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Aremote rural airport in Michigan, a huge plane landed as music from the Tom Cruise movie Top Gun blared from the speakers. The late afternoon sunlight glinted off the five giant gold letters on the side of the plane – “TRUMP” – and its Rolls Royce engines. A red-clad crowd roared as the plane taxied to a stop behind a blue “TRUMP” chair.
A door opened and men with dark glasses and dark suits of what Donald Trump what they would call “central casting” made their way down the stairs. “Trump! Trump!” chanted the crowd, raising hundreds of camera phones in eager anticipation. Great Balls of Fire, Macho Man and YMCA blasted. Finally, the former and would-be president emerged, clapping and waving his fists to cheers and cheers and Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA.
How different a warm hug is from Trump’s recent experience as a criminal defendant in a cold, dirty New York courtroom. In those days, threatened with prison, he looks old, vulnerable and small. Back on the campaign trail, it’s all about hyper-masculine energy and grandeur—big plane, big crowds, big promises and big lies.
Trump had spent Tuesday in the now grimly familiar courtroom routine of being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a secret payment of money to adult film star Stormy Daniels. But court was out of session on Wednesday, freeing him to receive a fresh dose of praise from his fans.
The 77-year-old targeted two of the most important battleground states, holding rallies first in Waukesha, Wisconsin, then in Freeland, Michigan, where the rolling farmland, farms and silos are a world away from Manhattan’s skyscrapers. Instead of a gag order that he violated, resulting in a fine, Trump had the freedom to let it rip with a stream of consciousness both vile (“nonsense,” “bullshit”) and detached from the facts.
And instead of a grim-faced jury deciding his fate, there were die-hard supporters — mostly white retirees — sporting “Make America Great Again” regalia: “God, guns and Trump”; “Women for Trump”; “I support Trump”; “Trump was right”; and “Fuck Biden.” (Strong winds sent several Maga hats dancing across the grass and swayed life-size cardboard cutouts of Trump rocking back and forth.)
“Our economy has been good and he’s for America, he’s for the people,” said Karen Mantilla, 65, wearing a “I’m still a Trump girl – no apologies” T-shirt with a picture of glasses and a hair ribbon. “He believes in God and is my man.”
Mantilla, like many here, dismissed the New York trial as a politically motivated witch hunt. “It’s a farce,” she added, “It’s just to stop him from becoming president. Why is he the only person being prosecuted for nothing?”
Supporters held signs reading “Trump 2024”; “Fire Biden”; and “You’re fired!”. In a speech that lasted just over an hour, his red tie and teleprompters flapping in the wind, the Republican presidential nominee made an argument familiar to anyone who listened to him speak outside the courtroom every day.
Trump said: “As you know, I came here today from New York, where I have been forced to sit for days in a courtroom like a kangaroo with a corrupt and conflicted judge, enduring a side trial of Biden at the hands of a Marxist Soros-backed district attorney who accepts orders from the Biden administration.
There is no evidence whatsoever that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is taking orders from the White House; indeed, some commentators believe it is the weakest of the four cases against Trump and may work to his political advantage. But unlike the process, candidate Trump can make outlandish statements without consequence.
He went on to claim that if he had lost the Republican primary, he would not now be facing prosecution and could instead be resting somewhere “beautiful.” “But you know what, I’d rather be with you,” he assured the audience, who roared their approval.
He claims the New York trial has boosted his scores more than ever before, “because people understand it. It’s a scam and they know it. He continued to recycle a now-familiar line, comparing himself to gangster Al Capone. “Joe Biden wants to throw his political opponents in jail like they do in third world countries and banana republics,” Trump said. “There’s just one problem: every single one of these cases is bullshit.”
Trump also used the speech to rail against Biden on inflation, promise to bring auto jobs to Michigan at China’s expense, denounce “leftist gender ideology” regarding men’s access to women’s restrooms and sports, and repeat its a lie that in 2020 the election was stolen. He appealed to his base to make sure his victory in 2024 was “too big to be manipulated”.
The former president also instilled fear, saying Michigan is being “torn apart by immigrant crime” and that prisons and mental institutions around the world are being emptied in the U.S. “because we’re a dump.” He promised the largest domestic mass deportation of undocumented immigrants — an idea that excited this gathering. “When I return to the White House, we will stop the looting, rape, slaughter and destruction of America’s suburbs, towns and villages.”
He brushed past the protests against Israel’s war on Gaza that are currently rocking college campuses, although earlier in Wisconsin he said it was a “beautiful thing to watch” as police officers in New York stormed a Columbia University building occupied by pro-Palestinian students, calling the protesters “rabid lunatics and Hamas sympathizers.”
Trump has repeatedly denounced Biden as the worst president in American history, who will be defeated in a landslide. He made it clear that his animosity toward Biden is now deeply personal, as he blames his election rival for the allegations against him.
“What a crowd!” he said, clearly enjoying the break from legal proceedings and the unqualified support of those who believed his story. Among them was Rene Salzeider, a retired federal government employee wearing a stars-and-stripes cowboy hat and a red Rockmount Western shirt. “I think it’s bullshit,” she said.
Bob Horney, 70, a retired builder, commented: “It’s just a big farce to take him out of the campaign and keep him in the courts. Every single one of them has been guilty for years and years. Biden has … well, I’m not even going to go there.”
Asked if he would be troubled by court testimony that Trump paid hush money to a porn star, Horney said: “No, I wouldn’t. They’re talking 30 years ago, 20 years, whatever. None of these things matter to this country. He is a good, strong leader. He is a faithful man. He is a hard worker. His children work. And that’s about it.”
The rally ended, a musical soundtrack blasted once more, and Trump performed an unintentionally comical dance on stage, briefly removing his Magician’s hat. He enjoyed the last waves of adoration from the faithful before boarding his plane, all too aware that Donald Trump’s strange double life would soon resume in Manhattan criminal court.
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