Resorting to “Gestapo” tactics is the only way that Joe Biden can win in November election, the former US president has declared
Donald Trump speaks to reporters at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, May 3, 2024 © AFP / Charly Triballeau
Donald Trump has accused US President Joe Biden’s administration of stooping to the level of the Nazi secret police to prevent him from winning this year’s election.
“These people are running a Gestapo administration,” the former US leader told Republican donors at an event in Florida on Saturday, according to audio shared with multiple national news outlets. “And it’s the only thing they have. And it’s the only way they’re going to win, in their opinion.”
Trump is currently facing four criminal cases, including an ongoing trial in New York over his alleged misreporting of ‘hush money’ payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. In addition to the New York case, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee to challenge Biden this November faces two federal cases concerning his alleged incitement of the January 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Hill, and his alleged mishandling of classified documents. He also faces state-level racketeering charges in Georgia over his supposed efforts to challenge Biden’s electoral victory in the state in 2020.
Trump has painted all four cases as part of the same Democrat-orchestrated plot to take him out of the race for the White House. For almost three weeks, the trial in New York has effectively halted Trump’s campaign, forcing the embattled Republican to mostly forgo his usual rallies for shorter speeches on the courthouse steps.
Read more
“But it doesn’t bother me,” Trump continued. “If you care too much, you tend to choke. And in a way, I don’t care. It’s just you know, life is life.”
Trump did, however, launch into a tirade against government prosecutor Jack Smith, who is overseeing the two federal cases against him. Smith, Trump said, is “unattractive both inside and out,” is “deranged,” and “an evil thug.”
Saturday was not the first time Trump has compared Biden to the tyrants of the 20th Century. In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas earlier this year, he decried the “Stalinist show trials being carried out at Joe Biden’s orders,” and in a campaign ad last year, described Biden as a “corrupt Third-World dictator.”
On the other hand, Trump has said that he would be “a dictator” for a day if elected, and would use executive orders to restart American fossil-fuel extraction, and deport millions of illegal immigrants.
READ MORE: Trump pays fine for gag order violations
Saturday’s event was attended by a host of Trump’s potential running mates, including South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, New York Representative Elise Stefanik, Ohio Senator JD Vance, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. According to the New York Times, Trump’s speech was followed by a briefing in which his top campaign aides presented the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Virginia as key battlegrounds in November’s election.
They noted that despite his campaign spending less than Biden’s, Trump is currently leading the Democrat in most opinion polls. A CNN survey published last week showed him leading Biden by a 49%-43% margin, with six in ten respondents disapproving of Biden’s performance as president.
