In Phoenix, Trump declares protesters are behaving like 'people who don't love our country'

(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

published 24 June 2020

President Trump on Tuesday told supporters in Phoenix that he won't "bow down to left-wing bullies," saying those who are protesting against racism and police brutality "hate our history. They hate our values, and they hate everything we prize as Americans."

Trump said demonstrators who attempted to topple a statue of former President Andrew Jackson Monday in Washington, D.C., displayed the "behavior of totalitarians and dictators and people who don't love our country." He declared that his vision for America is one of "equal opportunity and equal justice," while "the left" wants to see "disunity and discord."

Pivoting to the November election, Trump played up the idea that there will be massive voter fraud if more people are able to use mail-in ballots. "This will be in my opinion the most corrupt election in the history of our country and we cannot let this happen," he said. He claimed people will try to steal ballots, and if voters could go to the polls during World War I and World War II, then they can "safely go to the polls and vote during COVID-19."

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This was a Students for Trump event, and reporters said most in the crowd did not wear masks, despite a surge in coronavirus cases in Arizona. Politico notes that during rallies, Trump often takes the stage later than expected, but on Tuesday, he began speaking 10 minutes early, at the same time Fox News was airing an interview with his former National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bolton's new book about his time in the White House, which the Trump administration attempted to keep from being released, was published on Tuesday.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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