WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Donald Trump marked his 78th birthday on Friday with a speech to a staunch crowd in Florida in which he called his rival in the November election, President Joe Biden, a too fragile at 81 years old to successfully complete a second term.
“Our country is being destroyed by incompetent people,” declared Trump, who dedicated large portions of his speech to mocking Biden. “All presidents should be tested for aptitude.”
The former president addressed members of the “47 Club,” made up of his supporters, at a convention center in West Palm Beach, which is a short drive from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. The festivities included a huge multi-tiered cake that was brought out by organizers while the audience released red and blue balloons.
Set on a gold base, the cake had separate layers that included a baseball cap with the slogan “Make America Great Again” and the Club 47 logo, an American flag, the phrase “Born in the USA on Flag Day,” a depiction of Trump playing golf and the Oval Office with the gold frames common at many Trump properties, as well as the Trump and Trump logos. the Republicans.
When Trump took the stage, the audience sang “Happy Birthday” and chanted “USA! USES!”. The multi-tiered cake was for display only. But behind the scenes there was a cake with vanilla frosting that was served to some members of the virtual Republican nominee’s campaign team.
For the event in Trump’s adopted state, all 5,000 tickets were sold out at about $35 each, while seats closest to the stage cost $60, according to Larry Snowden, president of Club 47.
“This is the biggest birthday party I’ve ever had in my life, by far,” Trump said.
The former president drew loud cheers as he listed his well-known campaign plans, including speaking about immigration in threatening terms and pledging to reduce regulations, eliminate environmental protections in order to stimulate domestic energy production, and cut taxes.
Although he frequently mocked Biden, even declaring that the president often “doesn’t know where the hell he is,” Trump also offered a seemingly contradictory message to his supporters. He endorsed early voting, mailing ballots and also dropping them off in person on Election Day, only to later note: “In fact, I tell our people: we don’t need your vote. “We have too many votes.”
It was another strong show of support for Trump, and came a day after Republicans in Congress sang their own version of “Happy Birthday” and presented gifts and a cake to the former president during a visit to the Capitol, in a remarkable display of loyalty for a former president from whom many of the same legislators shunned after the attack on the headquarters of Congress on January 6, 2021.
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Washington and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
AP
