Speaking in a raspy voice and delivering a rambling speech in Kinston, N.C., on Sunday, former President Donald Trump told his supporters they will be “second-class citizens” for “the rest of your life” if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the White House.
It was a much more subdued version of Trump compared to the speech he gave in Pennsylvania hours earlier when he spread doubt about the upcoming election, said he “shouldn’t have left” office after losing in 2020 and discussed reporters being shot. But Trump still veered off-script, launching into asides about Panamanian boxer Roberto Durán, and a dinner between 1920s gangster Al Capone and Mike Lindell, the founder of MyPillow and a fervent Trump supporter.
What You Need To Know
- Speaking in a raspy voice and delivering a rambling speech in Kinston, N.C., on Sunday, former President Donald Trump told his supporters they will be “second-class citizens” for “the rest of your life” if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the White House
- It was a much more subdued version of Trump compared to the speech he gave in Pennsylvania hours earlier when he spread doubt about the upcoming election, said he “shouldn’t have left” office after losing in 2020 and discussed reporters being shot. But Trump still veered off-script, launching into asides about Panamanian boxer Roberto Durán, and a dinner between 1920s gangster Al Capone and Mike Lindell, the founder of MyPillow and a fervent Trump supporter
- Trump also mocked Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who he has mostly been on sour terms with since leaving office, for endorsing him despite their long, public feud
- The former president also appeared to briefly lose track of the state he was speaking in, praising the Republican running for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.
“If she wins, you will live the rest of your life as second-class citizens in your own country,” Trump said as he spoke about violent crimes committed by immigrants and framed migrants arriving in the U.S. as an “invasion,” relying often on false claims and debunked conspiracy theories.
“Either they hate our country or they maybe want to put them on the voting rolls, that's probably the reason. Or they’re stupid, but they’re not stupid,” Trump said of Harris and other Democrats. “If I win, the American people will be the rulers of this country again. The United States is now an occupied country.”
At another point, he praised David McCormick, the businessman running for Senate in Pennsylvania, appearing to briefly lose track of his location but quickly recovering. McCormick spoke at the rally for Trump earlier in the day.
“Where’s David? Is he around some place?” Trump said. “You know we just left him. He’s a great guy.”
A few minutes later, Trump bemoaned his four criminal prosecutions and other legal woes, comparing himself to the gangster Al Capone, who died in 1947 when the 78-year-old Trump was seven months old. The former president frequently compares himself to “the late, great Alphonse Capone” on the campaign trail, arguing the feared Chicago gangster faced fewer criminal charges than he has.
This time, however, Trump launched into a description of a dinner between Capone and Lindell, a modern day businessman and 2020 election denier. Lindell was in attendance at the rally.
“If [Capone] was with Mike Lindell for dinner, and Mike offered him a couple of pillows, and if he didn't sleep well because he didn't like Mike's pillows, Mike had almost no chance of living,” Trump said. “He would dispose of Mike somewhere in a foundation of a building or something. You would never see Mike again. Mike does not want to have dinner with Scarface, right? I've been under investigation. Mike, more than Scarface. Can you believe it? Alphonse, the meanest of them all. He was the meanest. If he didn't like somebody, it was over.”
Trump, who won North Carolina twice, was in the state for his third event of the weekend and plans to return on Monday as he tries to avoid being the first Republican to lose the state since 2008. Recent statewide victories and the scandal embroiling the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate this cycle have convinced Harris’ campaign they have a real shot at securing the southern state’s 16 electoral votes. Recent polls and polling averages have the two candidates virtually tied, with Trump holding a percentage point or two advantage in a majority of the polls conducted in the last week. A New York Times/Siena College poll published on Sunday had Harris up 49% to Trump’s 46%.
A record 4.2 million North Carolinians voted during the early voting period that ended on Saturday, according to state officials, with turnout in western counties hit by Hurricane Helene outpacing the rest of the state. Including absentee voting, 4,465,548 voters — or 57% of the state’s 7.8 million registered voters — cast ballots in the general election as of Sunday morning, officials said. Just over 5.5 million total voted in the 2020 general election, with Trump beating President Joe Biden by around 1.5 percentage points.
“This is 1000 times bigger than the Super Bowl. With your help, we're going to beat Kamala Harris, we are going to win North Carolina and we are going to make America great again,” Trump said, later adding “For the past nine years, we have been fighting against the most sinister and corrupt forces on Earth. With your vote in this election, the most important election we've ever had, you can show them once and for all that this nation does not belong to them, this nation belongs to you.”
Trump also mocked Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who he has mostly been on sour terms with since leaving office, for endorsing him despite their long, public feud. The Kentucky Republican plans on staying in the Senate, but said he would cede his leadership role to a new senator after the election.
“Hopefully we get rid of Mitch McConnell pretty soon, because he helped [Democrats]. That guy, can you believe he endorsed me? Can you? Boy, that must have been a painful day in his life. Every time I think of it, he didn't have to do that. He provided the necessary votes. What a disgrace,” Trump said.
A spokesperson for McConnell did not immediately return a request for comment.
Trump was set to rally in Macon, Ga., on Sunday evening for his third and final event of the day.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.