Trump speech: Fox refuses to air official address as ex-president demands ‘reparations’ from China
Trump amplifies stolen election myth in rambling GOP remarks
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Your support makes all the difference.Major news networks reportedly declined to air Donald Trump‘s first public speech in months to the Republican Party of North Carolina’s annual convention on Saturday evening.
The former president appeared at the event in Greenville, North Carolina, but CNN and Fox News did not carry the speech on their networks.
Mr Trump continued to advance his “stolen election” myth, immersing himself in his denial of the results and his departure from the White House while fuelling the narrative behind a pro-Trump mob that stormed the US Capitol to overturn the votes of millions of Americans.
He also praised a partisan vote audit underway in Arizona and encouraged GOP lawmakers in Pennsylvania and Georgia to do the same.
He claimed he is trying to “save” democracy while also calling the 2020 presidential election “the crime of the century” and a “hoax” and “by far the most corrupt election in the history of our country” despite no evidence from his own campaign or administration officials, the Justice Department, FBI and elections officials from both parties across the US.
“We all know what happened with the election,” he said. “And we can never, ever let that happen again, and we’re going to go forward and we’re going to continue to look and things are being found that is not even believable.”
The former president also called on China to pay $10 trillion in reparations to the United States and the world for the coronavirus pandemic and said nations should cancel their debt to Beijing.
Mr Trump also said a criminal investigation launched by the New York attorney general’s office into his financial affairs is “the ultimate fishing expedition” and an attempt by Democrats to bring him down after he was twice impeached while in office.
“It’s been a five-year witch hunt, hoax after hoax,” said Mr Trump. “They’ll never stop until November of 2024.”
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Trump looking forward to addressing supporters in North Carolina
The former president issued a statement on Friday saying that he was excited to take to the stage again.
Mr. Trump said in a written statement on Friday that it is “a great honour to be speaking at the North Carolina GOP convention” on Saturday night.
“I understand the place will be packed, all records broken!” he said.
CNN’s Jim Acosta says Trump ‘should get help’ if he believes in August return to White House
Mr Acosta added: “You are not well sir.”
And he continued with a musical reference for the one-term president’s supporters.
“Same goes for the GOP. It’s as if much of the Republican Party is trapped in a Jimmy Buffett tune in Mar-a-Lagoville, ‘looking for that next election to assault, some people claim that there is an orange man to blame, but I know it is my own damn fault.’”
DNC attacks ‘loser president’ ahead of GOP speech
DNC Rapid Response Director and spokesperson Ammar Moussa was critical of the one-term president before he takes to the stage in Greenville.
“More than 400,000 dead Americans, millions of jobs lost, and recklessly dangerous rhetoric is apparently not enough for Republicans to break with a loser president who cost them the White House, Senate, and House,” said Mr Moussa.
Trump hints at returning to White House ‘sooner than you think’ in new video
The former president made the bizarre claim in a fundraising video for the NRSC.
“We’re gonna take back the Senate, take back the House, we’re gonna take back the White House – and sooner than you think. It’s going to be really something special,” he said.
Trump allies hoping he does not make bizarre August ‘reinstatement’ claim during speech.
People close to the ex-president have asked him to not publicly talk about his wild idea of being reinstated into office, a report says.
“I conveyed something (to Trump) to the effect of, ‘It would be a terrible idea to even say the word, ‘August’ (at Saturday’s event),’” a person who is in contact with Mr Trump told The Daily Beast.
Trump chose NC GOP convention to avoid empty seats
The former president chose to give a speech at the North Carolina GOP convention so that there was no risk of empty seats, according to former RNC spokesman Doug Heye.
“That Trump is doing a state party convention makes sense,” Mr Heye, who is a North Carolina native, told National Public Radio.
“It’s a controlled environment and doesn’t risk the empty seats he could have at a rally — no more football stadiums.”
Trump speech slated to start at 7pm ET
But the former president was late for his February speech at CPAC in Florida. We shall see how good his timekeeping is this evening.
Trump supporter shows off jacket with ex-president’s face emblazoned on it
Bobby Hanig, a representative in North Carolina’s legislature, arrived at the state GOP convention wearing a jacket covered with images of Donald Trump.
Audience at Trump speech being told to take their seats....
Sounds like the former president may be close to taking the stage, but we are still waiting for Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA to start playing...
‘Memory’ from Cats just played as Trump is running late
Apparently it is sung in the hit musical about a character’s “melancholic remembrance of her glamorous past and as a plea for acceptance.” Now we have My Heart Will Go On, the theme from Titanic. These are both new additions to the soundtrack I believe.
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