at the Pentagon.
"The military brass have become weak and ineffective leaders and our enemies are watching and they're laughing," he charged.
Many of Trump's comments were indecipherable for those who are deeply plugged into right-wing media, but Trump assumed his supporters were up-to-date on Fox News conspiracy theories.
More than one-hour into his speech, Trump praised disgraced MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and the crowd gave Lindell a standing ovation.
Through it all, Trump kept returning to his lies about the 2020 election, which was decisively won by Joe Biden. But Trump just keep pushing the "Big Lie"
"I am ashamed of our Supreme Court," Trump said. "I am ashamed."
"If you win Ohio and if you Florida, you win," Trump argued, despite the two states only having 47 Electoral Votes combined, while 270 are needed to win.
"This was the crime of the century and this was the scam of the century," Trump lied to his supporters. "They used COVID in order to cheat. They used COVID in order to rig the election and in order to steal the election — they used COVID. That's as simple as it gets."
Here is some of what people were saying about Trump's speech, which lasted more than 90 minutes:
This could be the first Trump rally since January 4 that doesn't end in an angry mob storming the legislative seat of the US government.https://twitter.com/meridithmcgraw/status/1408939442505760770\u00a0\u2026— Anthony Zurcher (@Anthony Zurcher) 1624755350
Wishing the best of luck to the FBI agents staking out tonight\u2019s Trump Rally. https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/capitol-violence\u00a0\u2026— The Lincoln Project (@The Lincoln Project) 1624749229
Carrying Trump's speech tonight live --\n\nC-SPAN\nNewsmax TV\nOne America News Network\n\nFox News is airing Life Liberty & Levin/Watters' World (pre-recorded)— Medium Buying (@Medium Buying) 1624752360
ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, MSNBC and Fox \u201cNews\u201d aren\u2019t airing trump\u2019s hate rally.— Scott Dworkin (@Scott Dworkin) 1624752898
Everything with Trump is still about who likes him and who doesn\u2019t.— Stuart Rothenberg (@Stuart Rothenberg) 1624754630
Is this speech what they mean by Trump Wine?— Michael Beschloss (@Michael Beschloss) 1624755145
So far Donald Trump's 'Save America' tour speech in Ohio is a almost a clone of his CPAC speech from a few months ago. He's riffing on: Border control, education, MS13, election fraud— Joe Lynam (@Joe Lynam) 1624752689
Trump: \u201cYou have to know what took place in 2020 before you can vote in 2022 and 2024.\u201d\n\nTrump\u2019s midterm strategy appears to be completely focused on looking backwards at 2020— Will Steakin (@Will Steakin) 1624756932
Who ordered the dementia-dressed word salad with extra superlatives and a side of incomprehensible drivel?https://twitter.com/acyn/status/1408945883652124675\u00a0\u2026— Angry Staffer (@Angry Staffer) 1624754532
Trump\u2019s speech? \u201cMurders, rapes, rioting, looting, stolen elections happening everywhere, all the time, nonstop in America. Nothing but carnage. Everywhere you look.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s about it. I\u2019m gonna go play with the dogs.— Joe Walsh (@Joe Walsh) 1624752974
Watching this rally is such a grotesquerie. Trump is just so off-the-rails absurd, but he was more than willing to exploit the Right\u2019s ideological rot and white supremacist paranoia, and so he now controls a cult that may be completely lost in an alternate, weaponized reality.— Jared Yates Sexton (@Jared Yates Sexton) 1624755429
"I'm not the one trying to undermine American democracy, I'm the one trying to save American democracy," says the ex-President trying to undermine American democracy— j.d. durkin (@j.d. durkin) 1624756886
Hello from Wellington, OH at a Trump rally where Pam here tells me, \u201cJesus Christ would have to come down and tell me that Biden won before I would ever believe it.\u201d\n\nTrump\u2019s expected to speak at 7pmpic.twitter.com/j9EkMpMHg3— Kadia Goba (@Kadia Goba) 1624737811
Trump keeps complaining about the "fake news" and pointing to the media but as far as I can tell, the only channels carrying the #TrumpRally live are OANN and Newsmax. Fox News isn't. CNN and MSNBC definitely aren't.— Sarah Rumpf (@Sarah Rumpf) 1624755230
Donald Trump defends @RudyGiuliani: "He was the greatest Mayor in the history of [New York City] ... and this is the way they treat him."\n\n"It's a very very sad, and very very dangerous time for our country."pic.twitter.com/Vz2CvLjtNd— Newsmax (@Newsmax) 1624757612
At the Trump rally in northeast OH where My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell is being treated like a rock star. Chants of \u201cMike! Mike! Mike!\u201d Lindell has made overturning the elex a personal crusade and is being sued for defamation for pushing conspiracy theories Dominion stole the elex.pic.twitter.com/E6PQs2CQJW— Meridith McGraw (@Meridith McGraw) 1624743218
trump is still advocating for hydroxychloroquine, which he didn't use when he got covid.— hasanabi (@hasanabi) 1624755260
This type of ridiculous, breathless media hyperbole is part of what brought Trump to power.\n\nThere were more people at the NYC Dyke March today than are in Trump\u2019s audience.https://twitter.com/meridithmcgraw/status/1408939442505760770\u00a0\u2026— Leah McElrath \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Leah McElrath \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1624754754
Trump as usual ends with the song "YMCA", a completely inappropriate song for him even during Pride Month. Try "Highway to Hell". That fits. #OhioRally #revengetour— Larry Sabato (@Larry Sabato) 1624757613
