Pledging to win California in 2024 – a state that hasn't gone red since 1988 – Donald Trump claimed that he will solve the border crisis within 24 hours of taking office and settle the Russian war in Ukraine "very fast" should he win the Republican nomination and be reelected president.
Trump spoke to a packed and rowdy ballroom at a Marriott hotel in Anaheim, the site of the California GOP Convention, surrounded by supporters waving Trump flags and banners saying “never surrender,” many of them wearing t-shirts featuring the former president’s mugshot.
“I’m thrilled to be in this beautiful place,” Trump said as he took the stage to chants of “USA.” “Boy, are they messing up California, but we’re thrilled to be here with the conservative patriots who are leading the charge to take back this state from the radical left lunatics.”
Promising to “make California great again,” Trump said he would win the state — despite its “rigged voting system” that provides mail-in ballots to 22 million residents in the state — and pledged to get rid of mail-in voting.
“We need fair and free elections in this country and California doesn’t have them,” he said.
“The right Republican can win, and I think can win easily," Trump boasted. "There’s no way we lose this state if there’s a real election.”
Trump said California was once a symbol of American success but it is now a symbol of the nation’s decline. “Gov. Newsom and the far-left communists in Sacramento,” he said, “have given you sanctuary cities, wide-open borders, massive homeless encampments, woke tech tyrants, rolling blackouts, child sexual mutilation and roving bands of criminals, looters and thugs, but other than that, they’re doing quite a job.”
In a wide-ranging, off-the-cuff speech, Trump railed against everything from state water restrictions that he claimed made millionaires in Beverly Hills smell bad because they're unable to take a proper shower and President Joe Biden, who he said is the most corrupt president in history. He bounced from the California drought and wildfires to gas prices, Michigan's auto workers, the stock market, COVID, electric vehicles, the border, and even Biden's ability to navigate stairs — all to often riotous applause.
Republican presidential challengers Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., are also scheduled to speak at this weekend’s convention as they attempt to solidify support in a contest that is Trump’s to lose. The former president has maintained a commanding lead for months. According to a Morning Consult poll released Wednesday, Trump has 63% support from likely Republican voters; DeSantis is in second place with 12%.
Trump’s support shows no sign of waning despite being the subject of four separate criminal indictments. The trial for an unrelated civil lawsuit is scheduled to begin in New York City on Monday. New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking $250 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing business in his home state of New York.
Trump’s talk at the GOP lunch banquet has inspired his challengers to counter-program with live events of their own Friday afternoon. DeSantis plans to livestream a campaign event in nearby Long Beach, Calif., before speaking to the California GOP convention Friday night. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also plans to livestream his appearance at a New Hampshire town hall shortly after Trump’s speech concludes.
Trump’s speech comes two days after seven of his challengers squared off in a scrum of a debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in nearby Simi Valley, Calif. Trump did not attend, opting instead to speak with workers at a non-union auto parts supplier in Michigan Wednesday night.
California is one of at least a dozen states that will hold its primary March 5 on Super Tuesday. If any candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the contender will receive all of the state’s 169 delegates, following a recent California GOP rule change. If a candidate fails to hit the 50% threshold, delegates will be proportionally awarded.
In the 2020 election, Trump lost to Joe Biden in California despite winning a record number of votes for a Republican candidate in the state: He claimed more than 6 million ballots, or 34.3% of the vote. Biden won more than 11 million votes, claiming 63.5% of the tally.
Over the course of Friday's speech, Trump made a variety of claims and brash propsals: He said looters should be shot and that he will end the war between Ukraine and Russia "very fast." He said he was the only person who can prevent World War III. He also pledged to stop federal funding for schools that have mask mandates or promote critical race theory and to hold China accountable for "unleashing the China virus."
"The USA is a mess," he said at the end of a 90-minute speech. "I make this promise to you, the great people of California. We are going to save your state. The great silent majority is rising like never before, and under our leadership, the forgotten men and women will be forgotten no longer. With your help, your love and your vote, we will put America first and we will make America great again."