Donald Trump rallies near Coachella, although he will almost certainly lose California – Orange County Register

That’s a huge group of potential volunteers to work state races and participate in phone banks to the most competitive states. Trump has attracted media attention in the Los Angeles market, the nation’s second-largest.

Trump visited the Coachella Valley between stops in Nevada, earlier Saturday at a Las Vegas roundtable for Latinos – where he praised Latinos for being “so energetic” – and Arizona at a Sunday rally in Prescott Valley. In 2020, he narrowly lost those two swing states to Democrat Joe Biden.

Attendees, who waited in scorching temperatures of up to 30 degrees Fahrenheit, said they didn’t expect Trump to win their state but were excited to see him.

“It’s like a convention of like-minded people,” said Tom Gibbons of Palm Desert, who has supported Trump since 2016 but wasn’t able to meet him in person until Saturday while waiting in line. “Everyone understands the heartbeat of America and the plight of the working man… It’s reassuring.”

Going to California gives Trump “an opportunity to attract and capitalize on a large population of Trump supporters,” said Tim Lineberger, who was Trump’s campaign communications director in Michigan in 2016 and also worked in the former president’s administration. “He comes here and activates it.”

Lineberger recalled that in 2016, Californians called Michigan voters on Trump’s behalf and said the campaign’s decision to move into safe Democratic territory was an “aggressive and offensive play” at that point.

California is also a source of campaign money for both parties, and Trump will be a fundraiser. Photos with the former president at the Coachella event are valued at $25,000 and include special seating for two. The “VIP experience” was valued at $5,000.

On Saturday evening, Trump, speaking for 80 minutes, went through the standard list of Republican complaints about the Democrat-dominated state – the large number of illegal immigrants in the US, the homeless population and a thicket of regulations – and engaged in a battle over water rights that threatened the Delta’s stench that pitted environmentalists against farmers. .

The former president was particularly harsh on illegal immigration, warning at one point: “Your children are in danger. You can’t go to school with these people, they are from another planet.”

He continued his long-running spat with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom Trump called “the new scum.” Trump again threatened Newsom over the water rights fight, saying that if he doesn’t act in favor of farmers, “we’re not going to give you any of that fire money that we keep sending you for all the wildfires that you have.”

During his speech, Trump introduced famous supporters of the event.

They included Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is considering a 2026 run for governor, and Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, who is running a hard-fought re-election campaign against Democrat Will Rollins. He also singled out actors Dennis and Randy Quaid.

Republicans had previously listed a number of potential reasons for Trump’s visit.

With congressional races likely to determine which party takes control of the House, the Coachella-area rally “is a get-out-the-vote type event that motivates and energizes Republicans in California when they are not as close to events in national campaign,” said Republican consultant Tim Rosales.

Jim Brulte, former chairman of the California Republican Party, said he thought Trump was pursuing something that had eluded him in previous campaigns: winning more total votes than his Democratic opponent.

“I believe Donald Trump is coming to California because he wants to win not only the Electoral College but also the popular vote. “California has more registered voters than residents in 46 of the other 49 states,” Brulte said.

Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles is located on the Pacific Coast, south of the city. But Trump has long had a contentious relationship with California, where no Republican has held the state since 1988 and Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by about 2-to-1.

During his time in office, California has been rife with the so-called Trump resistance, and Trump often portrays California as representative of everything he sees as wrong with America. As president, he called the homelessness crises in Los Angeles and San Francisco shameful and threatened to intercede.

On Wednesday, Newsom predicted that Trump would denigrate his state at a rally, ignoring its strengths as the world’s fifth-largest economy. The governor said that for the first time in a decade, California has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state.

“You know, that’s not what Trump will say,” he predicted.

Originally published: October 12, 2024 at 20:18