by Donald Trump supporters reportedly began leaving the venue in large numbers just 15 minutes into his speech at a rally in Michigan on Saturday night.
The former president held another campaign-style rally at a community gym in Warren, Michigan, and spoke for about 102 minutes in total as he repeated unproven claims that the 2020 election was stolen and endorsed several Republican candidates for the upcoming midterms.
A reporter live-tweeting from the Macomb College Sports & Expo Center said the crowd was far from the arena’s full capacity of 6,600. A photo reportedly taken 10 minutes before the end of the rally showed sparsely populated seats toward the back of the venue.
Attendees began leaving the venue after just 15 minutes as Trump launched into a list of his well-known grievances. Detroit Free Press journalist Paul Egan said in a tweet.
“There has also been a steady stream of attendees heading for the exits since about 15 minutes of this now hour-long and ongoing speech ended. Former President Trump had a few words about the #MIGOP candidates and launched into familiar #TrumpRally grievances,” he said.
A video shared by him purportedly shows a stream of people, some dressed in red, making their way towards the exit door, while others are seen cheering and clapping.
Trump traveled to Michigan for the second time in six months to rouse his base ahead of the midterm elections, at an event where he was expected to endorse Tudor Dixon for governor, Matt DePerno for attorney general and Kristina Karamo for secretary. Foreign.
But his speech only briefly discussed the candidates before Mr Trump veered into a tirade hitting Democrats and the FBI investigation into his Florida home, while casting himself as a politician being persecuted by his opponents.
At one point he reportedly blasted Democrats as “brutal and vindictive left-wing tyrants” and “horrible,” as he called on his supporters to vote Republican.
“These are dangerous people who are willing to burn every American institution to the ground,” he said.
In the most notable part of his speech, he called out the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for continuing to parrot his lies about the 2020 election in a Jan. 6 House select committee interview.
“As we talk and think about the rigged and stolen election of 2020 – the presidential election, rigged and stolen – I’d like to thank a great woman named Ginny Thomas. Do you know Ginny Thomas? Great woman,” he said.
Trump added: “He says he still thinks the 2020 election was stolen … He didn’t say, ‘Hey, I wish I wasn’t involved, of course it was a great election’ … They don’t wilt under pressure like so many others who are weak people and stupid people, because once they wither, they end up being martyrs for a long time.’
He also spoke about Hurricane Ian for the first time since one of the most powerful storms devastated the state of Florida, killing more than 80 people.
Mr Trump said he wanted to send “our deepest sympathy and tremendous support to everyone in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas who have been hit by this brutal hurricane’s wrath”.
“It’s not a good hurricane. That was big,” he said, adding that he wanted to “say hello to everyone” in the affected area.
