St. Cloud was painted MAGA-red over the weekend as former president Donald Trump rallied thousands in a state he says he can win in November.
Trump flags billowed all around the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center as thousands of Trump supporters converged on the city of around 70,000. Apparently, the center’s namesake, Herb Brooks, is someone every American should know, so I was informed earlier this week by my colleague Peter Callaghan. This non-Minnesota native had never heard of Herb Brooks. Sorry, America.
But Brooks, hockey, and Minnesota themes in general didn’t get much air time at the Saturday evening rally. Regardless, the crowd of around 8,000 Trump supporters in the stadium exuded excitement. They chanted “fight, fight, fight,” “USA” and “Make America great again.” The rally venue quickly reached capacity and thousands more people stood outside in the sweltering heat to watch the speeches live.
“I love you all. I think I should move here,” the former president said at one point during his hour-and-a-half-long speech. His fans roared in approval.
It’s been a turbulent couple of weeks for the presidential run. The assassination attempt against Trump happened exactly two weeks prior to the St. Cloud rally. The Trump campaign is now facing an all new opponent less than 100 days out from the November general election.
Even in the last 48 hours, the former president noted he’s been to events across the country. On Friday night, Trump spoke to Turning Point Action’s “Believers Summit” in West Palm Beach, Florida where he told the audience “they won’t have to vote anymore” if he’s elected. Earlier in the day Saturday, he delivered the keynote address at a bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee, announcing plans to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet.”
“I went from Christians, to Bitcoin and now I’m with you,” he said as he addressed the Saturday crowd.
Trump has continued to insist he can flip Minnesota this November. However, a Friday KSTP-TV poll showed Harris ahead of Trump by 10 percentage points.
But Trump supporters were confident in their candidate Saturday. Looking at license plates while walking to the rally, the majority were of course from Minnesota with a spattering from other Midwestern states including the Dakotas and Wisconsin.
Related | Analysis: Trump sees Minnesota victory in St. Cloud visit, but state remains just out of his reach
Of course there was a high amount of animosity directed toward the media section during the rally with speakers directly pointing at the reporters nearly a dozen times. For example, My Pillow Guy Mike Lindell said during his speech, “We’re onto the fake media. We’re onto them.” In response to this and many similar remarks through the night, the crowd turned toward the media section and began booing and jeering.
Needless to say, it was tough getting many Trump supporters to speak with me. But south Minneapolis resident Ryan Kriazek was excited to talk about Trump and Minneapolis.
The main thing on Kriazek’s mind was fostering small business and ending illegal immigration so legal immigrants can enter the country, he said at the Saturday rally. Kriazek said, before 2020, he worked to develop small businesses along Franklin Avenue and Lake Street in Minneapolis.
“Then when 2020 happened, they got burned down,” he said.
Kriazek said his wife is a legal immigrant to the U.S. He said he isn’t against immigration into the country as long as it’s legal, but is concerned undocumented immigrants are taking jobs and open spots in the country away from immigrants seeking legal entry.
“We have to deal with the flood of illegal immigrants that are coming here,” he said, proposing a policy that every undocumented immigrant be caught and sent back to the country they left and be replaced by someone seeking legal immigration.
In addition to the former president and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, and fellow Minnesotan Lindell also spoke at the rally.
Emmer said the last two weeks have “only made us stronger and more united.” He joined in on insulting Harris and briefly addressed the possibility that Gov. Tim Walz could be tapped as Harris’ running mate, saying, “that makes matters worse.” Neither Trump nor Vance mentioned Walz’s VP prospects, though Trump did speak out against the governor’s response during the uprising after the murder of George Floyd. The former president said he had to “step in to send the National Guard,” but it was actually Walz, not Trump, who called in the National Guard.
As thousands converged on the hockey arena, the Democratic National Committee also took to St. Cloud to erect billboards about Project 2025, a proposed platform for the next president that was organized by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation.
“Convicted felon Donald Trump and his accomplice JD Vance will enact their extreme Project 2025 agenda if elected, which will ban abortion nationwide and line the pockets of their billionaire friends, all while undermining democracy. Let’s be clear: Trump and Vance don’t know – or care – about working Minnesotans,” DNC Deputy Communications Director Abhi Rahman said in a written statement.
Since Biden passed his endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris, questions still remain over how the Trump campaign will pivot its strategy.
Did the Saturday rally provide much clarity on this? Not really. Trump and Vance found themselves repeating many talking points from the Biden campaign. Both continued to sling insults at Harris, insulting her for everything from being from California to her laugh and calling her things like “a radical left lunatic.”
Many attacks focused on Harris’ support of the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a nonprofit that provides cash bail for immigrant bonds. Trump and Vance claim Harris donated millions to the fund, which led to the release of “dangerous criminals.” While Harris tweeted a link to the fund’s website, she has not donated to the fund, according to fact checks. They also attacked Harris for her stances on environmental protections, abortion, public safety and more.
Trump also spoke about increasing policing across the country, referencing the uprising after the murder of George Floyd and saying in response to “defund the police” that he wants to overfund the police. He also spoke briefly about the Iron Range.
“I will turn the Iron Range into a mineral powerhouse,” he said.
There was no mention of what could happen to the Boundary Waters under Project 2025. The proposed plan includes the removal of protections on the Superior National Forest, according to a report by the Star Tribune, which was shared widely this week.
While not speaking directly about Minnesota, JD Vance did speak in favor of fracking, shouting to the crowd: “Drill, baby, drill!”
