Live Blog: Former President Trump speaks in Memphis
Former President Donald Trump delivered remarks during the “American Freedom Tour” Saturday just outside of Memphis, Tennessee.
The tour is “designed to equip conservatives across the country to Win Back America,” and it highlights what it claims are the four pillars of conservatism: “faith, family, finances and freedom.” The event is different from Trump’s “Save America” tour, where the former president holds campaign-style rallies for preferred candidates in a largely unscripted and unstructured format. Another “American Freedom” tour stop is slated for July 15 in Greensboro, North Carolina, with the former president set to attend.
Trump was joined by his son, Donald Trump Jr., his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and other conservative allies at Saturday evening’s event, which marks the former president’s second event this week after speaking at the Faith and Freedom Caucus in Nashville, Tennessee.
Follow along here for event updates as they happen.
The former president closed by offering some of his usual messages, praising the “MAGA” platform as “the greatest political movement in history.”
“I ask you to get ready to work, get ready to fight, and get ready to win, and we’re going to win like never before,” he told the crowd.
Trump turned his ire toward Twitter after calling his Truth Social platform “hot.” The former president began by saying that he thinks “Twitter is going to hell.”
“You see what’s going on with these bots and fake accounts. It’s a big scam, maybe, I don’t know. I think Elon, I think Elon wants to get out of that deal pretty badly.”
The former president was referring to billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is in discussions to purchase the social media platform. Those negotiations have faced some headwinds, including Musk demanding the company share with him the true number of fake users on the site. Nevertheless, the world’s richest man spoke to Twitter staff for the first time on Thursday.
While lambasting his successor’s much-criticized Afghanistan withdrawal, Trump also complained about Bagram Airfield, which the United States abandoned before fully evacuating troops and others.
He also alleged that China has already taken over Bagram, something that the Taliban have denied and is difficult to confirm.
After pulling no punches while talking about his presidential successor, Trump was initially met with laughs when he said, “And I hope he has recovered, because, as you know, he fell off his bicycle today.”
The former president dug in after realizing that many in the crowd were taking his comment as a joke.
“No, I’m serious. I hope he’s OK. He fell off a bicycle,” he said as the room got momentarily quiet.
Returning to a joking tone, Trump then said, “I make this pledge to you today: I will never ever ride a bicycle.”
“No, but we do hope that Biden’s OK because that was a hard fall — that was scary. That was hard. Did anybody see it? Well, we wish him well.”
He then returned his ire to Biden’s foreign policy, specifically his efforts to rejoin an Iran nuclear agreement and his troubles with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The former president took aim at comedian Bill Maher, a longtime foe. Maher, a Democrat, has made headlines in conservative news recently for his criticisms of the Left, particularly relating to “wokeness.” While remaining committed to his party, Maher has taken issue with certain facets of modern-day progressivism.
“I laugh at how foolish the Republicans are,” Trump said. “You take this guy, Bill Maher … he’s a radical-left maniac with modest television ratings, and as soon as he says something that’s a little bit modest, or temperate, Fox and others put him on to explain.”
“They play right into the hand of the enemy, it’s amazing,” he said. “I’m sure he laughs like hell at how stupid they are. They’re kissing the a** of the enemy.”
Trump says Biden has turned out to be “a combination of [former Presidents] Jimmy Carter and Herbert Hoover,” making note of recent losses in the stock market, as well as skyrocketing inflation affecting grocery and gas prices.
“In just 17 months, Joe Biden and the radical Left have turned calm into chaos, prosperity into poverty, and security into a total catastrophe,” the former president said of his successor, before going into his 2020 election fraud claims.
The former president made note of low gas prices during his administration, as well as the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and two Arab nations. The accords were spearheaded by the Trump administration and maintained by the Biden administration.
The former president has taken the stage to cheers from supporters.
Kicking off his speech, he called his “MAGA” platform a “commonsense movement,” noting that he and his supporters called for lower taxes, a stronger military, and a secure border.
Former President Donald Trump has reportedly arrived at the Landers Center, where he will headline the “American Freedom” tour. The Landers Center is in Southaven, Mississippi, about 20 minutes south of Memphis, Tennessee.
The former president is believed to be backstage at the 8,400-seat arena, speaking to event officials ahead of his remarks.
