At California Republican event, it's former President Donald Trump … – The San Diego Union-Tribune
Three presidential candidates spoke to Republicans in Orange County on Friday — but the day’s events felt more like a rally for former President Donald Trump.
MAGA hats were a common accessory, and lines to buy Trump-themed merchandise, like shirts that featured his mugshot with the words “Wanted for President,” snaked through the halls in between and during the candidates’ events. Women took photos kissing a cardboard cutout of the former president.
Dueling demonstrations clashed on the streets outside of the Anaheim hotel where the California GOP convention was held — with both sides focused on their support for or opposition to Trump.
And Trump drew the biggest crowd for his lunchtime event. About 1,500 people packed into a ballroom — where salads and chicken and little cakes were served — for what was the most expensive of the ticketed speeches.
In a speech full of conservative talking points but few specifics, Trump vowed to “solve the border problem in 24 hours” and bolster California’s water supply. He praised California Republicans — from former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon to Huntington Beach Mayor Tony Strickland — but castigated the state for its immigration policies, homelessness, “woke tech tyrants” and more.
“You are the last line of defense standing between this state and total anarchy,” Trump said to those gathered at the Anaheim Marriott to hear him speak on the opening day of the convention. “Help is on the way.”
“We will end the desecration of your once great state, California,” he said. “The world is being dumped into California, prisoners, terrorists, mental patients.”
While he skipped the debate earlier this week in Simi Valley and has largely appeared more focused on the general election rather than the primary, Trump drew laughter and cheers with attacks on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“I’m the one who turned Florida red,” Trump said.
DeSantis, at an almost simultaneous rally at the Los Angeles Harbor Grain Terminal in Long Beach, took his own jabs at Trump. The Florida governor, who was set to address the convention later Friday evening, said he’d be willing to debate Trump one-on-one.
“I don’t think a lame-duck president is going to cut it. He needs to come, and he needs to defend his record,” said DeSantis. “He’s had a lot to say about me on social media over the last nine months — well now we can get up there, and we can make this case in person.”
Also speaking Friday was Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina for a Q&A-style appearance with CAGOP Chair Jessica Millan Patterson.
Scott’s speech was to a quieter and smaller room — and for only a fraction of the time. He spoke for only about 15 minutes — and about an hour later than scheduled since the former president went long.
Still, Scott was animated. He got off the stage and walked around the ballroom, interacting with Republicans more intimately.
And he stuck to his typical practice of drawing on his faith and personal responsibility.
“I am so excited to still be in California. You look like the future of the Republican Party,” said Scott, kicking off his address.
And that party, if the first day of the fall convention is any indication, is one where voters are unwaveringly supportive of Trump, despite his legal troubles.
Balboa Park resident Lissa Collins-Gudim, as she waited to purchase some Trump merch from a booth outside the room where the former president was set to speak, said she believes “Trump is our only hope.”
“Our country is in decline and we gotta turn this train around. Our GOP better get behind Trump, get rid of the RINOs and turn this country around,” said Collins-Gudim, using a term that is used to refer to Republicans who are considered disloyal to the party.
Just blocks away from Disney’s theme parks, Trump, clad in a navy suit and red tie, arrived to a cacophony of cheers and chants of “USA” more than an hour after his scheduled time.
Trump’s crowd didn’t seem to mind. It diligently booed whenever the former president mentioned a Democrat and laughed at his sarcastic remarks about electric vehicles. His line that drew the biggest reaction, however, dealt with crime:
“Simply put, if you rob a store, you can expect to be shot as you’re leaving,” Trump said, drawing a standing ovation and chants of “Trump” from attendees.
Candidates drew the loudest applause when they expressed support for parental rights in education, attacked California Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom or Vice President Kamala Harris and vowed to stem the influx of people coming across the southern border.
Education, in particular, was popular for all three candidates.
School districts all over the state, including in Southern California, have been enacting what’s dubbed a parental notification policy, which requires parents to be notified if their child may identify as transgender.
During his speech, Trump vowed to prosecute those who “deprive parents of parental rights.”
“Who would think we would have to say we will give parental rights back to parents? Can you imagine?” said Trump.
Scott, who has made faith and personal responsibility tenets of his campaign, said parents “should have a right to know exactly what their kids are being exposed to in school.”
Another theme for the three candidates Friday: attacking California.
Scott jokingly moved away from Patterson as she asked a question about Harris.
Trump drew some of the loudest cheers and jeers when he made fun of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband or the appearance of Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Los Angeles.
And Newsom, certainly, was a favorite target for the candidates.
Both DeSantis and Trump took specific aim at California’s policies regarding electric vehicles. The Florida governor called legislation that incentivizes people to purchase electric versus gas-powered cars “draconian mandates,” arguing that the nation’s power grid could be overloaded if more people choose electric.
“You shouldn’t have Washington D.C. or the state of California telling you that you can only buy the type of car that they want you to buy,” DeSantis said at the Long Beach campaign event. “They say that it is somehow better for the environment to force electric vehicles — but I can tell you, one thing is, the things that go into making these come from communist China.”
Huntington Beach resident Charlotte Christiana, 91, said she will back whoever the GOP nominee is, but she hopes it will be DeSantis.
“I like DeSantis over Trump because he doesn’t say things about other people, criticizing them,” said Christiana. “That’s the part of Trump I have a problem with.”
But she acknowledged he’s not polling as strong as Trump: “He’s a little ways from Trump. If he doesn’t make it this time, I don’t know if I’m going to be around for the next one, but I would vote for him. Look at the success he’s had in Florida.”
On Friday morning, throngs of Trump supporters lined the intersections outside the Anaheim Marriott, home of the convention, many of them wearing red, white and blue and waving “Make America Great Again” flags.
“We are not a very Trump-friendly state, or so they say,” Theresa Fig said. “We believe it’s a lot more red.”
Lorraine Barraza, who came from San Bernardino County to wave a flag in support of Trump on the corner of Katella Avenue and Harbor Boulevard, said Trump being in California will excite his base that exists in the state and is an acknowledgment that “there’s a lot of us ‘Trumpsters’ out here.”
“Even if I wasn’t around others, I would still be out here,” Barraza said.
Cars driving by honked in support of the ralliers, with many of the vehicles adorned in Trump memorabilia.
As a counter to Trump’s Friday appearance in Anaheim, the Democratic parties of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties had a Monopoly-inspired “Trump: Go Directly to Jail” rally of their own at the Anaheim Convention Center Grand Plaza.
Deborah Cunningham-Skurnik, who lives in Mission Viejo, said she’s fearful of hate that she sees from Trump’s base. She says Orange County is a lot more “blue” now than when she first knocked on doors during the 1988 presidential campaign.
The demographics are changing, and they’re changing in favor of the Democrats,” she said. “I think these are some of the things that Republicans fear.”
But soon after the scheduled start time for the Democrats’ rally, dozens of Trump supporters arrived with their chants and flags to upstage the event. Shouting broke out and Democratic Party leaders used their bodies to try to block Trump supporters from getting to the center near a podium.
The Democratic event ended early, with one Trump supporter yelling, “It’s our party now!” While there were speeches planned, Orange County Democratic Party Chair Ada Briceño said they wanted to keep people safe.
“Out of caution and to protect those saving democracy, we decided for the safety of our volunteers and staff to cut short the (rally) due to the right-wing extremists showing up in full force to violently showcase xenophobia, explicit racism and white supremacy,” the L.A. County Democratic Party said in a statement.
By early Friday evening, however, most of the demonstrators had cleared out, leaving behind remnants of Trump stickers stuck to lamposts and security gates marking where rallies were.
The former president is still polling far ahead of his competitors among California Republican likely voters — albeit, just under the threshold set by the state party to sweep all of the state’s 169 delegates. Of those surveyed, 48% said they would vote for Trump if the primary were held now, according to recent data from the Public Policy Institute of California, while 14% picked DeSantis.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is set to speak on Saturday midday.
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