Trump returns to DC with apocalyptic speech: ‘Our nation goes to hell’ | USA

Donald Trump on Tuesday returned to Washington DC for the primary time since leaving workplace, over a yr and a half after the January 6, 2021 assault on Capitol Hill presently below investigation by a congressional committee.

Talking at an occasion organized by the America First Coverage Institute, a suppose tank he helped fund, the previous president delivered a speech riddled with inaccuracies and falsehoods through which he exaggerated the achievements of his administration, offered himself as a sufferer of the system, and targeted on public security, legislation enforcement and safety of the border with Mexico.

“Our nation goes to hell, and it’s going to hell very quick,” he asserted, portray an apocalyptic panorama of crime-ridden cities managed by Democrats which have change into “conflict zones.” Trump described inexperienced areas taken over by homeless encampments, shops the place criminals steal merchandise with full impunity, and “sadists who prey on youngsters and are launched on bail.”

Trump, who’s flirting with a brand new presidential run in 2024, promised to impose the loss of life penalty for drug traffickers if he returns to energy. “America first should imply security first,” he mentioned, supporting being “robust, nasty, imply if we’ve to, to revive public security.” He additionally supported a return to “cease and frisk” insurance policies and attacked the “ridiculous” concept of defunding the police.

Trump referred to “the anti-police narrative of the unconventional left” as “the massive lie,” in a sarcastic reference to the way in which the media refers back to the conspiracy idea he nonetheless espouses, in keeping with which the 2020 election was stolen from him. “Have you ever ever heard that expression earlier than?”

It was the primary time in 566 days that Trump was seen in a public act in DC. The final time had been January 6, 2021, when he harangued 1000’s of his followers to march on Capitol Hill in a bid to affect the certification of the electoral votes that gave the presidential victory to Joe Biden. The rebellion that adopted, which endangered the lives of a whole bunch of cops, is the goal of a legal investigation by the Division of Justice, in addition to a probe by a congressional committee that final Thursday offered proof that through the three hours that the assault lasted, Trump sat again and did nothing to cease the violent mob, though he was “the one particular person on the planet able to sending them residence.”