Eric Trump thanked Flynn for his commitment to the Trump presidential campaign. Flynn was convicted on criminal charges after he admitted to lying to the FBI about his communications with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. He was later pardoned by Trump.
âWhat theyâve done since then they went after him [Flynn] â they tried to destroy his life. They tried to destroy his family, they tried to keep him down,â Trump said. âThe guy is still standing on this stage and I canât tell you how much courage that takes.â
The event featured dozens of other speakers including pastors, anti-vaccination advocates and individuals supporting QAnon conspiracy theories and selling
books of prophecy.
The Christian organization Faithful America said it has sponsored a mobile billboard near the conference âcalling attention to the dangers of the tour and its Christian nationalism.â The group has also done so at other ReAwaken America events since 2022.
âJesus teaches us a path of love, truth and peace, yet unholy Christian nationalism hijacks his name for bigotry, disinformation, and political violence,â said the Rev. Nathan Empsall, executive director of Faithful America. âThe ReAwaken America Tour might feature baptisms and praise music, but donât let that fool you: The eventâs real goal is spreading conspiracy theories, election denial and even political violence throughout Michigan and beyond in order to elect Donald Trump and other MAGA Republicans, no matter how much they have to drag the church through the mud to make that happen.â
Hands were raised and hymns were sung at the
revival meeting-style event calling for donations for conservative causes. Speakers said Democrats had declared âwar on Godâ and called for bringing back Donald Trump, who they said was Godâs chosen president, to the White House.
Last month,
a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felonies related to a scheme during the 2016 election to cover up hush money payments to a porn star who had publicly said the two had an affair.
Democrats are grasping at straws, making a farce of the legal system, indicting a billionaire for a $130,000 payment made to a lawyer as a legal expense years ago, Eric Trump said at the event.
âI was in that courtroom almost every single day and guys, you wouldnât believe the corruption that we have in this country?â said Trump, who attended some of the trial. âIâm in that courtroom and you want to talk about a rigged system? A judge thatâs just sitting there, his daughterâs apparently making an absolute fortune. So many people have looked into her life, she raises a fortune for the Democrats in New York right. So this is the daughter of the judge. The judge isnât allowing any witness on the stand. Literally like denying every witness.â
The judge presiding over Trumpâs New York indictment, Juan Merchan, placed a gag order in Trumpâs case after he went after his daughter, Loren Merchan, who has done fundraising for Democratic political candidates.
CNN reports that a screenshot asserting to be from her LinkedIn page said she had been âthe director of digital persuasion for now-Vice President Kamala Harrisâ 2020 presidential campaign.â
Trumpâs attempts to disqualify the judge due to his daughterâs political affiliation were unsuccessful.
The vitriol and weaponization of the legal system has been âtortureâ for the whole Trump family. And the case in New York, one of four total criminal indictments Trump is facing, is illustrating how rigged the judicial system has become, Eric Trump said.
âYou would end the suffering and the torture and the weaponization of government so damn quickly, if he just said, âIâm not going to run,ââ Trump said. â⌠The problem is thatâs exactly what these crooked people want. ⌠If we let them get away with this stuff, this is going to be their game plan for the rest of eternity â it probably is anyway. What theyâre gonna do is theyâre just going to politically crucify every single person that isnât a part of their little establishment, thatâs not part of their little ecosystem. And thank God that he [Donald Trump] had the backbone. ⌠Heâs created the greatest political movement this country has ever seen. Thereâs no question about it.â
Both of Donald Trumpâs impeachments while he was president are âbadges of honor,â Eric Trump asserted. His father is flicking âthe hornets nestâ in Washington, D.C., and is challenging government.
âJust the positive attitude that he kept, I mean, unbelievable. The guyâs unbelievable. Heâs got backbone of absolute steel ⌠didnât faze him,â Trump said.
After the guilty verdict, Donald Trump raised $34.2 million by the end of the day, Eric Trump said.
âSometimes when they kick you the hardest â and Iâve seen this time and time again and time and time again â itâs the law of unintended consequences,â Trump said. âWho would have ever thought that out of 34 indictments, you could raise [a total of] over $300 million, which is more money than we raised in all of the 2016 campaign ⌠if you donât believe that that is God looking down?â
Another speaker was Giuliani, who ran a Michigan House Oversight hearing in December 2020 in which he told lawmakers they could overturn the presidential election that Donald Trump lost to President Joe Biden. Giuliani has been
in hot water in numerous cases ranging from sexual assault to interfering with the 2020 election.
But despite his own legal troubles, notably
being ordered by a judge to pay $150 million to Georgia election workers he defamed, Giuliani still is calling attention to what he sees are injustices in Trumpâs indictments.
Giuliani zeroed in on the judgeâs instruction to the jury in the New York case that the jury didnât have to unanimously agree on how the crime was committed.
There has been rhetoric that the judge instructed the jury that they did not have to be unanimous in their decision to convict. This is not true, as the jury was instructed that they didnât have to agree on some of the details of the case, but the verdict had to be unanimous.
âIâve tried and been involved in over 100 criminal cases; it was unthinkable to me that you could have not a unanimous verdict. Things have happened in the last four or five years, where I wake up in the morning, and I say, âWhat do you mean?ââ Giuliani said.
Biden and Democrats are borrowing from communist philosopher Karl Marx on how to take over a nation, Giuliani said.
âFirst, Biden took God out of schools and government to establish loyalty to only him,â Giuliani said. And now, in Bidenâs quest for a âdictatorship,â heâs trying to keep parents out of medical decisions for minor children, referring to gender-affirming care for kids, Giuliani said.
âThe next thing you got to do is you got to get those kids early. Hitler and Stalin preferred about two years old, because you want to make them property of the state. And havenât they done that? When you can mutilate a minor child and the teacher and the doctor and the politician can decide, and the parent doesnât even get told,â Giuliani said.
Eric Trump and Giuliani both talked about America needing a fighter and a cheerleader. Giuliani said former President Barack Obama didnât love America, but Donald Trump is bringing back pride in America.
âTo be a great president, even to be a good president, who has a hard job, you have to love America. You have to love the whole idea of America, the whole concept of America,â Giuliani said.
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.
