By Allan Stein
MESA, Ariz.âThe hour is late and the choice for the United States is clear, former President Donald Trump told thousands of fired-up supporters during his third Arizona visit in a year.
âIf you want the decline and fall of America, then you must vote radical left Democrat,â Trump told the capacity crowd at an âAmerica Firstâ rally held at the Legacy Sports Complex in Mesa on Oct. 9. âVote Democrat. They donât know what theyâre doingâexcept when it comes to cheating at elections.
âBut if you want to stop the destruction of our country and save the American Dreamâour good old American Dreamâthen you have to vote Republican up and down the line.â
Trump voiced support for his Republican candidates of choice in the stateâKari Lake for governor, Blake Masters for U.S. Senate, Mark Finchem for secretary of state, and Abe Hamadeh for attorney general.
It has yet to be seen whether the Oct. 9 rally was Trumpâs final stop in the Grand Canyon State ahead of the November midterm elections, which are less than 30 days away.
âItâs hard to say. He only does things within a weekâs noticeâand look at this fantastic crowd,â said Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers, a Republican, wearing a red MAGA cap.
â[Trump] understands that Arizona is at the pointy tip of the swordâthat our state Legislature and these fantastic candidates will determine whether we can assert statesâ rights and get our country back. Because the federal government is bent on our destruction.â
Eileen Satter of Scottsdale stood among throngs of Trump supporters in the afternoon sunâs sweltering rays, waiting to hear the 45th U.S. president speak.
Satter said she plans to vote for a straight Republican ticket on Nov. 8 to âget control of the border, get control of fentanyl coming into the country, and reduce gas prices and inflation.â
âI think it is intentional,â Satter told The Epoch Times regarding President Joe Biden tapping into the nationâs strategic oil reserves, âbringing it down a bit before the election.â
As an America First supporter, Robert Zegley of Phoenix hopes for a clean sweep by Republicans next month.
âThatâs why Iâm hereâto support the America First movement. It might not be a clean sweep, but I think momentum is going toward the right,â Zegley said. âIf they end up with the House and the Senate, theyâll have a little more leverage. With the House, theyâll be able to get some things rocking and rolling.â
He said the southern border crisis is the âbig issueâ for him.
âThe fact that they just walk across with drugs in backpacksâI find that quite disturbing,â Zegley told The Epoch Times.
Hilda and Benjamin Reyes of Arizona said they support Trump and the Republican ticket in the state and federal elections and that theyâre hoping to make a difference come November.
âWe have seen the last year or two that it matters who you vote in, what they believe in, and what they want for you. I still believe it works for the people,â Hilda Reyes said. âThey [the Democratic Party] is not the majorityâweâre the majority. They have the bigger mouths and the media.â
The couple acknowledged that itâs difficult for traditional America and âwokeâ America to coexist.
âWe have to mind our own business. We have to live our lives. Weâre not going to let them change us,â Benjamin Reyes told The Epoch Times. âTheyâre blind to the fact that thereâs a cliff theyâre going to fall off soon. It all depends on your belief, but God is in control. Evil is not going to win. The whole battle here is good and evil.â
Hilda Reyes said life was better when Trump was president and that âwe liked how we were going.â
âItâs like the woke doesnât want anything to do with America, but they live in America. They want to change America. We donât want that,â she told The Epoch Times.
Bridget Shay of Scottsdale said sheâs a big fan of Trump and that she supports the entire list of Trump-endorsed candidates.
âWe have good Republican candidates, Republican patriots, and a strong leader like Trump to pull [America] back into shape,â Shay said.
âEvery day, something more negative is happening to our country,â said George W., a Trump supporter from Fountain Hills. âI think [America] can be saved, but what an uphill battle. The guy to do it is Trump.â
The rally featured two unexpected visitorsâself-professed â2020 election denierâ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow and an outspoken conservative critic of electronic voting machines in the 2020 election. He recently had his cellphone seized by the FBI at a fast-food outlet.
âWe have to get rid of these voting machines. We have to go paper and hand counting,â Lindell said.
As for the FBI taking his phone, he told The Epoch Times: âI care that it made Fox News why [the FBI] took my phone. Why did they take it? They want my voice silenced. They can corner me in Hardeeâs all they want. If they do it again, I will bash right through them. I thought they were criminals.â
Lindell said the FBIâs August raid on Trumpâs Mar-a-Lago home in Florida has backfired, saying that Trump did ânothing wrong.â
âThe more they attack him, the more the people come to him. Heâs the greatest president weâve ever had,â Lindell said.
During his speech, Trump criticized what he described as a âweaponized â Department of Justice and FBI under the Biden administration.
âI must say nothing happens to drug lords. Nothing happens to Antifa. Nothing happens to BLM. Look at what happens to patriots,â Trump said. âBefore our eyes, Biden and his handlers are turning America into a police state.
âEvery freedom-loving American needs to understand the time to stand up is right now [or] itâs going to be too late. Weâve got to stop this growing tyranny.â
Regarding Arizonaâs southern border crisis, Trump said the border has been âobliteratedâ and that U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) has failed to address the problem.
âThe cartels and traffickers have seen their incomes skyrocket since I left your beautiful border. Theyâve seen it skyrocket 2,500 percent more from when we were in charge. We had the safest border in the history of our country. Now we have the worst border,â he said.
Trump blamed Biden for rising gasoline prices and living costs and spiking murder rates among Hispanics in Tucson.
âThereâs only one way to end this madness,â he said. âOn Nov. 8, Arizona can reject this miserable fate by delivering a clean sweep of every statewide office for the Republican Party. You can prove that Arizona is still a red state.â