President Trump returned to Texas on Wednesday to headline a midterm rally at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio. In his speech, Trump praised several Texas candidates, launched rhetorical barbs at Democrats, and highlighted his administration’s successes.
Before Trump’s speech, several Texas politicians took the stage, including Attorney General and Senate nominee Ken Paxton, Attorney General nominee Mayes Middleton, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and congressional candidates Brandon Herrera, Chris Gober, and Carlos De La Cruz.
Paxton used his speech to frame his race against James Talarico as a fight over the future of American capitalism.
“This election, we’re not talking about red versus blue. We’re not talking about a moderate Democrat. We’re talking about the constitutional republic, freedom, the Bill of Rights. We are talking about capitalism. On the other side, we are talking about communism, socialism, the government controlling it,” said Paxton, citing past comments critical of capitalism made by Talarico.
Carlos De La Cruz, an Air Force veteran and small business owner running in a competitive San Antonio-area congressional district, painted himself as a political outsider concerned with kitchen-table issues facing families in his district. He also discussed his experience working at the border while in the Air Force, pledging to go after drug cartels in Congress.
“We will go after the cartels with hell, fire, and fury. And let me be clear: if you came to our country to terrorize our communities or to sell your poison to our kids, you will be dealt with and dealt with severely,” he said.
Trump emphasized his achievements in office, including securing the border and delivering a “golden age” of American prosperity.
“Our income numbers have soared to the highest level per individual ever recorded. That’s tough to beat. There are right now more Americans working today than at any time in the history of our country. More Americans are working right now, by far, than at any time in the history of our country,” said President Trump.
Texas Democrats, James Talarico and Congressman Henry Cuellar in particular, also drew Trump’s ire during his remarks.
Trump invoked Alamo heroes, including Davy Crockett, William Travis, and Jim Bowie, when discussing the prospect of Talarico being elected.
“Those Texas heroes would be rolling over in their graves at the mere sight of Talafreako trying to become a Senator from Texas. The people of Texas are not going to let weak, gutless, self-hating, transgender-promoting freak shows destroy everything that we’ve built,” said Trump, to thunderous applause.
Democrat Congressman Henry Cuellar, who, along with his wife, was facing federal corruption charges until being pardoned by Trump last year, was singled out by the President for being “a disloyal, ungrateful person.” Republican Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina is challenging Cuellar.
“Henry Cuellar is a guy who is considered low life in Congress, not respected, and right now should be serving a long-term prison sentence with his wife in a top-level penitentiary,” Trump said of the embattled Congressman.
Trump closed his speech by laying out an agenda for a Republican Congress including a $5,000 “Trump dividend” for every American citizen, making the Trump tax cuts permanent, combating fraud, improving health insurance, ending cashless bail, passing the SAVE America Act, and banning “transgender mutilization” of children.
