Former President Donald Trump told Newsmax on Friday that he will resume his rallies this weekend because Americans "want hope for this country again."
"It's so troubled with the inflation, with the gasoline prices," Trump told "Wake Up America." "We will no longer be energy independent, something we were for the first time ever under our great administration."
This weekend, Trump is traveling to Ohio, where he'll hold his first campaign-style rally since leaving the White House in January. The event is set for 7 p.m. Saturday at the Lorain County Fairgrounds, located near Cleveland.
He will also be using the event to endorse the candidacy of Max Miller, one of a slate of people challenging Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, a GOP incumbent who voted for Trump's second impeachment.
"Anthony Gonzalez is a terrible congressman, terrible," said Trump Friday. "Max is outstanding ... he's young. He's strong. He's vibrant. He has ideas. He loves Ohio and he loves our country and he'll be great."
Trump further said that he bases his endorsements on a "feeling that you have to have for somebody, but there is one criteria that is a must: anybody that voted for the impeachment hoax, they don't get the endorsement, that I can tell you.
"There weren't too many of them and I think most of them are being, if not all, they're being primaried right now, so that's good," said Trump. "I'll be helping their opponent. But I feel that just somebody that's very, very, doesn't have to necessarily agree with me and everything, but somebody that's really capable and could get the job done."
The rallies are marking a comeback, of sorts, after what Trump still calls an election that was a "disgrace."
"As far as I was concerned it was probably the most dishonest election we've ever had in this country," said Trump. "I don't think probably is even the appropriate word and the people really want to have hope. They got cheated on the election. It was rigged ... we got a record number of votes. We got 75 million votes, 12 million more than last time that never happened before for [a] sitting president either."
Trump also pointed to the success of his rallies as proof that he couldn't have lost.
"The rallies are something that we can do that nobody else can do, because if somebody else calls for a rally, they have 12 people show up, and that's including Biden," said Trump. "He couldn't fill up the circles. Then all of a sudden, they miraculously won. But a lot of things are happening about that subject, and we'll see how that all works out."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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