Last Saturday, Donald J. Trump staged his latest comeback. The former president had failed as a blogger (and as a wedding guest), but he returned to the thing he was best at: holding endless rallies, where he regales his multitudes with steady streams of misinformation and petty grievances. It didn’t go that well. The crowds present may have enjoyed it, but no major news network aired it. And there was no breakout viral moment from his epic address. He was upstaged by Marjorie Taylor Greene talking not about him but about AOC. (And even she was upstaged by AOC’s clap back.)
So this one’s gotta hurt: According to NBC15, Trump had planned a big rally on July 4. It was called “Save America.” At it was to be held in the heart of Trump country, at USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park. And now it’s been canceled because his permit was denied, because they were all but sure that the 45th president would turn it into a “partisan political event,” not “just a patriotic” one.
For whatever it’s worth, Trump did improbably manage to be on his best behavior in 2019, when he organized a more or less non-partisan (albeit comically kitschy) patriotic July 4 celebration, which he dubbed “Salute to America.” But it’s highly unlikely the Trump of two years later — the Trump who talks so much about 2020 election lies that even Ivanka and Jared reportedly are sick of hearing it — would do so now.
Trump has yet to send out some un-copy edited “press release” excoriating the commission that denied him a permit, all while confirming their worst predictions. But upon hearing the good news, people felt that it made them question their religious beliefs.
https://twitter.com/LockeLiberal1/status/1409881122146766854
Some pointed out he has a history of stiffing people with huge bills anyway.
https://twitter.com/oregonsandstorm/status/1409903815323758592
And there were jokes.
https://twitter.com/VernDufford/status/1409893486631931910
Isn’t Melania hosting a family bbq that day? Ivanka is bringing champagne popsicles and Junior is bringing rage.
— Rex 🌻 (@hothouserex) June 29, 2021
All the guests were flight risks and can’t make it…?
— jppeterson (@JPtheTattooer) June 29, 2021
Meanwhile, if Trump really wants someone to blame, he can blame Rick Santorum. The onetime Republican presidential candidate and former CNN employee used the same space for a rally back in 2012, which the park’s commissioner described as “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” deeming the place was no longer available to “partisan politics.” Way to go, Rick.
(Via NBC15)