Trump criticizes California and announces plans in Coachella speech

Former President Makes False Claims About Immigration, 2020 Election

Former President Donald Trump criticized California and its Democratic politicians during his visit to the Coachella Valley on Saturday. He called border security his biggest issue and said the U.S. is “like an occupied country” because of its current immigration policies.

Trump spoke for nearly an hour and a half before several thousand people at Calhoun Ranch in Riverside County, just outside the city of Coachella. Trump's rally also took place as the temperature in the area reached 100 degrees, although it cooled down as his speech progressed. Many of his supporters showed up hours before his speech to get good seats.

A few minutes into his speech, with the sun still shining, Trump jokingly asked the crowd whether he should put on his “Make America Great Again” hat or let them see his hair. After a moment, he said he decided to put the hat on and remarked, “The sun is hot!”

While we praised the audience's enthusiasm: “What a friendly group!” Trump exclaimed at one point – the former president did not hold back in his criticism of Democratic-run California.

“The radical left-wing Democrats have destroyed this state, but we will save it and make it better than ever,” Trump said.

Trump pointed to a litany of problems plaguing the state and blamed Democrats, particularly Gov. Gavin Newsom — or “New Scum,” as Trump said — and presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. He said he would “help working people struggling under the highest-tax state in the country” and claimed “mass illegal immigration” was a major factor “destroying California.”

He went on to say that he ranks border security and immigration as the biggest problems facing the United States, contrary to most polls that show the economy is Americans' top concern.

“I think the border is number one because you know, there are things we can fix that we can do, but what they did to our country at the border is unbelievable,” Trump said.

Immigration was the main topic of the first half hour of Trump's speech. When he called for the death penalty for “any migrant who kills an American citizen,” he received loud applause.

“And if they come back to our country after we've kicked them out so far, you wouldn't believe it,” he said. “But if they come back to our country, they automatically face ten years in prison with no chance…” And if that doesn’t work, it’s 20 years. And if that doesn’t work, you could face the death penalty.”

Trump also repeatedly referenced claims taken by Venezuelan gangs at apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, which local leaders and media outlets have debunked. He drew loud applause when he said he would use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to “target and dismantle every criminal migrant network operating on American soil,” and said he would call that effort “Operation Aurora ” to name.

He later said that the number of students from “illegal immigrant households” had increased in Los Angeles schools, adding, “These people are from another planet.”

Trump added – without details – that he plans to bring Los Angeles and San Francisco back and “make them safe, clean and beautiful.” He tried to link the problems in the latter city to Harris, who was elected chief prosecutor there from 2004 to 2011.

“Kamala is turning us into a third world nation – that’s what happened in San Francisco,” he said. “When she was DA in San Francisco, she started this whole decline with the things she did.”

His campaign also played a video compilation of news clips detailing acts of violence committed by immigrants. The video was one of three shown during the rally. One showed Harris' recent comments that she couldn't think of anything she would do differently than President Joe Biden, and another criticized LGBTQ issues in today's U.S. military.

Trump also reiterated many of his tax policy proposals — eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits, as well as making auto loan interest tax deductible — and said he would give “big tax cuts for workers,” without giving details.

The trip to Coachella was part of a West Coast shift for Trump, who held a rally in Aurora, Colorado, on Friday and planned to hold another in Prescott Valley, Arizona, on Sunday. More than an hour into his speech, former President Donald Trump pointed out friends and former colleagues in the audience, several of whom spoke from the stage in the hours before Trump's arrival.

California U.S. Reps. Darrell Issa and Ken Calvert and Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida were in attendance, as was Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. Trump also called out Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson, and former Trump administration officials Kash Patel, Robert O'Brien and Ric Grenell. (Trump also mentioned “chiefs” of Native American tribes, but did not name any. He also thanked “farmers.”)

During his speech, Trump attacked California's environmental policies, such as its mandate to sell only electric vehicles by 2035 – a policy he said he would stop without explaining how. He falsely claimed that California experiences blackouts and blackouts due to energy shortages “every weekend, every day.” (Trump also didn't mention the Palm Springs windmills, which he has often criticized in the past when discussing wind energy.)

Trump also criticized California's water policy and said he had spoken to Newsom about potentially using more water than the state was allowing to flow into the Pacific Ocean. In return, he repeated an earlier threat he had made: that he would withhold federal funding for wildfires if Newsom didn't agree.

“We will take care of your water situation and force it on (Newsom),” Trump said. “And we're going to say, 'Gavin, if you don't do it, we're not going to give you any of the fire money that we keep sending you for the wildfires.'”

He also criticized California Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Adam Schiff, calling him a major “lowlife.” Trump said Schiff “made up the Russian hoax” and then immediately criticized Schiff's appearance after declaring he would not do so.

“He’s one of the least attractive people I’ve ever seen,” Trump said. “He has the smallest neck I've ever seen, his neck is so small and his head is so big that there's not much stopping him.”

Trump, who is known for bragging about the number of people at his events, once appeared to suggest that over 100,000 people were in attendance.

“A lot of people said they would have 10,000, maybe 20,000, but they didn't say 100,000,” he said.

Although the crowd was well into the thousands, it was unclear how many people were present. However, a permit issued by Riverside County for the event limited capacity to 15,000, according to county officials.

One of the loudest reactions from the crowd came when Trump said he would “support universal school choice and we will banish critical race theory and transgender madness from our schools.”

“And we’re going to keep men out of women’s sports,” he said to more applause, an apparent reference to the controversy surrounding transgender athletes.

During the speech, Trump also reiterated some of his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, while encouraging his supporters to make this year's voting margin “too big to manipulate.” He also suggested without evidence that California's voting system was operating improperly, saying election officials were “sending ballots everywhere.”

Trump also said he would suppress “violent crime” and give police the support, protection, resources and respect they deserve.

“Our police are incredible, they want to do their job,” he said. “They are not allowed to do that when thugs break into a department store.”

He also said he would “abolish all sanctuary cities,” including in California, and modernize and strengthen the military.

At the end of the speech, Trump returned to the theme of “taking back the nation” and said, “I will give you your life back. “Everyone will succeed and every family will prosper and every day will be full of opportunity.”

“Together we will make America powerful again,” he said. “We will make America rich again, we will make America healthy again.” We will make America strong.

“We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again, and we will make America great again,” he concluded to enthusiastic cheers from the crowd.

Desert Sun staff contributed to this report.

Tom Coulter covers the cities of Palm Desert, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells. Reach him at [email protected]. Paul Albani-Burgio covers growth, development and business in the Coachella Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and email him at [email protected].

Trump criticizes California and announces plans in Coachella speech

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Former President Makes False Claims About Immigration, 2020 Election

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