At a rally in the Coachella Valley on Saturday, Donald Trump referred to California as a “Paradise Lost” and accused Kamala Harris of transforming the state into a homicidal gang-infested hellscape.
As the throng was beaten by the scorching desert heat, Trump, wearing a red Make America Great Again cap, declared, “She’s imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the Third World.”
His increasingly racist and xenophobic speech against immigrants, whom he portrays as criminals, was consistent with the messaging. “Only Trump can rescue you from this mess, which Kamala Harris put you in,” he continued. Trump depicted a state in decline at the rally site, which was in the field of a rural valley famous for its yearly music festival.
Trump claimed that California had the “best schools, safest communities, and a booming middle class” before Harris became San Francisco’s district attorney and the state began its downward spiral. He claimed that California currently has the highest rates of inflation, taxes, gas prices, cost of living, and regulations.
He promised, “It’s a Paradise Lost, but we’re going to bring it back.”
Despite research showing that immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, are less likely to commit crimes than Americans born in the United States, he claimed that “mass illegal immigration” is “by far one of the biggest factors in destroying California” and cited incidents of violent crimes that have taken place in the state. California’s sanctuary cities, which Trump referred to as “a place where you keep criminals,” would be abolished.
Conservatives frequently target California, attempting to link the state’s high cost of living and homelessness problem to Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s national agenda. Even still, Trump’s decision to campaign in the deep blue state on a day with 100 degrees seemed strange given that he had just 23 days left to raise money and win over voters in swing states. However, the rally location is on the outskirts of the competitive House district that Republican Representative Ken Calvert now occupies. Calvert’s seat is the only one that Trump won in 2020 out of the state’s six swing seats. He might be trying to win the popular vote with the California stop because it has a large number of registered Republicans and is the most populous state in the country.
At the rally, Calvert spoke before Trump, and during his roughly 80-minute speech, the former president gave the congressman a short nod. Ken, you did a great job. Do you think we have enough people? broke the record. Trump urged everyone to cast their ballots for Ken. He referred to Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor and Calvert’s opponent, as a “radical California liberal.”
