Trump vows 2024 revenge at Minnesota GOP dinner, collects leadership award

Muhammad Asghar | GlobalBeat

Donald Trump collected a Republican leadership award in St. Paul on Friday while telling donors he would prosecute political opponents if returned to the White House.

The former president spoke for 87 minutes at the party’s $500-per-plate Lincoln Reagan Dinner, according to the state GOP’s posted schedule.

Trump faces 91 criminal counts across four indictments while campaigning to retake the presidency from Democrat Joe Biden. Polls show him narrowly ahead in Minnesota, a state he lost by 7 points in 2020.

Organisers presented Trump with the “2004 Statesman of the Year Award,” repeating an honour he received from the Republican Party of Minnesota in 2014. He displayed the plaque to applause from roughly 1,400 attendees at the RiverCentre ballroom.

“I will totally obliterate the deep state,” Trump said, according to video posted by the party. “We will demolish the fake news media and we will root out the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”

The remarks echoed language from his rallies last November that drew condemnation from Jewish groups and Democrats who likened the phrasing to fascist rhetoric. Trump has dismissed the criticism.

He devoted large portions of the speech to attacking special counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and other prosecutors handling cases against him. Trump repeated claims that Biden directed the investigations, something the White House has denied.

“These people are corrupt and we’re going to have to do something about it,” Trump said, according to pool reporters inside the hall. “The only way we stop them is we have to be tougher than they are.”

Minnesota Democratic Chairman Ken Martin condemned the event. “Trump spent the evening threatening prosecutors and bragging about revenge while Minnesota Republicans stood and cheered,” Martin said in a statement released during the dinner.

The fundraiser netted more than $3 million for the state party, executive director Mike O’Rourke told reporters afterwards. That figure exceeds the party’s entire 2022 election-year fundraising haul of $2.1 million according to federal filings.

Trump’s visit came two days after Biden held a smaller event in Minneapolis promoting his economic agenda. The dueling appearances previewed Minnesota’s newfound battleground status after decades of Democratic presidential victories.

Republicans last won the state in 1972 when Richard Nixon carried all but Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. Trump’s 45% showing in 2020 marked the GOP’s best performance since 1984 when Ronald Reagan came within 3,800 votes.

The former president name-checked several Minnesota Republicans during his remarks including U.S. Representatives Tom Emmer and Michelle Fischbach. He praised party chair David Hann for “fighting like hell” to elect GOP candidates in last year’s legislative races that saw Democrats retain full statehouse control.

Trump’s motorcade arrived at 7:42 p.m. local time after flying in from Florida aboard his private 757, according to reporters traveling with him. He departed at 10:15 p.m. without taking questions from the press contingent.

Background

Trump has headlined Republican fundraisers nationwide while maintaining his 2024 campaign schedule. Recent stops include dinners in North Carolina, Michigan and Nevada that each raised more than $1 million according to state party reports.

His Minnesota appearance marked his first visit since October 2020 when he held a rally at Rochester’s airport two weeks before losing the state. Friday’s event required attendees to sign waivers acknowledging “an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19” though few masks were visible in photographs released by the party.

What’s Next

Trump scheduled campaign rallies Monday in Iowa and Tuesday in New Hampshire, the first two states on the Republican primary calendar. Early voting begins January 15 in Iowa where he leads Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by 30 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.

Minnesota Republicans will select 39 delegates to the national convention during precinct caucuses February 27. The state holds its presidential primary March 5 on Super Tuesday when 15 states allocate more than one-third of GOP delegates.