MANCHESTER, NH – Almost a month after being charged and one day after a woman in court accused him of rape Donald Trump met with a more than receptive crowd in Manchester, New Hampshire in his first public event at the Granite State since leaving office.
But in comments that lasted more than an hour, Trump focused on attacking President Joe Biden and their possible opponents of 2024. The former president did not mention his innumerable legal problems not at all, and the crowd didn’t seem to care.
At the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, hundreds of Trump’s most avid supporters were eager to meet him in a packed room along with hundreds of people outside in overflow. The welcome was so warm that the attendees booed and jeered Republican New Hampshire state legislators as the event began, chanting “We want Trump!”
“Next year we are going to make history together. We’re going to win the New Hampshire primary for the third time in a row,” Trump said to raucous applause from the crowd.
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Trump Focuses on Biden Ahead of Winning 2024 Republican Primary
Trump also visited New Hampshire two days after Biden formally declared his bid for re-election next year. His part was heavily focused on attacking. the current commander in chief.
By making so much fun of the ad and the Biden presidency, Trump said “we are going to crush Joe Biden at the polls and we are going to resolve our unfinished business.”
“The choice in this election is now between strength or weakness, between success or failure, between security or anarchy, between peace or conflict, and between prosperity or catastrophe,” Trump said.
Biden has repeatedly criticized Trump as a threat to democracy given their attempts to void the 2020 election and repeated false claims of voter fraud. In front of his strongest supporters, Trump argued that it was Biden who was the threat, making unsubstantiated accusations against the president.
Related: President Biden wants to repeat his 2020 formula in the 2024 reelection. It won’t be easy.
“It’s Biden who poses the threat to democracy because he’s grossly incompetent, has no idea what he’s doing and is basically clueless.” Trump said.
Trump also claimed he left Biden with a “booming economy” that quickly “teared apart” after taking office, taking credit for low gas prices and defending the various trade wars of the Trump administration.
In response to Donald Trump’s attempts to rewrite his economic record in New Hampshire, Democratic National Committee spokesman Ammar Moussa issued the following statement:
“Trump’s lies won’t change the fact that he has the worst employment record of any president since the Great Depression and rigged the economy for the biggest, ultra-rich corporations. Trump’s management of the economy was an abject disaster, in stark contrast to the more than 12 million jobs the Biden-Harris administration has helped create for America in just two years. ”
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Trump questions why he would debate his opponents
Trump traveled to New Hampshire for just a few days after he suggested he might boycott Republican debates, claiming that he is too far along to participate.
“When you’re very high up, you don’t do debates,” he told New York-based WABC radio.
Trump reiterated his skepticism about the Manchester debates and questioned why he would debate his potential opponents. who are voting behind him, including “DeSanctus” and “Sloppy Chris Christie”, referring to the former New Jersey governor who is currently considering an offer.
Trump’s New Hampshire headquarters is identical to DeSantis’
Trump spoke as DeSantis prepared to wrap up a four-day overseas trip designed in part to polish foreign policy plans.
Trump spoke at the Doubletree by Hilton hotel in Manchester, a common choice venue for presidential hopefuls. But the stage stood out for a candidate who was in the same room not long before: DeSantis.
DeSantis made his first stop at Granite State in April, headlining the state’s largest annual GOP fundraising gala packed with New Hampshire-based political donors and pundits: a stark contrast to the Trump event who packed the hotel with his most die-hard supporters from all over the New England area.
The former president did not target DeSantis, but touted his lead in surveys compared to multiple of its competitors.
Trump also persecuted New Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu, one of the most popular governors in the country. and a potential opponent in the 2024 race, calling him “a nasty guy” to the jeers and boos from the crowd.
Sununu has been one of Trump’s most vocal critics within the Republican party, arguing on multiple occasions that Trump could not win a general election.
“I should stop being a nasty guy and tell people I’m not going to win the general election, which I will,” Trump said.
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Trump voter still sticks with him: He’s not ‘completely innocent’
Some of the New Hampshire Republicans who attended the rally said they are staying with Trump because they consider the accusations to be politically motivated.
Jackie Bellanti, 80, who said she is determined to vote for Trump in the 2024 primary election, said Trump is not “completely innocent” but added that “I don’t think he is a corrupt man.”
Bellanti also said that there is no other option for her. “Who else? Who else is out there that we can really trust? Bellanti, adding that she admires what she calls Trump’s honesty and confrontational style.
Roger Heon, 54, of Belmont, New Hampshire, said he could imagine voting for DeSantis, but has already decided to vote for Trump.
“He doesn’t stop,” Heon said.
Related: New Poll Shows Many Democrats Prefer Someone Over Biden
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump in New Hampshire targets Joe Biden, ignores lawsuits
