Former President Donald Trump shot back at President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Saturday night held with Republican candidates Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano.
The “Save America” event marked Trump’s first rally appearance since the FBI raided his home on August 8. Trump focused a large portion of his speech on the “corruption and extremism” of the Democratic Party.
“Republicans in the ‘MAGA’ movement are not the ones trying to undermine our democracy. We are the ones trying to save our democracy,” Trump said. “The danger to democracy comes from the radical Left, not from the Right.”
The 45th president then jumped right into bashing the Department of Justice for approving an FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago home in southern Florida. Trump called the raid “one of the most shocking abuses of power of any administration in American history.”
“The shameful raid and break-in of my home in Mar-a-Lago was a travesty of justice that made a mockery of America’s laws, traditions, and principles before the entire world,” he remarked. Trump claimed the raid was made possible by a false pretext and signed off by a judge “handpicked” by the administration.
Trump’s Pennsylvania rally happened days after President Joe Biden gave what many called a dark and divisive speech in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. The former president criticized Biden over the controversial speech wherein he targeted Trump and his supporters.
“As you know, this week Joe Biden came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to give the most vicious, hateful, and divisive speech ever delivered by an American president, vilifying 75 million citizens … as threats to democracy and enemies of the state,” Trump fumed before ripping into Biden and calling him “an enemy of the state.”
Pennsylvania Senate candidate Oz and gubernatorial candidate Mastriano also gave remarks at the event as they continue their campaigns in tight races against Democrats. Democrat candidates John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro both lead Trump-endorsed Oz and Mastriano entering the last two full months of the campaign, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. Trump encouraged Pennsylvanians on Saturday to get out and vote in November, reminding them of high inflation, gas prices, and rising crime rates in cities like Philadelphia.
“Above all, this election is a referendum on the corruption and extremism of Joe Biden and the radical Democrat Party,” Trump remarked. “If you want to stop this destruction of America, you must vote Republican. You gotta get out and vote.”