Former President Donald Trump bashed California and its Democratic politicians during his visit to the Coachella Valley on Saturday, calling border security his top issue and saying the United States of America is “like an occupied country” due to its current immigration policies.
Trump spoke for nearly an hour and a half to a crowd of several thousand people at the Calhoun Ranch in Riverside County, just outside the city of Coachella. Trump’s rally also came as temperature approached 100 degrees in the area, although it would cool down over the course of his speech. Many of his supporters showed up hours before his remarks to get good spots.
A few minutes into his remarks, with the sun still blaring, Trump jokingly polled the crowd about whether he should put on his “Make America Great Again” hat or let them see his hair. After a moment, he said he’d decided to don the hat, noting, “That sun is hot!”
While complimenting the crowd’s enthusiasm — “What a friendly group!” Trump exclaimed at one point — the former president did not hold back in his criticisms of Democrat-led California.
“The radical-left Democrats have destroyed this state, but we are going to save it, and we’re going to make it better than ever before,” Trump said.
Trump pointed to a litany of issues plaguing the state, blaming Democrats, specifically Gov. Gavin Newsom — or “New-scum,” as Trump said — and presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. He said he would help “working people struggling under the highest taxed state in the nation,” and claimed “mass illegal immigration” was a main factor “destroying California.”
He went on to say that he ranks border security and immigration as the top problem facing the United States, unlike most polls that show the economy is Americans’ most prevalent concern.
“I think the border is number one, because you know we can fix things we can do, but what they’ve done to our country at the border is unbelievable,” Trump said.
Immigration was the main topic during the first half hour of Trump’s speech. He drew loud applause when he called for the death penalty for “any migrant that kills an American citizen.”
“And if they come back into our country after we’re going to throw them out so far, you wouldn’t believe it,” he said. “But if they come back into our country, it’s an automatic 10 years in jail with no possibility…. And if that doesn’t work, it’ll be 20 years. And if that doesn’t work, it’ll be the death penalty.”
Trump also repeatedly referenced claims, which local leaders and media outlets have debunked, that apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado have been taken over by Venezuelan gangs. He drew loud applause when he said he would use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to “target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil,” saying he will call that effort “Operation Aurora.”
Later, he said that the number of students from an “illegal immigrant-headed household” has increased in Los Angeles schools, adding: “These people are from a different planet.”
Trump added — without details — that he plans to bring Los Angeles and San Francisco back and “make them safe and clean and beautiful.” He tried to connect problems in the latter city to Harris, who was its elected chief prosecutor from 2004 to 2011.
“Kamala is turning us into a third-world nation — that’s what happened in San Francisco,” he said. ”When she was the DA in San Francisco, the things she did, she started that whole decline.”
His campaign also played a video compilation of news clips detailing violent acts committed by immigrants. The video was one of three shown during the rally, with one showing recent comments by Harris that she couldn’t think of anything she would do differently than President Joe Biden and another criticizing LGBTQ themes in the present-day U.S. military.
Trump also repeated many of his tax policy proposals — eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits, as well as making interest on car loans tax deductible — and said he’s going to give “large tax cuts for workers,” without offering details.
The trip to Coachella was part of a West Coast swing for Trump, who held a rally in Aurora, Colorado, on Friday and was planning to hold another in Prescott Valley, Arizona, on Sunday. More than an hour into his speech, former President Donald Trump pointed out friends and former colleagues in the audience, several of whom spoke from the stage in the hours before Trump arrived.
California U.S. Reps. Darrell Issa and Ken Calvert, as well as GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, were in attendance, as was Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. Trump also called out Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, California Republican Party Chair Jessica Millan Patterson, and former Trump administration officials Kash Patel, Robert O’Brien and Ric Grenell. (Trump also called out “chiefs” of Native American tribes, but did not name any. He also thanked “farmers.”)
During the speech, Trump attacked California’s environmental policies, such as its mandate for 100% electric vehicle sales by 2035 — a policy he said he would stop, without explaining how. He falsely stated that California has blackouts and brownouts due to energy shortages “every weekend, every day.” (Trump also did not mention the windmills of Palm Springs, which he’s criticized many times in the past when discussing wind energy.)
Trump also criticized water policies in California, saying he spoke with Newsom about potentially using more water that the state allows to flow into the Pacific Ocean. In turn, he repeated a prior threat he’s made: that he would withhold federal funding for wildfires if Newsom doesn’t agree.
“We’re going to take care of your water situation, and we’ll force it down (Newsom’s) throat,” Trump said. “And we’ll say, ‘Gavin, if you don’t do it, we’re not giving you any of that fire money we send you all the time for the forest fires.’”
He also criticized the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate from California, Adam Schiff, calling him a major “lowlife.” Trump said Schiff “conceived of the Russian hoax,” then criticized Schiff’s physical appearance immediately after saying he wouldn’t do so.
“He’s one of the least attractive human beings I’ve ever seen,” Trump said. “He’s got the smallest neck I’ve ever seen, his neck is so small and his head is so large so he’s not being held up by much.”
Trump, who is known for frequently boasting about the size of crowds at his events, at one point seemed to suggest that over 100,000 people were in attendance.
“A lot of people said they would have 10,000, maybe 20,000 but they didn’t say 100,000,” he said.
Although the crowd clearly numbered in the thousands, it was unclear how many people were in attendance. However, a permit issued for the event by Riverside County limited the capacity to 15,000, according to county officials.
One of the loudest crowd responses came when Trump said he would “support universal school choice and we will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the hell out of our schools.”
“And we will keep men out of women’s sports,” he said to more applause, an apparent reference to controversy over transgender athletes.
During the speech, Trump also revived some of his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, while encouraging his supporters to make this year’s voting margin “too big to rig.” He also suggested, without evidence, that California’s voting system is improperly run, saying election officials “just send (ballots) all over the place.”
Trump also said he would crush “violent crime” and give police the support, protection, resources and the respect they deserve.
“Our police are incredible, they want to do the job,” he said. “They’re not allowed to when thugs walk into a department store.’
He also said he would “end all sanctuary cities,” including in California, and modernize and strengthen the military.
Trump returned to the theme of “reclaiming the nation” to end the speech, saying: “I will give you back your life. Everyone will prosper and every family will thrive and every day will be filled with opportunity.”
“Together we will make America powerful again,” he said. “We will make America wealthy again, we will make America healthy again. We will make America strong.
“We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again, and we will make America great again,” he concluded to rapturous cheers from the crowd.
Desert Sun staff contributed to this report.
Tom Coulter covers the cities of Palm Desert, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells. Reach him at thomas.coulter@desertsun.com. Paul Albani-Burgio covers growth, development and business in the Coachella Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and email him at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Trump bashes California, touts plans in Coachella speech
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