Former President Trump painted a grim picture of California, saying it was crime-ridden, water-scarce and full of illegal immigrants. He warned of what would happen to the country if Kamala Harris was elected president.
“I come to California today with a very simple message for the American people: We cannot allow Comrade Kamala Harris and the left-wing Communists to do to America what they did to California,” he told reporters from his luxurious golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes, with the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island in the backdrop. “The state of California is in chaos, people are fleeing, and nothing can stop them.”
Trump said that if elected, he would stop sending federal firefighting aid to California unless Governor Gavin Newsom, whom he repeatedly calls “Newscom,” implements his policy priorities on issues such as taxes.
“If he doesn’t sign those papers, we’re not going to give him the money to put out all his fires. And if we don’t give him all the money to put out his fires, he’s going to have problems,” Trump said. “He’s a lousy governor.”
Despite losing the 2020 presidential election in California by 5 million votes, the former president claimed he would win the state if the votes were counted properly.
“You don’t have an honest voting system. They send out millions and millions of ballots. They go everywhere,” he said. “You have a very dishonest system. If I ran in California with an honest vote counter, I would win California.”
In his first news conference since his debate with Harris on Tuesday, Trump spoke for more than an hour. He repeatedly accused the moderators of the clash of being biased, claimed he had won, and even promised mass deportations if he were elected. He also took some time to boast about his golf course.
“This is a world championship course, it faces the Pacific Ocean … very few courses face the Pacific Ocean,” Trump said. “I have the ocean; Pebble Beach has the bay. The ocean is better than the bay.”
Trump bought the blufftop golf course in 2002 for a discounted price of $27 million after its 18th hole collapsed into the Pacific Ocean three years earlier. The property played a key role in Trump’s New York fraud trial, in which the state’s attorney general also participated. Suing TrumpThree of his children and his company are allegedly involved in the climbed The club’s value and conservation easement have been challenged as part of a broader lawsuit.
The former president is seeking to build homes around the golf course, which is a half-mile from the active slide area. His campaign said it was “monitoring” conditions in the city.
The Harris campaign called the appearance “bizarre.”
“Donald Trump took his trainwreck on the debate stage straight to California,” campaign spokesman James Singer said. “In a vague, defensive, often incoherent program to promote his golf course, he once again showed the country how he’s melting down.”
This golf course is in Rancho Palos Verdes, a city that emergency situation The order, issued this month by Newsom, is due to excessive ground movement caused by an ongoing wet winter.
Power and gas have been cut off to hundreds of nearby homes. An order issued by the city is in effect for areas near the golf course. Evacuation warning, The cracked ground shifted by about nine to 12 inches one week And houses are falling apart and sliding off their foundations.
The city’s mayor, John Cruikshank, met with Trump and spoke briefly about the need for the state and federal governments to consolidate the land.
Trump was in the midst of a two-day fundraising tour in Harris’s home state. On Thursday, donors paid up to $250,000 to attend an event in Beverly Hills.
The former president is scheduled to attend a fundraiser in the Bay Area on Friday afternoon. Relatives of Newsom’s wife. Couples are being asked to pay up to $500,000 to attend the Woodside event, organized by Tom and Stacey Seibel. Tom Seibel is a billionaire software developer and businessman who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump’s 2024 campaign and is a second cousin of Jennifer Seibel Newsom, the Democratic governor’s wife.
On Thursday, Trump told the audience in Tucson, Arizona, that he called the debate “a memorable time.” He criticized the moderator and falsely alleged that Harris wants to kill babies after birth and confiscate people’s guns. He also emphasized immigration – one of the top issues of his campaign and a major issue in the border state.
“People said I was angry about this debate,” Trump said. “And yes, I am angry, because they allowed 21 million illegal aliens to invade our communities.”
Trump announced a new economic policy, “no tax on overtime.” The former president has already called for eliminating taxes on tips and Social Security benefits.
“This gives people more incentive to work,” Trump said of his new proposal. “People who work overtime are some of the hardest working citizens of our country, and for too long, nobody in Washington has paid attention to them.”
