Trump is proud of Dobbs’ decision to have fun at Faith & Freedom

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This years conference highlights the challenge facing the Republican field in 2024 a year after Roe was overturned, a decision that energized the Democratic Party just months before a midterm election. Democrats have seized on the GOP’s talk of a national ban, while some Republicans have warned against its potential to alienate voters in the general election.

But in the first major gathering of 2024 presidential contenders with a former president in attendance, one thing is clear: Trump still has a stronghold among evangelical voters.

He was the main attraction of the events, receiving a rapturous reception for almost the entire length of Lee Greenwoods God Bless the USA when he walked on stage. His meandering speech went on for an hour and a half, filled with chants of USA and We love Trump from the crowd, while his GOP rivals were bound by a strict five to 15 minute limit on time. At one point, as the crowd roared with cheers and applause, Trump turned to Ralph Reed, the founder and chairman of Faith & Freedom, asking if his 2024 rivals had received the same kind of response.

The speech also offered a preview of what Americans will continue to hear from the former president as he battles for a second chance to hold the nations highest office. He went far beyond abortion, citing some of his base-rallying biggest hits from the border to transgender issues to election security. He has again aired grievances about the 2020 election which he lost but continues to claim it was rigged. His speech touched on foreign policy, but he did not focus particularly on current events in Russia.

He also spoke at length about his indictment on charges connected to his handling of classified national security records, painting it as a political prosecution.

He’s probably the only president who’s been indicted and my number is up, Trump joked.

Whenever radicals leave Democrats, Marxists, Communists, fascists, accuse me, I consider it a great badge of courage. I am being sued for you, and I believe you are more than 200 million who love our country, Trump said.

A woman sitting in the crowd shook her head as Trump spoke about the indictment, saying it was scary. It’s ridiculous. The man on his right nodded.

They were hard to spot in the cheering crowd, but not everyone in attendance was a diehard Trump fan. Bill Moher, a Republican running for Virginias 7th District, said he has been very impressed with Vivek Ramaswamy over the past two days. He likes Trump, but says he wants to be more policy-oriented and disciplined in his messaging.

I think the DAs who charged him I think will get him re-elected. And I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, Moher said.

If he goes back to the rules, makes himself a better group of people around him, then it might be a good thing. But I wish to God that he would communicate a positive message. Because Make America Great Again says that America is not good today. And America is doing very well today, he added.

Another woman, Darla Williams, held up her phone to record bits and pieces of Trump’s speech. He traveled from Georgia for the conference and to hear the former president speak.

Williams, a Trump supporter, said he has no issue with squaring his faith on any criticism of Trumps morals. He said that while the former president had some shortcomings, he was a true Christian at heart and delivered to his supporters on abortion issues.

He said he would do it, and he did. That’s one thing I like. You get a lot of people who will say things but with him, when he says hell do it, he does it, she said.

Williams said she doesn’t believe Trump should pledge to support a national 15-week abortion ban, warning it could only hurt him. He said he has heard enough from Trump on the issue that he knows where he stands, and what he would do if he were president again.

Zachary Scherer, 20, who traveled from Pittsburgh as part of the Pennsylvania chapter of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, agreed, saying it was too early in the race. Wearing a red Make America Great Again hat, he said he believes life begins at conception and is in favor of a national ban. But he doesn’t think Trump should go there yet.

Right now his popularity is so high after the indictment and all the news lately, he’s starting to get more Hispanic votes and more minority votes, Scherer said. I think that if he makes too many extreme or radical moves or speeches, he may lose the voters he has gained.

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