Donald Trump has used his first election rally in Waco, Texas, to rail against the prosecutors investigating him, firing up his base ahead as critics, including some Republicans, accused him of wooing conspiracy theorists and far-right extremists.
Mr Trump told supporters gathered at Waco’s airport the investigations swirling around him were “something straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show”.
“From the beginning it’s been one witch hunt and phoney investigation after another,” he said on Saturday (local time).
The legal threats hanging over the former US president were front of mind for some attendees, many of whom flashed signs saying “WITCH HUNT”.
Mr Trump is being investigated by prosecutors in Manhattan for campaign finance violations stemming from his alleged payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
Meanwhile, a special counsel appointed by the Department of Justice is investigating allegations he hoarded top-secret documents and masterminded a plot seeking to overturn the 2020 election.
Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Mr Trump’s most vocal supporters in Congress, told the crowd it was time to “take back” the Department of Justice.
Spreading myths, stoking anger
“You have to understand: they are not just coming after President Trump, they are coming after you, and President Trump is just the only one standing in their way,” she said.
The former president is seeking to turn the hush money case in New York to his advantage by raising money off it and using it to rally supporters.
On Friday, Mr Trump issued an apocalyptic warning, saying the country faced potential “death & destruction” if he was charged with a crime.
Saturday’s rally in Waco came as the city marked the 30th anniversary of a raid by federal agents on the Branch Davidians religious sect. It resulted in 86 deaths, including those of four law-enforcement officers.
Right-wing extremists view the raid as a seminal moment of government overreach, hence the accusations that Mr Trump is positioning themselves as flag-bearer
In an email, a Trump campaign spokesman said Waco was chosen because it was situated between several major population centres and had the infrastructure to host a large event.
‘On a high wire’
“Trump is walking on a high wire without a net, telegraphing that he has nothing to lose and is willing to risk dangerous outcomes to rally support,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist in Washington.
In Texas, the Houston Chronicle likened the Waco rally to “the blaring air horn of a Mack 18-wheeler barrelling down I-10”. It said Waco had become “a shrine for the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, the Oath Keepers and other anti-government extremists and conspiracists”.
Timothy Naftali, a Democrat-aligned presidential historian at New York University, said Mr Trump “still has the power to create more wreckage and his choice of venue allows him to do more damage.”
In addition to prosecutors, Mr Trump is likely to target Florida governor Ron DeSantis for criticism.
Mr DeSantis has yet to declare his candidacy for the Republican nomination but has drawn MR Trump’s ire nonetheless.
– AAP
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