COACHELLA, Calif. — Former president Donald Trump suggested that a heckler would later get “the hell knocked out of her� during an insult-laced speech here Saturday that portrayed a dark image of the country and demonized undocumented immigrants.
As Trump called the Nov. 5 election a “chance to send a message,� he stopped his remarks and turned to the crowd.
“Back home to mommy, she goes back home to mommy,� Trump said, resuming his speech and appearing to address a heckler. “‘Was that you darling?’ And she gets the hell knocked out of her. Her mother’s a big fan of ours, you know that right? Her father, her mother. You always have that.�
It was not the first time Trump has used violent language to attack hecklers who interrupt his rallies. In 2016, after a heckler interrupted a Las Vegas rally, Trump told the crowd: “Here’s a guy throwing punches, nasty as hell, screaming at everybody else,� before adding: “I’d like to punch him in the face.� In Iowa during the same campaign, he also encouraged supporters to “knock the crap� out of potential hecklers.
During his Saturday speech in Coachella, Trump repeated falsehoods about migrants and sought to portray the country in apocalyptic terms. He described the elections on Nov. 5 as “liberation day,� comparing the United States to an “occupied country.�
“We are known all throughout the world now as an occupied country,� Trump said. “We’re like an occupied country. We got people taking over parts of Colorado, we have people taking over other states, a lot of states don’t want to talk about it, because they’re embarrassed … But it’s no different really than if we lost a war.�
Trump used similar language on Friday, when he visited Aurora, Colo. Trump has promised to launch a deportation program called “Operation Aurora� to dismantle “illegal migrant criminal networks� operating in the United States, under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The law was last invoked during World War II to intern immigrants of Japanese, German and Italian descent.
Trump vowed to remove members of Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan gang. Aurora officials, including the Republican mayor, say authorities there have arrested eight people linked to Tren de Aragua but dispute the gang has “taken over� apartment buildings, as Trump repeatedly claimed.
In the final weeks of the presidential campaign, Trump has leaned into an anti-immigrant message. Earlier this week, he suggested that undocumented immigrants who commit crimes have “bad genes.� While speaking here Saturday, Trump described the border as the top issue and continued to portray undocumented immigrants as criminals, even as federal data shows that the vast majority of people arrested at the southern border do not have criminal convictions. There’s little evidence that undocumented immigrants commit more crime than U.S. citizens.
The California rally capped off a controversial week for the former president during which he said he had been to Gaza when he hadn’t; suggested CBS News should lose its broadcasting license; continued to spread misinformation about the Biden administration’s hurricane relief efforts; described “The View� co-host’s Sunny Hostin as a “dummy�; and insulted the city of Detroit while giving a speech there.
The Washington Post polling average has Vice President Kamala Harris leading in four of the seven battleground states. Every state is within a normal-sized polling error of 3.5 points and could swing either way.
The unusual decision to hold a rally in California, a deep blue state, followed a similar decision to hold an event in another Democratic stronghold, Colorado, and a plan for a rally at Madison Square Garden later this month in New York. The decisions are part of a general pattern in which, unlike the Harris campaign, Trump and his allies are leaning into the idea that they are winning.
Trump’s remarks in California carried the same themes that he has featured in swing states. He repeatedly mispronounced Harris’s first name. He warned about being “very close to World War III.� He described Democrats as “professional thieves.�
And he continued to insult both Harris and other opponents. He referred to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) as Gavin “New-scum.� He jabbed at former GOP primary rival Chris Christie’s weight. And he called Adam Schiff, the Democratic nominee for an open Senate seat in California, unattractive and repeated his frequent criticisms of the size of Schiff’s neck.
“Pencil neck!� A woman in the crowd yelled as others cackled.
“Tampon Tim!� a man shouted as Trump spoke, referring to the nickname MAGA supporters have given to Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz. Trump has used the phrase, too.
“She’s a ho!� others yelled as Trump moved on to Harris, using a term for a sexually promiscuous woman.
The audience grew especially animated when Trump pointed out the “fake news� watching from the press pen, jumping up on their seats to boo and give thumbs down in what has become a Trump rally tradition.
Later, there were more shouts from the crowd after a video montage about Harris. “Ka-MAL-a sucks!� a man yelled, mispronouncing Harris’s name. Another man stood up from his seat to yell that Harris was dumber than a rock, prompting yet another man to shout that they shouldn’t be unfair to rocks.
A minute later, someone yelled again: “She’s a ho!�
Trump has repeatedly spoke disparagingly about the state of California, where Harris served as a district attorney, an attorney general and a senator. During his speech Saturday, he said California “stood as the beacon of what our country aspired to become … It had everything, it had the weather, it had the water.� But he then proceeded to say “all that was eradicated by decades of the very policies that Kamala Harris wants to now force upon America.�
During his speech, Trump once again threatened that, if he became president, he would withhold funds for California wildfires if Newsom didn’t change his water policies. The remark came at the same time that Trump has been criticizing the Biden administration for its allegedly slow response to hurricanes in the Southeast.
“We’ll say, Gavin, if you don’t do it, we’re not giving you any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the forest fires that you have,� Trump said.
LeVine reported from Washington.
