As thousands lined up at the Arizona Federal Theatre, with no mask-wearing individual in sight, former US president Donald Trump lashed out on Saturday at “weak” Republicans for allowing the “radical left” to have their way in many GOP-ruled states.

“Sadly, in many red states then rhinos (weak Republicans) are letting the radical left have their way,” the 75-year-old alleged.

“In many cases these weak Republicans or rhinos are worse than Democrats and you have a couple of examples right here in Arizona.” 

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Trump headlined the rally, hosted by Turning Point Action, a Phoenix-based political organization headed by conservative Charlie Kirk. The event called “Rally to Protect Our Elections,” will give Republicans an opportunity to pitch their candidacies.

With his usual animated demeanour, Trump graced the rally, alleging, “Like it or not, we are becoming a Communist country.” He furthermore lashed out at President Joe Biden’s bipartisan Infrastructure Package and called the Green New Deal, proposed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as the “Green New Bullsh**”.

Throughout most of the two-hour-long speech, Trump pointed out how in the presidential election in November 2020 and specifically in Maricopa County the voting was rigged.

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An audit by the Republicans in the state was launched in December. It focused on Maricopa County, which President Biden won by more than 2% points. Biden won the state by more than 10,000 votes. It was the first time that a Democratic presidential candidate had won Arizona since 1996.

Meanwhile, yet again turning to his favourite target since the buildup to the 2020 presidential election, Trump attacked Hunter Biden citing his upcoming exhibitions and how he allegedly earns millions of dollars for a painting, although the president’s son has never painted before.

“What about Hunter Biden getting a half a million dollars for painting and he never painted before, could you imagine if my kids did that?” said Donald Trump.

Expressing his concerns about the current state of affairs in New York, Trump said, “It’s a crime wave the likes of which we’ve never seen before, it’s scary, people are afraid to walk on the streets of New York, nobody gets prosecuted, except Republicans, by the way.”

Talking about the vaccine hesitancy that has crept up in the Americans, especially Republicans, Trump said “Because they don’t trust the President (Biden) they aren’t doing it (vaccination).”

Meanwhile, fans of the former president waited for him to announce his candidature for the 2024 election, however, he didn’t. But earlier in the rally Rep. Andy Biggs claimed that Trump will return to the presidency in 2024 “if not sooner”