by Sharon Rondeau
(Oct. 23, 2023) — Close to 3:30 p.m. EDT, 45th President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald J. Trump took the stage at the New England Sports Center in Derry, NH to a crowd which welcomed him warmly to the chanting of “USA, USA!”
As he prepared to address supporters, Trump clapped his hands in customary fashion to the playing of “God Bless the USA” sung by Lee Greenwood.
In the opening moments, Trump declared, “You want change; this is all about change.”
He promised to defeat current White House occupant Joe Biden in 2024, then thanked his New Hampshire campaign staff by name. Prior to the rally, he said, and as was reported in the media, he filed the necessary documents to have his name placed on New Hampshire 2024 primary ballots.
At 3:33 p.m., he commented that in certain states, the voting process can now take up to “51 days,” promising to return the country to “same-day voting” and “paper ballots.”
He advocated for military veterans, then disparaged Biden’s speech Thursday night following his trip to Israel in response to the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack.
When asked in a recent conversation what he would tell Biden if he could, Hungarian President Viktor Orban, Trump said, supported Biden’s removal from office and Trump’s installment as president.
Biden’s speech last week, Trump said, was “a grotesque betrayal of Israel” replete with “America-Last lunacy.” He also invoked Biden’s apparent inability to climb stairs without tripping “or find his way off a stage.”
“We have a man who’s not capable,” Trump continued, stating Biden’s term has brought about not only world conflict, but also the possibility of a third global war. Had Biden not taken the White House, Trump said, Hamas would not have attacked Israel; Russia would not have attacked Ukraine; and “inflation” would not have arisen as a major domestic issue.
“You have to destroy ’em,” he said of Hamas, and said he would support Israel to that end should he be re-elected president.
“Crooked Joe is not feared, he’s not respected, and he’s looked at as a joke” by America’s enemies, he said.
“We have to bring our country back; it’s not an easy thing to do,” he continued, pledging to reinstate “all sanctions” on Iran. “I wonder how much money he’s receiving form Iran…it’s a lot from China…” he said, referring to Biden’s suspected role in his son Hunter’s business dealings currently under investigation by the House Oversight Committee.
“By the time I left, they had nothing; they were broke,” he said of Iran. “We would have had a deal with Iran, one that was good for everybody…but we cannot give them access to nuclear weapons…They were ready to make a deal because they were so — they were poor…”
“I never talked about it during my four years, but we didn’t have any attacks…,” Trump said. “But the election was rigged and it was stolen…and Iran probably has close to $100 billion to finance terror…When I left, they were broke…”
He said once “back in the White House,” he will reinstate “the toughest sanctions” on Iran as well as “Drill, baby, drill,” referencing increased domestic oil production which Biden stymied beginning on his first day.
“Under the Trump administration, we had energy dominance,” he said, and economic prosperity. “We did a great job with that; we handed him something that was very good…I got the price of oil below $40 a barrel.”
“With Biden the price of oil is nearing $100 a barrel; it’s going to be much higher than that soon,” he continued.
“We’re a very poor nation” as a result of Biden’s policies, Trump claimed, “and we’re now at the lowest level of our strategic [oil] reserves…”
“Look what he did with Venezuela,” Trump added. “We have liquid gold under our feet.”
He disparaged as “stupid” a key Biden adviser, without naming him, for having warned that a Hezbollah attack on Israel “from the north” could occur. “Then the next day” it happened, Trump said.
“The spirit right now is greater than it ever was in 2016 or 2020,” he went on. That election year, he said, “was unbelievable, but they used COVID to cheat. They had more ballots than they had voters. They used it to cheat, but they’re not going to get away with it this time…”
He then shifted to the subject of America’s borders, praising former border official Tom Homan and National Border Patrol Council president Brandon Judd.
Of a cheering gallery in the front row, Trump asked an individual “how many” Trump rallies he had attended, to which the individual responded, “This is my 67th rally.”
“The border was secure, so I couldn’t talk about the border,” Trump said of his presidency. “I couldn’t even say I fixed the problem. We had a horrible problem in 2016; I couldn’t even mention it; people started falling asleep.” Now, he said, “we have to talk about the border.”