On June 5, former President Donald Trump delivered a speech at the North Carolina Republican State Convention held in Greenville. In his talk, Trump covered a wide range of topics, including border policies, radical leftism, foreign policy, and the need to hold China accountable for the damage caused by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Below is a brief summary of the issues Trump raised in his one and a half hour speech.
China ‘destroyed so many nations’
Trump said that China “inflicted” economic damage on the U.S. to the tune of 16 trillion dollars last year through the COVID-19 pandemic. “The time has come for America and the world to demand reparations and accountability from the communist party of China. We should all declare within one unified voice that China must pay. They must pay,” he said.
The former president wants Washington to impose a “firm 100 percent tariff” on all goods manufactured in China. Money collected from the tariffs should be reinvested to “help bring back jobs and factories” to the U.S. from China.
He also said nations around the world should bill China “a minimum of 10 trillion dollars” for the harm wrought by COVID-19. “As a first step, all countries should collectively cancel any debt they owe to China as a down payment on reparations. The nations of the world should no longer owe money to china. China has destroyed so many nations.”
Border issues
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Trump criticized Biden for his lax border and immigration policies. “When I left office we gave the new administration the most secure border in U.S. history.” The Trump administration negotiated with countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras to reduce illegal immigration, bring down asylum and asylum-related fraud, institute rapid removals at the border, and shut down the catch and release program.
Catch and release refers to the practice of detaining illegal migrants and releasing them into the country while they await hearings at immigration courts. “After we instituted these policies, the number of illegal aliens coming across our border declined by an astounding 91 percent. But under Joe Biden, illegal crossings are up nearly 1,000 percent compared to the same period last year.”
Trump warned that murderers, drug dealers, human traffickers, and other criminals are pouring into the United States. He added that more than 175,000 illegal immigrants were “apprehended and mostly released” in April this year. Trump accused “radical democrats” of “intentionally, ruthlessly, and systematically” dismantling America’s borders.
Radical leftism and Big Tech censorship
Trump said that the left is weaponizing the law “to persecute their political opponents.” He accused “radical left prosecutors” of trying to destroy the lives of innocent people “in their crusade to inflict pain on me.” He called the 2020 presidential election “the most corrupt election in the history” of the United States, and said that the left used the pandemic and mail-in ballots to “steal an election.”
Trump also criticized Facebook for the two-year ban imposed on him. The former president said that he would not be “too interested” to return to the platform even if they reversed the decision. “They’re shutting down an entire group of people, not just me. They’re shutting down the voice of a tremendously powerful, in my opinion, a much more powerful and a much larger group.”
Critical Race Theory and education
Trump pointed out that the Biden administration is “pushing critical race theory [CRT] and illegal discrimination” in education. “The Biden administration has also issued regulations to indoctrinate America’s schoolchildren with poisonous and divisive left-wing doctrines such as critical race theory and exact opposite of the American belief that we all are created equal in the holy image of God.”
He asked Republicans “at every level” to immediately move to ban the teaching of CRT in schools and workplaces. Trump also highlighted the Democratic push for legislation that would give students academic credit for showing up at protests, accusing them of planning to turn students “into left-wing activists.”
“If government-run schools are going to indoctrinate children with radical ideas, Republicans must immediately pass legislation to empower every parent in America to opt-out of the insanity and send their child to the public-private charter or religious school of their choice.”
Jobs
Accusing the Biden administration of “putting America last,” Trump criticized the president’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline project, which he said resulted in 48,000 lost jobs. “If you like the environment, the pipeline is much better than railroad tracks and it’s much better than trucking.”
Trump criticized Democrats for “attempting to pass” the largest tax hike in American history, saying that the move would affect every American citizen. He warned that the rich and several companies would simply move to other countries to escape high taxes.
Israel
Trump was critical of Biden’s policy on Israel and reminded the audience that 10 to 15 years ago, almost everyone in Congress was allied with the Jewish state.
“He actually criticized Israel while the Jewish homeland was under attack by thousands and thousands of rockets and missiles launched by Iran… It was a betrayal of Israel,” referring to recent rocket attacks on Israeli cities by Hamas terrorists.
Elections
Trump praised Texas and Florida for pushing forward election integrity measures. “What happened to this country in that last election was a disgrace.” He said that countries like China, Iran, and Russia are happy with the way the 2020 election turned out.
The former president also warned that if Democrats succeed in getting the HR 1 bill signed into law, “there will never be another fair election in our country.” Also known as For The People Act of 2021, the election reform bill being pushed forward by Democrats includes measures such as legalizing mail-in voting nationwide without photo ID, allowing felons and illegal immigrants to vote, and preventing election officials from removing ineligible voters from registries.
Trump promised to “take back our country,” saying that he could not allow bad things to happen to America. He said the Republican Party is going to have a “tremendous 2022,” and ended his speech by stressing the importance of “Made in the USA.”
“We will shut down outsourcing, bring back our supply chains, crack down on trade cheaters and violators, and ensure that America, not China, dominates the future of the world. We will protect innocent life, we will defend our glorious constitution, and we will uphold the Judeo-Chrisitan values and principles of our nation’s founding.”
“We will break up the big tech monopolies, reject left-wing cancel culture, restore free speech in America and demand free, fair and honest transparent elections. We will strengthen our military, support our great police and always take care of our amazing veterans.”
