Donald Trump spoke publicly for the first time since his debate with Kamala Harris on Thursday, at a campaign event in Arizona, a key battleground state that both candidates are eager to win.
Braving sweltering temperatures just above 100 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the afternoon, an estimated 5,000 people lined up outside Tucson’s Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, which the campaign rents and seats about 2,300 people, while city emergency services responded to dozens of heatstroke calls before Trump took the stage, according to local public radio reporter Alisa Zaira Resnick.
Trump stood in front of a backdrop inscribed with campaign promises like “making housing affordable again” and “no tax on tips,” suggesting the speech would focus on highlighting his economic policies. But the former president instead spent much of his time recasting his debate performances, which even Trump’s own aides acknowledge won’t win over new voters.
“We won a monumental victory over our comrade Kamala Harris,” Trump said to cheers, using a derogatory nickname and deliberately mispronouncing the vice president’s name, his portrayal in stark contrast to widespread criticism of his subpar performance from both conservatives and progressives.
Trump called the debate moderator a “terrible moderator” and said he was treated unfairly by two veteran reporters who fact-checked his attempts to spread misinformation during the debate.
But Trump made it clear he didn’t want a do-over: “There will not be a third debate,” he said.
Despite the event’s advertised theme, Trump offered few details of his economic plan in his roughly hour-and-a-half speech. Instead, the Republican candidate spent most of his time pandering to his supporters with drawn-out, zany anecdotes, insulting his opponent and repeating unsubstantiated claims, including his assertion that he won the last election.
He also focused on immigration, a typical target of his rallies, stoking fears of a wave of criminals entering the United States and again accusing Haitian immigrants of eating animals in Springfield, Ohio.
“They even have geese … and take their pets and leave,” Trump said, repeating a baseless racist slur that has been disputed by town officials and has inflamed tensions and attacks against members of the Haitian community.
About an hour after the speech began, Trump unveiled parts of his economic plan, promising to eliminate taxes on Social Security payments and tips, and for the first time saying he wanted to eliminate taxes on overtime pay.
“We will protect the Second Amendment, we will restore free speech, we will make our elections secure. Every person will prosper, every family will thrive, and every day will be filled with joy and opportunity and hope,” Trump said, urging his supporters to help him win a landslide victory that “cannot be rigged.”
Arizona is a battleground state that both the Trump and Harris campaigns have been focusing on this week, with Harris campaign manager Doug Emhoff also scheduled to visit the Democratic-leaning state of Tucson on Thursday.
The Trump campaign was required to pay $145,222.70 for the use of the auditorium and a deposit for local police to provide security for the event, a policy the city instituted after Trump failed to pay an $80,000 bill for a rally in the city in 2016.
“We’ve learned our lesson,” Tucson City Councilman Kevin Dahl told the Arizona Daily Star, adding that the city has forgiven the debt.
Singer Linda Ronstadt, after whom the venue is named, released a statement Wednesday condemning the former president and voicing her support for Harris.
“I don’t just deplore his toxic politics, his hatred of women, immigrants and people of color, his criminal behavior, his dishonesty and his ignorance,” she said, after expressing sadness that he had brought a “hate show” to Tucson. The final straw, according to Ronstadt, was the Trump administration’s treatment of migrant families seeking asylum.
“Family separation has left thousands of toddlers and babies orphaned and subjected desperate mothers and fathers to brutal treatment,” she continued. “Trump first ran for president warning of an influx of rapists from Mexico. I am concerned about not putting a rapist in the White House.”
