By MICHAEL R. BLOOD and MEG KINNARD
COACHELLA, Calif. (AP) — With the presidency at stake in key states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Donald Trump spent Saturday night in predominantly liberal California, attempting to associate Vice President Kamala Harris with what he characterized as the shortcomings of her native state.
Trump is virtually guaranteed to lose California, a reality that won’t shift following his Saturday appearance in Coachella, a desert city east of Los Angeles famed for its annual music festival. Nevertheless, Trump capitalized on his visit to criticize the nation’s most populous state, highlighting its ongoing issues with homelessness, water scarcity, and high living costs. Harris, the Democratic candidate, was once the state’s junior senator and attorney general.
“We’re not going to allow Kamala Harris to do to America what she did to California,” Trump remarked, labeling the state as “Paradise Lost.”
The former president faced a crushing defeat in California in 2020. However, he garnered over 6 million votes, the highest for any GOP presidential candidate in history, with some rural counties supporting him by margins exceeding 70%.
This presents a vast base of potential volunteers ready to engage in state races and participate in phone campaigns for the most competitive states. Additionally, Trump attracted media attention in the Los Angeles area, the second-largest media market in the U.S.
Trump’s Coachella visit came between his stops in Nevada, where he attended a roundtable discussion for Latinos in Las Vegas earlier on Saturday, praising Hispanic communities for their “incredible energy,” and Arizona, where he held a rally in Prescott Valley on Sunday. He narrowly lost both of those battleground states to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Attendees who braved sweltering temperatures nearing 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) admitted they didn’t expect Trump to win California but were excited to see him nonetheless.
“It feels like a gathering of people who think alike,” expressed Tom Gibbons of Palm Desert, a Trump supporter since 2016 who had never seen him in person until Saturday. “Everyone recognizes the heartbeat of America and the struggles of the working class … It’s comforting.”
Trump’s presence in California provides an opportunity to mobilize a significant number of supporters, according to Tim Lineberger, who was communications director for Trump’s 2016 campaign in Michigan and served in his administration. He believes Trump is “coming here and activating that.”
Lineberger reminisced about Californians making calls to voters in Michigan in 2016 on Trump’s behalf, stating that the campaign’s current decision to enter solidly Democratic territory is an “aggressive, offensive play.”
Moreover, California serves as a crucial source of campaign funding for both parties, and Trump is focused on fundraising efforts. Photos with the former president in Coachella were offered at a price of $25,000, which includes premium seating for two, while a “VIP Experience” was priced at $5,000.
During an 80-minute speech on Saturday night, Trump recounted the usual criticisms Republicans have of the Democratic-controlled state — citing issues such as illegal immigration, homelessness, and heavy regulations — and engaged in the water rights controversy surrounding the endangered Delta smelt, which has put environmental advocates against farmers.
Trump was especially critical of illegal immigration, asserting at one point: “Your children are in danger. You can’t go to school alongside these people; they’re from a different planet.”
He continued his long-standing feud with Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, referring to him as “New-scum.” Trump reiterated his threats regarding the water rights dispute, stating that if Newsom did not support farmers’ needs, “we’re not sending you any of that fire funding we provide for all the wildfires you experience.”
Prior to the rally, Republicans outlined several potential motivations for Trump’s visit.
Amid congressional races that could dictate which party controls the House, the Coachella rally serves as a “get-out-the-vote initiative that invigorates and motivates Republicans in California, particularly when they feel disconnected from the national campaign,” noted Republican consultant Tim Rosales.
Jim Brulte, a former chair of the California Republican Party, expressed his belief that Trump aims to achieve something he has not accomplished in previous campaigns: winning more overall votes than his Democratic rival.
“I believe Donald Trump is coming to California because he wants to succeed not just in the Electoral College, but also in securing the popular vote. There are more registered voters in California than the total residents in 46 of the other 49 states,” Brulte stated.
The Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles is located on the Pacific Coast, south of the city. Nevertheless, Trump has had a tumultuous relationship with California, where no Republican has won the state since 1988 and Democrats outnumber registered Republicans roughly 2-to-1.
California was a hub for the so-called Trump resistance during his presidency, and Trump often portrays the state as emblematic of all that he believes is wrong in America. As president, he described the homeless crises in Los Angeles and San Francisco as disgraceful and threatened government intervention.
On Wednesday, Newsom predicted that Trump would criticize the state at the rally while ignoring its strengths as the world’s fifth-largest economy. The governor noted that for the first time in a decade, California boasts more Fortune 500 companies than any other state.
“You know, that’s not what Trump is going to say,” he anticipated.
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Blood reported from Los Angeles, with contributions from Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Las Vegas and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver.
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