Trump fulfilled another one of the promises that he made while in office. He came to Alaska to meet with his supporters. Trump spoke at a rally for 90 minutes at the Alaska Airlines Center. The facility holds 6,000, and according to the staff at the Center, over 5,000 people were attending.
It did not take long before Trump had the crowd in the palm of his hand. At one point, the former president dropped a rare f-bomb and it caused the crowd to begin chanting.
Trump told the eager crowd about a meeting he had with generals while on a trip to Iraq. They were talking about defeating ISIS and one of the generals said that it would take years. But another general responded by vowing that he would “hit ‘em in the f***ing center.”
Trump thundered from the podium, “I’d hit ‘em on the left. I’d hit ‘em on the right. I’d hit ‘em in the f***ing center… Right smack.”
The crowd erupted with excitement and loud cheers and then they began chanting “USA! USA!”
Trump stood back and just listened as the crowd became louder and louder. After giving a smile, he said, “I like Alaska.”
Trump made it clear that he was in Alaska for two reasons, to fully endorse two candidates and to fulfill his promise to Alaska. He vowed to campaign against incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski who voted to impeach him.
Trump shared his support for both Republican U.S. House candidate Sarah Palin and U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka. He referenced Tshibaka as “wonderful,” and Palin as “legendary.” But his words for Murkowski were just the opposite. He said that Senator Murkowski was a RINO (Republican in name only) and she was “worse than a Democrat.”
The former president also had some praise for Governor Mike Dunleavy who is running for reelection but was not in attendance. He said Dunleavy will get his support as long as he does not support Murkowski.
Trump spoke at the rally for 90 minutes. He had time to celebrate the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, especially the one that overturned Roe v. Wade. He had some words for President Joe Biden at the rally and compared what the president’s administration is doing now to the work that was done in his administration.
He aimed, at one point, at U.S. senator, Republican Dan Sullivan, for endorsing Murkowski’s re-election campaign.
Trump had a captive audience at the Alaska Airlines Center. Jerry Games and his wife Christina, both retired, paid $250 each to skip the line and get their preferred spot in the crowd. Two 18-year-olds from Soldotna, Eddie Erickson, and Ty Saylor, said they drove together to Anchorage on Friday night so they could get in line at 5 a.m. on Saturday.
The rally included some prominent state lawmakers from the Republican Party. House Minority Leader Cathy Tilton of Wasilla and Reps. Kevin McCabe of Big Lake and Sarah Vance of Homer were there will a group of local officials like Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson and Anchorage Public Library deputy director Judy Norton Eledge.
One of the tense points at the rally came for Trump over the word vaccine. He has vocally supported the vaccine and claimed it as one of his accomplishments while he was president. But many of his supporters have expressed skepticism about the benefit of the vaccine and the possible harm that it could bring.
Trump acknowledged the tension when he skirted around using the word while simultaneously boasting about his efforts to get out a vaccine within the first year of the pandemic.
This tension illustrates how the vaccine has become politicized by many.
Former President Donald Trump has not declared whether he will run for the presidency again in the next election, but he sure was in campaign form.
