Live blog: Trump holds Alaska rally to stump for Sarah Palin

Live blog: Trump holds Alaska rally to stump for Sarah Palin


Former President Donald Trump is holding one of his “Save America” rallies in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday evening to stump for former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in her bid for the state’s sole congressional seat.

The former president will also be joined by the state’s incumbent Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, as well as GOP Senate hopeful Kelly Tshibaka, who is hoping to unseat Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Murkowski, a centrist who was first elected in 2002, famously made history when she was reelected in 2010 through a write-in campaign, which made her the first senator in over 50 years to win her race in such a way.

Murkowski has drawn the ire of Trump in recent years, after voting to impeach the outgoing president in 2021 and confirming many of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees.

Palin, the former Alaska governor who has been a supporter of the former president since he entered the political arena in 2015, is running in a special election to fill the House seat vacated by Rep. Don Young (R-AK), who died in March.

Follow along here to see how the rally unfolds.

10:27 PM
Jul 9, 2022
Trump ends his speech

The former president wrapped up his speech with a more unifying and positive tone, telling the packed arena: “My fellows citizens, this incredible journey we are on together has only just begun. And it is time to start talking about greatness for our country, greatness again. We don’t talk about greatness anymore. We talk about problems, we talk about crime, we talk about taking power away from our police, we talk about a woke military. Do you believe this?”

“We are one movement, one people, one family, and one glorious American nation. So with the help of everyone here today and the citizens all across our land, we will make America powerful again, we will make America wealthy again, we will make America strong again, so strong. We will make America proud, proud, proud, proud again. We will make America safe again, and we will make America great again,” he said as Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” blared from the speakers.

10:19 PM
Jul 9, 2022
Trump takes aim at Elon Musk, claims Tesla chief said he voted for him

Trump made a quick dig at Elon Musk before ending his speech, saying he predicted that his deal to acquire Twitter would not go through before calling the billionaire tech mogul a “bulls*** artist.”

“Elon is not going to buy Twitter,” he told the crowd. “Where did you hear that before? From me.”

“No, he’s got himself a mess. You know he said the other day, ‘Oh, I’ve never voted for a Republican,’ I said: ‘I didn’t know that. He told me he voted for me.’ So he’s another bulls*** artist,” he said to screams of laughter from the audience.

“But he’s not going to be buying it. He’s not going to be buying it,” he said of his collapsing Twitter deal. “Although he might later who the hell knows what’s going to happen. He’s got a pretty rotten contract. I looked at his contract. Not a good contract.”

10:09 PM
Jul 9, 2022
The former president invites supporter on stage to show off his Trump shirt

Trump pointed out a pair of fans standing toward the front of the crowd in the 5,000 person arena and repeatedly complimented them on their shirts, which had his face plastered all over them. He then invited the two, a man and a woman, up to show off their shirts to the audience.

Once they came on stage, the former president jokingly asked the man to give him his shirt, which resulted in him taking it off in front of everyone. The woman, meanwhile, kept hers on.

10:05 PM
Jul 9, 2022
Trump wraps up slamming Democratic policies

The former president wrapped up his speech by denouncing rampant crime in cities with Democrats in charge, high energy prices and Democrats approach to buying oil from overseas, issues related to transgender youth and the inclusion of trans athletes in sports, Democratic lawmakers’ efforts to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, and the current flailing economy.

“But we are not going to let this continue,” he told the crowd, vowing that Republicans would retake both houses of Congress later this year and the White House in 2024.

9:43 PM
Jul 9, 2022
Trump continues his Murkowski criticism

“Lisa Murkowski approves the person [Deb Haaland] and that in their first day of office, wipes out ANWR. Now Lisa Murkowski said I’m not going to vote for you unless I have assurances of ANWR for Alaska,” Trump said of her vote to confirm Biden’s Interior secretary, adding that if ANWR had been protected: “They would have been paying you taxes, okay?”

“And it was wiped out in one day by Lisa Murkowski’s approval. She had the final vote. She could have made a deal, could have done something. Just remember she did it,” he told the crowd.

Trump then turned to the other times Murkowski voted against his agenda during his presidency.

“Murkowski repeatedly voted in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens and she voted against allowing funding for the border wall. She opposed Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. He just gave you the most important vote you’ve ever had, but she was against them,” the former president said. “She voted to approve Joe Biden’s radical left Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the most far left justice in history…Lisa Murkowski approved her.

“Murkowski voted to support taxpayer funded late term abortions, nine months, the baby can be born like in Virginia, remember the governor of Virginia? The baby’s born and then we’ll sit down with a mother and find out what we want to do with it. Remember that guy? Well, that’s basically what they’re approving. That’s basically what they’re doing and Murkowski voted in favor of it,” he continued.

9:33 PM
Jul 9, 2022
Trump unloads on Lisa Murkowski

Trump made repeated reference to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, first saying: “If you want to make our country safe for violent criminals, vote for the radical crazy Democrats. If you want to make it safe, for your family, your children and for law abiding Americans, you must vote Republican, and do it quickly and get Murkowski out of here because she’s not a Republican. She is not a Republican.”

Later on, he took aim at her for voting to confirm for Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who suspended action on drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge after being confirmed by the Senate.

Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) have long been supporters of ANWR drilling, but both Republicans crossed party lines to support Haaland’s nomination. Trump did not reference Sullivan’s support for Haaland, though. Instead he only called him out for his continued backing of Murkowski.

“Murkowski has been in the Senate for 21 years. Her father held a seat for 21 years before. She’s a total creature of the Washington swamp but much worse than that,” Trump said, going on to call her “a tool of a corrupt establishment the likes of which we’ve never seen. The fake news media loves her. As one of the most destructive to face RINO’s, she betrayed the Alaska voters, she wiped out ANWR.”

“This is your precious chance to dump the horrific RINO Senator Lisa Murkowski who is worse — she’s worse than a Democrat,” he told the crowd, prompting cheers. “And how Sullivan doesn’t come out and the denounce her is amazing to me.”

9:04 PM
Jul 9, 2022
Trump talks Biden’s upcoming Saudi Arabia trip

While discussing record high oil prices currently plaguing the country, the former president slammed his successor’s upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia to meet with the royal family.

“He’s going to Saudi Arabia to ask for oil,” Trump said of Biden. “He didn’t like Saudi Arabia. I did. I always liked him. But he didn’t like him. Now he’s going there and he’s asking for oil. ‘Please give us energy.'”

Him, in this case, appears to refer to Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s crown prince.

“How about last week?” He then asked the crowd. “Thousands of barrels of oil, you know where it’s going? To China.”

8:52 PM
Jul 9, 2022
Trump touts his presidential accomplishments while slamming Biden

Trump was quick to differentiate his own presidential job performance from his successor, touting the low gas prices, Supreme Court appointments, the lack of inflation during his term, and low rates of illegal immigration at the southern border.

The Biden administration, Trump said, brought the U.S. from “stability to anarchy.”

8:41 PM
Jul 9, 2022
Trump takes the stage

The former president took the stage at the American Airlines Center in Anchorage and wasted no time taking aim at Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), calling her “lousy” before saying voters would soon replace her with Kelly Tshibaka.

He also called Sarah Palin “legendary” before predicting Alaska voters would soon send her to Washington.

6:39 PM
Jul 9, 2022
Palin sets the stakes for the midterm elections

Speaking about the differences between Trump-allied Republicans and those currently holding elected office, Palin warned that the midterm elections in November are “no longer [about] Democrat versus Republican. This is all about control versus freedom. It’s good versus evil. It is a spiritual battle.”

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