Former President Donald Trump held a rally in Bozeman, Montana, Friday night, stumping for Republican Tim Sheehy, who is challenging a vulnerable Democrat, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT). He spoke for almost two hours, discussing Vice President Kamala Harris‘s ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket, Gov. Tim Walz‘s (D-MN) comments about Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), and his popularity with suburban women.
Here are a few of the most notable moments from the rally.
Trump says Harris will be easier to beat than President Joe Biden
While discussing how the Democrats “took” the nomination “away” from Biden, Trump said he’d rather run against Harris anyway.
“You know, they took it away from him. They really did. They took it away — the guy had 14 million votes. She had none. But I’d rather run against her. I think she’s easier to beat, I really do,” he said.
Harris’s polling numbers have been on the upswing since becoming the Democratic Party’s nominee, and now she is polling similarly to the former president, or pulling out in front of him, in recent polls.
‘Nine different ways of pronouncing’: Trump laments over how to say Kamala
Some Democrats have been critical of Republicans mispronouncing Harris’s first name, with a few suggesting it’s intentionally done to be disrespectful. Trump defended himself and others who have been targeted for saying “Kamala” incorrectly.
“You know she’s got about nine different ways of pronouncing that name. And because the press is so dishonest, no matter how you say it, they’ll say you were wrong. You were wrong. I don’t care if I get it right, actually, I couldn’t care less,” Trump said.
Biden’s comeback? Trump promotes DNC conspiracy
While discussing how the Democrats got Biden to leave the ticket, Trump suggested they “forced him out,” and he may be aiming for a comeback next week.
“And now he’s seeing what the competition is. I hear he’s going to make a comeback at the Democrat convention,” Trump said. “He’s going to walk into the room, and he’s going to say, I want my presidency back. I want another chance to debate Trump. I want another chance.”
Trump has previously floated this idea in a Truth Social post, which prompted other online users to surmise about how it could happen. Biden so far has been supportive of the Harris campaign and there is no indication he will attempt to force his way back into the race during the Democratic National Convention, set for Aug. 19-22.
Trump says he’s strong with suburban women
Suburban women have historically been a weak voting bloc for Trump, and Biden’s success with the group in 2020 is one of the reasons strategists have explained his victory. However, Trump said his immigration policies and rhetoric are actually helping him with suburban women.
“I think suburban women like me a lot — why wouldn’t they?” he surmised. He then mentioned how he changed the rules of low-income housing to restrict where units could be built.
The policy he was referencing is the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, which is a provision of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. That act was created to end discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, and disability.” He rolled back the policy, and said it boosted his support with suburban women. In a KFF survey from June, suburban women are still trending Democratic.
“I’m gonna keep criminals out of your neighborhood; that’s really all that matters. I think they like me anyways,” he said.
Trump one-ups Walz’s ‘weird comments’: ‘He’s very freakish’
Before Walz was selected to be Harris’s running mate, he made waves for his comments about the Trump-Vance ticket being “weird” in a news interview. Since then, the Harris campaign has run with the rhetoric, describing the Republicans as “weird” in campaign emails, interviews, and speeches.
“[Walz] said, ‘You know, I think J.D. Vance is weird,’ you know, it’s a word that they use,” Trump said in response. “We want to be able to buy a house. We want great education. We want strong borders. I think we’re very actually, I think we’re the opposite of weird. They’re weird.”
But Trump didn’t stop there; he stepped the heat up, calling Walz “freakish.”
“Tim Waltz is the man who’s very freakish. He’s very freakish. If Comrade Walz and Comrade Harris win this November, the people cheering will be the pink-haired Marxists, the looters, the perverts, the flag burners, Hamas supporters, drug dealers, gun grabbers, and human traffickers.”
Trump targets Tester on his record — and his weight
Trump circled back to Chris Christie-era insults, hurling them instead at Tester. The former president declared that Tester has tried to appear sympathetic to him in an attempt to court his supporters, but Trump instead labeled him as a “radical leftist.”
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“One of the most sinister accomplices in Kamala’s plot to demolish American Borders has been her ally, that partner in the U.S. Senate, one of the biggest phonies in American politics. His name is Jon Tester,” Trump said. “And I don’t speak badly about somebody’s physical disability, but he’s got the biggest stomach I have ever seen. That’s the biggest stomach; I have never seen a stomach like that, because he doesn’t look that heavy.”
Later on in the night, Trump said that while Tester voted for him to get impeached, his stomach was “brimming out like a big slob.”
