President Donald Trump bashed nemesis - and potential 2024 rival - Gov. Larry Hogan (R), and cast doubt on election integrity in the state of Maryland, in a wide-ranging stump speech on a tele-rally for Republican gubernatorial hopeful Dan Cox last night. Settling political scores from coast-to-coast, Trump had just finished campaigning against another never-Trump GOP critic, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, in Alaska. Turning his attention back to Hogan in Maryland, Trump zeroed in for the first time on one of the most-controversial issues in Hogan's term, the governor's purchase of South Korean COVID-19 testing kits. The kits arrived with much fanfare, as Hogan suggested he was providing what Trump would or could not, but were later deemed an $11.9 million bust by state health officials who found them unusable.
36,735 voters joined the tele-rally by phone last night, the Cox campaign reports. At the conclusion of the call, a poll was taken in the Maryland governor race. Perhaps not surprisingly on a Cox phone event, Cox won the poll with 85.2% of the vote. More surprisingly, Trump drilled down with more-specific criticism of Hogan's tenure, and for the first time challenged Maryland election integrity.
Cox opened the call by challenging the narrative that he will not have bipartisan appeal in the general election. He argued that his support stretches "across party lines. [E]ven the Democrats, thirty percent of them are saying that this is exactly what they want. Because, why? Because their issues are children, careers, and community safety. That is what is driving us right now. That's what our economy is showing everyone. They go to the pump, and they see that their careers are in jeopardy, they're paying a third of their income for gasoline right now. They're looking at rising taxation, and they're looking at the inflation that's eating up their grocery budget.
"And then they look at their children going to school here in Maryland, and what do you have? You have really egregious things being taught behind the parents' backs. They have women's sports being degraded. They have really a problem with divisive anti-Americanism."
"Our great police officers are under attack. I've been defending them in the [Maryland House] Judiciary Committee. I passed, I helped pass, the bill for $10 million dollars for more police in Baltimore City with Hopkins University."
"That's why I am so honored, and just privileged beyond belief, that President Donald J. Trump would join us tonight. [H]e's stood for us. He's a patriot. He's a gentleman who has graciousness to everyone, and unbelievable fortitude. He stands for our values, our liberties, and our freedom."
Cox then turned the call over to Trump, who began by speaking warmly of the Old Line State. "Hello, Maryland. It's a great state. I have so many friends there. I love the place. We're going to work really hard to do something special with Dan."
Trump exhorted voters to turn out at the polls Tuesday, in what is expected to be a low turnout primary amidst summer vacations. "I'd like each of you to get out and vote, bring your friends and bring everybody you can." As expected, Trump lashed current Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), who has hammered Trump and is exploring a potential run against him in the 2024 presidential race.
"You'll get rid of a lousy governor," Trump said of Hogan, who was in New Hampshire this week to lay the groundwork for a 2024 campaign. "You're gonna get rid of somebody that was just, I think he was absolutely terrible, the job he did. He's just absolutely terrible, and a terrible representative of the state."
Trump again lauded Cox as a "respected and tough lawyer, a smart businessman." And he again denounced Hogan-endorsed Republican candidate Kelly Schulz as a "RINO. Her boss, Larry Hogan, locked down your state, destroyed your freedoms and turned his back on the great people of Maryland. He did it as bad as the Democrats. He locked the place up."
"You don't want his annointed successor," Trump warned. "He's working hard to get her in. And anybody he wants, frankly, I'd be against just on that basis alone."
Trump touted new poll results favorable to Cox, which he said he had just seen before the call. "Dan, I'm happy to tell you the poll is very good," Trump said. "But we can't rely on that. You have to get out and vote. He's the only candidate who has my complete and total endorsement. I've gotten to know him. He's a winner and he's a great guy. He loves the state, and he loves the country."
"Dan will work hard to stop inflation, bring back lower gas prices - can you believe what's happened?" Trump asked, reflecting on how low gas prices were during his term. "We were at $1.87. Now it's going to be well over $5.00, I understand, over the next couple of weeks...But we had it down to the right number, and everybody was happy. Everybody was happy about everything."
Trump then segued into further reminiscing about his time in the Oval Office versus the current state of affairs. "Even if you talk about Russia going into Ukraine, that would have never happened if I was in office...So many things have happened, so bad." He bashed President Joe Biden's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. "We left Americans behind, thirteen soldiers were killed, many, many horribly injured. And, of course, leaving $85 billion dollars' worth of the best military equipment in the world [in the hands of the Taliban]."
"We were independent, everybody was happy," Trump recalled of America's energy output during his term. "Right now, as we speak, [Biden is] going to Saudi Arabia begging - a country that is unthinkable that he would go to - begging for oil."
Trump promised that, as governor, Cox would "stand up to the radical left-wing mayors and local officials who are destroying your Democratic-run cities, and restore law and order to Maryland. He'll cut taxes - very big. I gave you the largest tax cut in the history of our country, larger than even the Reagan tax cuts." Trump then further touted his own record of cutting regulations, record job growth, and reaching reciprocal trade agreements with foreign partners.
While dicussing foreign trade, Trump reflected on his relationship with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated last week. Trump called Abe "a wonderful gentleman...a great, great gentleman. He was a fantastic man, I'm so sad to see that happen."
Turning back to Maryland, Trump assured callers that Cox would "stop the radical left's war on the American family. He'll ban critical race theory. He'll champion school choice, and he'll keep men out of women's sports. A lot of people - and it's not politically correct to say that, but we'll say it - he'll keep men out of women's sports."
Cox would call for a "full, forensic audit" of the 2020 presidential election, Trump said, before casting doubt on election integrity in Maryland. "I know the state so well, I know so many people. I don't believe the elections are straight in the state...Dan's looking into it very strongly."
"I know him. I like him. He loves that state, and he loves our country, and he'll work harder than anybody you've seen, and he's going to do a fantastic job," Trump said in making a closing argument for Cox, before turning his ire back to Hogan. "You're losing somebody who is not a good representative of your state, and certainly not a good Republican," he said of Hogan. "I can tell you that from personal experience."
Trump said his administration had provided much to Hogan during the pandemic, "and we got nothing but negative statements [in return]." He noted Hogan's controversial purchase of COVID-19 tests from a South Korean firm that turned out to be virtually useless. "What he did with the testing, how bad it was, and where the tests came from, from South Korea - there's a whole lot of things that Hogan did that are terrible, and he was just not a good representative. Dan Cox will be fantastic."
"I'll see you soon, we love your state. Bye, everybody," Trump said before leaving the call.
Photo courtesy WhiteHouse.gov
