This report from the Trump rally last weekend is just … wow:
Ray Kallatsa is a die-hard Trumper who “definitely” wants to see former President Donald Trump run for office again in 2024.
So it was natural that he’d travel from Tucson to see Trump’s first rally of 2022. But as Kallatsa stood there on Saturday, pondering whom he would like to see as Trump’s next veep — from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to onetime national security adviser turned ardent conspiracy theorist Mike Flynn — an unorthodox idea came to him.
“JFK Jr.,” he said, referencing the son of the 35th president who died in a plane crash in 1999. Kallatsa realized he might have come off a bit odd with the suggestion. “I don’t want to sound too much like a conspiracy theorist, but he’s coming back,” he explained. “He’s supposed to reveal himself on the 17th if he’s truly alive. I think we’ll see him.”
If Kallatsa was worried about sounding too conspiratorial, he shouldn’t have been. He was not alone among the crowd in believing that JFK Jr. is not only still alive but is also a secret Trump supporter embedded far in the “deep state.” One attendee was spotted wearing a red shirt with the faces of Trump, Kennedy and Kennedy Jr. in the crowd. Michael Protzman, the QAnon influencer who organized the event last year in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza where he and others also believed John F. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr. would reappear from the dead, was spotted in the rally stands.
MAGA = total, unadulterated lunacy.
Elsewhere were individuals in hats that read “Trump Won” and buttons with “Q.” Figures from fringe QAnon online groups, like Jim and Ron Watkins, shared their visit to the rally with online followers. And conservative activist Ali Alexander — who helped organize last year’s Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally, which has led to countless arrests and fears about the erosion of American democracy — was given priority access to the event.
One of the introductory speakers, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who represents the district that includes Florence, invoked a “storm coming” — a phrase used by QAnon — in his speech. Another speaker was Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem, who is running to be Arizona’s secretary of state, has been linked to QAnon and has reportedly discussed conspiracies about a network of elected officials involved in a network of pedophilia. Both have been endorsed by Trump.
Trump himself indulged:
Up on stage Saturday night, Trump pushed a right-wing conspiracy suggesting that some of the people who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 were actually FBI informants.
“Exactly how many of those present at the Capitol complex on January 6 were FBI confidential informants agents or otherwise working directly or indirectly with an agency of the United States government? People want to hear this,” Trump said.
Days earlier, the congressional committee investigating the capital attacks said it had interviewed Ray Epps, the Arizona man central to the theory that the FBI was secretly involved in the riots. Epps, the select committee said, had informed investigators “that he was not employed by, working with or acting at the direction of any law enforcement agency on Jan. 5 or 6 or at any other time, and that he has never been an informant for the F.B.I. or any other law enforcement agency.”
But that did not stop the former president, who, following the footsteps of allies like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Sen. Ted Cruz, (R-Texas), as well as Fox News host Tucker Carlson, suggested Epps was part of a “false flag” operation. “How about the one guy, ‘Go in, get in there everybody.’ Epps,” Trump declared.
And then there was the usual Big Lie stuff, for which they all cheered lustily. They were having the time of their lives:
Thousands had come out on a cold, windy night an hour south of Phoenix to dusty desert fairgrounds to see and hear the former president. Decked out in red, white and blue Trump gear or wearing T-shirts with, shall we say, colorful words for Biden, his supporters danced to his MAGA rally playlist, took selfies with one another and high-fived strangers as they walked past.
And as the warm-up acts and Trump spoke, they joined together in chorus to chant “Let’s Go Brandon,” a popular GOP slogan that gives the middle finger to Biden, and “Lock him up,” aimed at Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert turned conservative enemy.
They were all maskless. And Trump didn’t push the vaccines. He’s learned his lesson.
Few, if any, masks were worn. Nor was there much concern played to the pandemic ripping through the country (Trump, for his part, did not encourage followers to get Covid booster shots, as he had done in recent appearances, but instead railed against vaccine mandates). They were happy to be in a crowd of like-minded people, but also angry — at Biden, at Democrats, at the media for, among other things, their portrayal of the Jan. 6 riots. After all, some of them had been there.
And they enjoy nothing more than whining about how persecuted they are:
That included Diane Meade from La Verne, Calif., who said she traveled 6.5 hours to Florence on Saturday night because she believes the 2020 election was stolen and wants to be on the “right side of history.” Meade said she was at the Capitol the day of the riot, and since then has felt “persecuted.”
As the rally came to a close, the fieriness of the festivities had become dotted with anger. Terry Schultz, an Arizona snowbird from North Dakota, waited on the tailgate of a truck. His friends described the rally as “invigorating.” Schultz, however, seemed agitated by, as he explained, “all the corruption the Democrats pulled.” The election, he said, was stolen. Trump was robbed.
Those are exactly the words Trump used. He is their Dear Leader.