Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump focused on the border and accepted the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy at a rally in Glendale on Friday afternoon.
He joined Trump onstage several hours later at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale to thunderous applause and spoke for a few minutes.
Trump said that former President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., were looking down on RFK Jr. with pride. Trump then promised to “release the documents” from the Kennedy assassination.
As with his last appearance in Arizona, Trump emphasized border security.
He bashed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris for her positions on the issue.
“We're welcoming the support from millions of disaffected Democrats, independents, moderates, old-fashioned liberals who still believe in things, like little things like borders. I was there yesterday. That's a scary place,” Trump said, referring to a trip he took Thursday to campaign at the U.S.-Mexico border in Cochise County.
Apart from the border, Trump focused most on the economy, pledging to put an end to inflation.
“We will make America affordable again,” Trump said. “We will bring jobs back to America.”
Trump also gave time Friday to Arizona GOP candidates who have his endorsement, who spoke at the rally and supported him in turn.
Several speakers joked about crowd size, claiming that Trump has more people coming to his rallies than Harris has coming to hers.
Trump said that Harris focused on him more than any policy at her speech to the Democratic National Convention earlier in the week and repeated his name “21 times.”
Trump said her name 30 times at his event Friday.
He said she should be easier to beat than President Joe Biden, and that if Harris wanted to, she and Biden could close the border now, but they haven’t.
The event was hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USA and its political arm TPUSA Action.
A spokesperson for TPUSA said 17,000 attended the rally inside the stadium and that police told the organization there were 6,000 more people outside, not including some who were turned away.
The arena was decked out in red, white and blue, brimming with eager supporters who waited for hours to see Trump.
Several rally-goers were treated for heat-related issues as long lines stretched outside.
Arizona speakers included U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, TPUSA Founder Charlie Kirk, Republican Maricopa County sheriff candidate Jerry Sheridan and Republican Maricopa County recorder candidate Justin Heap.
“Whether we wanted it to be or not; election integrity has become the civil rights issue of our time,” Heap said. “It has become clear to me that our system is broken and desperately in need of repair.”
