Trump Kicks Off 2024 Campaign, Attacks DeSantis And GOP Foes At Texas Rally

Former President Donald Trump launched his 2024 presidential campaign in Waco, Texas on Saturday with a speech that covered a range of hot-button issues. His speech included issues like reinstating border policies ended by the Biden administration, restraining “transgender insanity,” and fighting for “parents’ rights” – oh, and of course, in quintessential Trump fashion he trashed Gov. Ron De Santis and other Republicans who didn’t endorse him.  

The crowd at the rally was around 15,000 people, no surprise since Trump is still popular among Texas Republicans. Polling from the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Politics Project found only 12 percent of Texas Republicans had an unfavorable view of Trump.

It is no shocker that Trump decided to start his campaigning in Texas since Texans proved to be a generous source of funding for the former President’s campaign. Texans have donated no less than $5.2 million in 2021 alone and in 2020, his campaign received a whopping $85.6 million from the state’s residents, as reported by The Houston Chronicle.

Prior to his visit to Waco, the former president made stops in Conroe and South Texas, where he held rallies that resulted in significant donations from his supporters. Texans gave $1.5 million and $1 million, respectively, after these events.

Before his hour-long speech, Trump’s campaign published a list of 16 Texas Republican endorsements – a list that did not include Sen. Ted Cruz, who is seeking re-election to the U.S. Senate.

Trump – who has a history of making snide comments about Cruz – did not mention the Senator once. But he did make remarks to the Republicans who haven’t endorsed him yet for president: “Don’t bother.”

“If they didn’t endorse me, I said, don’t even come,” Trump said of the Waco event. “I have a few that said, we’re going to endorse you down the road. I said, don’t bother.”

He also went after DeSantis, taking credit for his political rise, saying Florida had been “tremendously successful for many years, long before” DeSantis became governor, and called him a “disciple” of former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Trump critic.

He then stated DeSantis was “dropping like a rock” in the polls.

“He’s at almost nothing in the polls,” Trump said. “And he’s fighting somebody that’s at 42 [percent], and who’s got almost $30 million in the bank. He’s at almost nothing.”