Donald Trump wrapped up his long stint as a headline attraction in a traveling show Monday night, holding the final rally of his 2024 campaign after a series of more than 900 stretching back nine years.
He received huge applause and finally took the stage at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids after midnight, where MAGA fans waited in long lines and arrived hours early.
He continued going after two in the morning, even after many of his followers had gone home.
“Think about it: This is the last one,” Trump said. ‘This is my last rally, can you believe it?’
But his wistful recollections of “love” in the bedroom were punctuated by angry and nasty attacks on his greatest rivals.
Trump singled out former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is only on the ballot in his San Francisco district, as a “crazy, horrible human being who cheats like hell.”
“They impeached us twice and wasted all that time, money and energy when we should be focusing on making America great again,” he complained. Still going to Pelosi, he said of the word he was contemplating: “It starts with a B, but I want to say it.” I want to say it.’
He said that “no one lies like this Kamala” and called her “a person with a very low IQ.”
Donald Trump held what he said was his last campaign rally. He said he had detained more than 900 of them.
He claimed there were only a few hundred people at his rally, even though it attracted thousands on Monday.
The late hour (it didn’t start until after midnight) didn’t stop him from following his entire speech routine. At 1:40 a.m., he was still introducing dignitaries and called an autoworker supporter to the stage for a quick speech.
It wasn’t until 1:45 a.m. that Trump called children Don Jr., Eric and Tiffany to the stage, along with Lara Trump and Michael Boulos. “We have Ivanka at home, watching every minute,” Trump said.
‘Good day. It’s another day. I spoke before you came,” said Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, who had spoken to the crowd hours earlier when Trump was on his way. He praised Trump for working “65 days without a break.”
‘How is he a threat to our democracy, like the fake news keeps saying?’ Ghalib said.
“I urge you to go out and vote tomorrow,” he said, prompting shouts of “Today!” from the crowd.
At this time there were many empty seats on the upper decks.
“Today, when you wake up without much sleep, you have to go to the polls,” Donald Trump Jr. said during a brief walk across the stage.
‘Good day. Who else could have so many people at 2 in the morning? Only Donald Trump,” Eric Trump said.
Last dance? Trump did a lively dance at the YMCA
Donald Trump Jr. took the stage at the event. “Today, when you wake up without much sleep, you have to go to the polls,” he said.
Trump also took the time to tout Joe Rogan’s endorsement, days after sitting down with him for three hours and delaying an event in Traverse City. Rogan is estimated to have 18 million listeners on his podcast.
Trump joked with some of his regular fans, calling his opponents “sick” and saying victory was almost certain.
‘How about 95 percent or something?’ asked.
“We will be there on January 20,” he said confidently.
Although he mentioned throughout the day that he had a grueling schedule of four rallies, Trump was determined to revisit his favorite stories and settle scores.
“She’s a lovely person, corrupt Hillary,” Trump said sarcastically. He was harsher when talking about Kamala Harris, calling her “a radical left-wing lunatic.”
He criticized “everything transgender” and received one of his biggest applauses in response.
Members of the crowd listened intently as Trump sang his biggest hits, even though many had attended multiple Trump rallies before.
Several shouted expressions in the crowd. ‘Jesus loves you!’ shout. ‘We love you, Trump,’ one woman shouted, and ‘No tip tax!’ a man shouted.
Trump recounted the assassination attempt against him and spoke of divine intervention
MAGA fans cheer loudly when Trump arrives
Trump took a long time to enjoy the applause and then gave a long speech that lasted well after 1 in the morning.
‘Weave!’ one man shouted, waiting for a prolonged distraction to work again.
Trump again defended his mental acuity before going off on a tangent.
‘If I do, they say he has cognitive impairment, that something is wrong with him. These people are sick.’
‘This has been an incredible journey. “It’s very sad in a way,” Trump said, recalling the past.
He spoke sometimes of divine intervention during the attempt on his life.
“I hope God put me here to really save this country,” Trump said.
He asked for “the honor of his vote.”
“I don’t want your money,” he said, after spending the year asking his followers for campaign contributions, legal advocacy and even selling items from NFTs to luxury watches and sneakers.
The venue is home to the Griffins ice hockey team with a seating capacity of 12,000 plus court space, and Trump had no qualms about reining in his rivals.
“I’m running against an evil Democratic establishment,” Trump said.
It was the culmination of a long day of travel in which Trump toured some of the key battlefields, racing against the clock and grappling with the physical toll of hours and hours of public speaking.
Trump began his marathon speaking tour in North Carolina and then visited Pennsylvania and Michigan, both parts of the “blue wall” that determined the outcome of the last two presidential elections.
‘I was going to get out of here quickly. I’m doing four of these things today. And the voice remains, barely,’ he told the crowd after a late start on Monday morning.
The Trump campaign prepared a “closing argument” for its rally in Pittsburgh, but as it did throughout the week, Trump found ways to dramatically deflect it.
At his first event, Trump said he would threaten Mexico’s new president with tariffs, said he loved dogs, went after Michelle Obama, published his wife’s book and defended ‘fabric’.
Former President Donald Trump held his final campaign rally in Grand Rapids, after wrapping up his final Pennsylvania event in Pittsburgh.
At her second, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, she said she liked watching rival Kamala Harris in the ring with Mike Tyson, backed by fans holding pink “Women for Trump” signs.
Then, in Pittsburgh, backed by helmet-wearing fans, they reminisced. “We have people who have attended hundreds of rallies and we all love it,” he said.
‘They are only done for one purpose: to put us in a position where we can be in tomorrow to fix our country. Because rallies, otherwise, are just good entertainment,” Trump said.
The only way we’re going to screw it up is if you’re going to screw it up. I gave you the ball. “I mean, you have to go vote.”
He said of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., whom he wants to join his administration: “Bobby is going to do pretty much whatever he wants.” But with one condition: stay out of energy policy. ‘Leave the liquid gold to me. “Don’t trample on our liquid gold,” Trump said.
Trump’s difficulties in staying on message have been evident throughout the week, when he said maybe he shouldn’t have left the White House in 2020 and said “someone would have to spread the fake news.” Those comments came after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.
Former Senate candidate Rep. Mike Rogers attended Trump rally
The stadium was adorned with digital billboards broadcasting Trump’s repeated warnings about voter fraud. “Flood the vote,” said one.
One person who rejected the idea that Trump went off message is Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers.
“He hasn’t made a mistake,” Rogers told DailyMail.com. ‘Listen, you’re talking about electric vehicles. He’s talking about the cost of food, about getting America back on track. “Everyone knows what that means,” he said.
Among those waiting for Trump inside the arena hours before his arrival was Mike Melcher, a Grand Rapids mechanic. He attended a 2015 Trump rally in Grand Rapids before a few thousand people. “My friend says you have to go.” When asked how Trump had changed, he said, “I think he’s selected much wiser people organizationally…I think he’s got much more select people to carry him forward.” He said they would be “more united, stronger people, who would not behave frivolously with them.”
Amer Ghalib, a Muslim American who emigrated from Yemen, spoke at the rally and addressed two criticisms of Trump.
‘This 78-year-old has been doing everything he can to get their support. Some people say it is a threat to democracy. How is that possible when he is working so hard to get your support? asked.