On Saturday night in the small, South Texas city of Robstown, supporters of former President Donald Trump turned out in force for a “Save America” rally.
During the rally, which drew thousands according to images posted to social media, the former president hammered Democrats over the House Jan. 6 committee. He dialed in on Republican Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger — the only two GOP lawmakers on the committee.
As he leveled sharp attacks against the two Republicans, Trump suddenly stopped speaking because the enthusiastic audience had spontaneously broken into song, singing the national anthem while the former president flashed several warm smiles and nods of approval.
Trump: “Corrupt press, they says Liz Cheney has a great future in politics. She lost by 40 points.”
Then: “Kinzinger cries every time he talks.”
Then: Crowd sings National Anthem.
Then: “USA! USA! USA!” pic.twitter.com/Tx4zvEsByK— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) October 23, 2022
“She lost by 40 points,” Trump said of Cheney’s results in the Wyoming primary election earlier this year. “The single biggest margin a congressman or woman has ever lost by in history.”
The former president trained his sights on the press, mocking members of the media for praising Cheney and predicting she would still have a successful political career. “I don’t think so,” Trump said.
“All she has is Jan. 6, she’s like obsessed,” Trump said before taking a shot at Kinzinger, who Trump said “cries, every time he talks he cries,” drawing laughter from the crowd.
Have you ever been to a Trump rally?
Trump continued his criticism of the Democrats’ Jan. 6 narrative, and as the video shows, that’s when the large crowd burst into a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” leaving Trump pleasantly surprised, according to his body language.
As The Texas Tribune noted, Trump’s South Texas rally came two days before early voting opens in the Lone Star state. It was also Trump’s first public appearance since the House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously to issue a subpoena to compel the former president to testify.
That didn’t stop the 45th president from continued attacks against the committee, telling the large audience that he believes the committee should have instead focused on what he called a “cooked, stolen election,” which Trump insists was the catalyst for the Capitol incursion in the first place.
Given the rally’s location, which is just under 150 miles from the U.S-Mexico border, Trump hit Democrats on the ongoing illegal immigration crisis, which has been devastating for small Texas towns as illegal immigrants run through all available local resources.
Trump at Robstown, Texas rally:
“Biden, Pelosi, the radical democrats spend all of our time obsessing over the borders of distance foreign nations but Americans deserve a Congress & a President who protect the borders of our nation. It’s a very simple policy, America First.” pic.twitter.com/QG5yuiliXz
— Becker News (@NewsBecker) October 23, 2022
Rally attendees confirmed what most polls have indicated in recent weeks: Voters are heading to the polls with the state of the economy top of mind.
“It’s the economy, stupid,” Kookii Crerar, a 63-year-old Texas resident, told The Texas Tribune.
Other rally attendees reacted positively when presented with the idea that Trump might run again in 2024, which he strongly hinted at during the rally when he said he’d “probably have to do it again,” with regard to getting America back on track.
TRUMP: “In order to make our Country successful, safe, and glorious again, I will probably have to do it again” pic.twitter.com/t0suR8tKHQ
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 23, 2022
In a recent Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll, Trump managed to edge out a win over President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in a hypothetical 2024 showdown, according to The Hill.
