COACHELLA, Calif. — Donald Trump referred to California as a “Paradise Lost” during a rally in the Coachella Valley on Saturday, blaming Kamala Harris for turning the state into what he described as a hell overrun with murderous gangs.
“She has imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the Third World,” Trump said, donning a red Make America Great Again hat as the 100-degree desert sun beat down on the crowd.
The messages are tracked with the increasingly xenophobic and racist rhetoric he has directed against immigrants whom he portrays as criminals.
“Kamala Harris got you into this mess and only Trump can get you out of it,” he said.
Trump used the gathering location, in the field of a rural valley best known for its annual music festival, to portray a state in decline.
California once had the “best schools, safest communities and a thriving middle class,” Trump said, before the state began its dystopian descent when Harris was San Francisco’s district attorney.
“Today, California has the highest inflation, the highest taxes, the highest gas prices, the highest cost of living and the most regulations,” he said, piling on superlatives about crime, homelessness and illegal immigration.
“Really, it’s a paradise lost, but we’re going to bring it back,” he promised.
He said “mass illegal immigration” is “by far one of the biggest factors in the destruction of California” and cited anecdotes about violent crimes that have occurred in the state, even as research shows that immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, less likely to commit crimes than US-born Americans. Trump said he would get rid of California’s sanctuary cities, which he called “a place where you hold criminals.”
He portrayed Harris’ recent shift to the right on border enforcement as pure political opportunism.
California is often a punching bag for conservatives, who increasingly try to tie the state’s homelessness crisis and high cost of living to Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s vision for the country. Still, showing up in the deep blue state on a 100-degree day seemed like an odd campaign choice for Trump, given that there were only 23 days left before the election to raise money and woo voters in swing states.
But the rally location is on the edge of the competitive House district currently held by Republican Rep. Ken Calvert. Of the current six rocking chairs in the state, Calvert’s is the only one Trump won in 2020. He could also use the California stop to help win the popular vote, as it is the most populous state in the country with a large number of registered Republicans.
Calvert spoke before Trump at the rally, and the former president briefly acknowledged the congressman during his nearly 80-minute speech.
“Well done Ken, very well done. Do we have enough people for you? Broken the record. Everyone needs to come out and vote for Ken,” Trump said. He called Calvert’s opponent, former federal prosecutor Will Rollins, a “radical liberal from California.”
He also made a few attempts to appeal to the region’s more moderate electorate, saying, “Whether you’re Democrat, Republican or independent, this election is your chance to send a message to the world.” the people of California will not do that. do it longer.”
Trump called out other notable Republicans in the crowd, including state GOP Chairman Jessica Millan Patterson, former Fox News host Steve Hilton, who consider an offer for California Governor and Southern California Sheriff Chad Bianco who is considering another long-term governmental bid.
Trump delivered famous hits on Rep. Adam Schiff, calling the Democrat who led the impeachment hearings against him as president a “sleazebag” and “devious.”
While Schiff is anything but guaranteed To win his Senate race against Republican Steve Garvey, another Los Angeles Democrat has a closer race.
Progressive LA District Attorney George Gascon is trailing far behind a moderate challenger in the polls. with likely voters say they are hungry for “change” in the office.
“I don’t know Gascon, but I hear he’s low in the polls and that’s a very good thing,” Trump said.
Trump also talked about California’s environmental policies.
Using a favorite pejorative for the state’s governor, Trump blamed Governor Gavin Newsom for diverting water from farmers to protect an endangered fish called the Delta smelt.
“Everyone is using the environment to stop things, but we’re not going to let that happen,” Trump said.
He promised to force Newsom to give California farmers more water repeated a threat to withhold federal funding for wildfires if the governor doesn’t turn on the tap.
“We shove it down his throat and say, ‘Gavin, if you don’t do it, we won’t give you any of that fire money for all the forest fires.’
He repeated a common attack on the state’s electric vehicle rules, saying California is already experiencing “brownouts and blackouts every weekend, every day” and that the demand for electricity will be too high. (The last time there were brief power outages in the state was in 2020).
“I would not allow California politicians to get away with their plan to impose a 100 percent ban on the sale of gasoline-powered cars and trucks,” he said.
