Agency Report

Donald Trump delivered a crowd-pleasing speech to thousands of adoring supporters in Arizona Saturday, insisting yet again that he won the 2020 US presidential election.

Some of the faithful had arrived in the area days in advance from as far away as Florida or Texas, waiting to hear him trot out a familiar list of grievances.

They were soon rewarded.

“We are done having our lives controlled by politicians in Washington. We are done with the mandates,” he said.

“The radical Democrats want to turn the United States into a communist country.

“We won those elections. We won them big. We can’t let them get away with it.”

Earlier speakers had kept to similar themes, slamming President Joe Biden as “weak” and “deranged,” and taking aim at the “lamestream media,” who were duly booed by the crowd.

It was a greatest hits of Trumpism, playing all the expected notes: a stolen election, the unfairness of the media, open borders and how the United States has become “a laughing stock all over the world.”

There was a carnival feeling for much of the day.

Flags proclaiming “Trump 2020” and “Trump 2024” fluttered in the desert wind, as chants of “Let’s Go Brandon” erupted from the good-natured crowd.

The slogan has become code in right-wing circles after a news reporter mistook coarse anti-Biden chants.

“It’s just a party atmosphere,” said Jonathan Riches, who was attending his 40th Trump rally.

“It’s almost like a MAGA Woodstock. It’s patriots from around the country getting together for the common good of this country. We love our president.”

Jennifer Winterbauer, who was first in line to get into the rally, said she had come to hear “the truth” from Trump.

“He always gives the truth about everything. The economy, the state of the world, the United States.”