A star-spangled crowd gathered outside the DoubleTree hotel in Manchester hours before the scheduled arrival of former President Donald Trump.
Some waited through the entirety of the morning and most of the early afternoon before they were eventually let into a 750-person capacity room rented by Trump’s 2024 campaign.
“I’m very honored to be here in Manchester, a place I’ve gotten to know very well,” Trump said to uproarious applause, beginning his speech about half an hour after his scheduled start. “Next year we’re going to make history together when we win the New Hampshire primary for a third straight time.”
Trump’s speech was wide-ranging and lasted about an hour and a half. He began by assuring New Hampshire Republicans that their coveted first-in-the-nation primary would not be changed, before thanking by name several state politicians who have endorsed his campaign.
He predictably attacked both President Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, claiming he would “retire” his “crooked” nickname for Clinton if only so he could apply it to Biden.
“We are living in a catastrophe,” he said. “On November 25th 2024, we’re going to crush Joe Biden.”
Trump labeled Biden a “threat to democracy,” borrowing the language Biden used against the former president and his supporters when he launched his own 2024 bid last week.
The former president touted his administration’s move away from the NAFTA treaty toward a new trade agreement, his work with China, and the many “promises” he made to his supporters while campaigning and after.
“As president, I kept every single one,” he said.
Trump repeated many times the false assertion that the 2020 election was “rigged” and spoke of his long-planned wall with Mexico. Trump said he would work to sentence drug dealers to death and establish internment camps for the nation’s homeless.
“We have become a dumping ground for the world,” he said. “We’re being invaded. It’s like a human invasion.”
Most attendees at Thursday’s rally were local to the Granite State, judging by the license plates in the hotel’s parking garage, though some, like Te Tran and Amy Le, came from as far away as California.
“We travel across the country to support President Trump all the time,” Le said. “Last time we were at Mar-a-Lago.”
Tran said he’s been a supporter of the former president from the moment he descended the escalator at the Trump Tower in New York and declared his candidacy in 2015.
“I have a gut feeling,” Tran said. “If anybody don’t think Trump is winning in New Hampshire or final 2024 they are out of their minds.”
Lisa Marie Prisinzano of Stoughton said she’s been a Trump supporter from the start, adding he’s the country’s only hope.
“Our country is in a lot of trouble. We’ve got China and Russia collaborating, open borders, drug cartels, sex traffickers, we got a 90% inflation rate — I know that for a fact — no rent control, nobody can afford to go food shopping or pay for their prescriptions, and the biggest problem is Joe Biden,” she said. “He destroyed our country from the inside.”
Polling shows Trump leading among Republicans for the party nod and in a dead heat with Biden.
“2024 is the final battle,” Trump said.
