Supporters of former President Donald Trump faced extreme temperatures while waiting to attend an event with the presumptive GOP nominee in Phoenix, leading to several people needing medical attention. Phoenix fire officials reported that 11 individuals were hospitalized due to heat-related illnesses.
Ben Brown from Arizona's ABC15 documented one of the Trump supporters being taken to the hospital on a stretcher. "I've seen so far at least three people carried off on stretchers due to the heat as they wait in line in the sun to get into Donald Trump's event ... it's 102 degrees out," Brown stated.
The event, organized by Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk, drew numerous attendees who had been waiting since the early hours of the morning. By 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 6, temperatures had soared above 110 degrees, exacerbating the health issues for those waiting outside.
The southwestern region is currently experiencing a severe heat wave, resulting in "excessive heat warnings and watches [being] extended from the central valley down through southern California's deserts, southern Nevada, and southern and western Arizona into Utah, affecting over 29 million people."
This rally at Dream City Church marked Trump's first official political event since a New York jury convicted him of 34 felonies related to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016. It also marked his first campaign appearance in Arizona since 2022 when he endorsed a slate of candidates, all of whom eventually lost their races.
As Trump took the stage, he boasted about the crowd size, claiming "thousands of people outside." During the immigration-focused event, he prompted a chant of "bulls***" as he criticized President Joe Biden's new executive order on the border. "If Joe Biden truly wanted to sign an executive order to stop the invasion, he only needs a single sentence-it would say, 'I hereby immediately reinstate every single border policy of a gentleman named Donald J. Trump,'" Trump said.
The former president used the town hall format to interact with the supportive crowd in Arizona, a key battleground state for the upcoming 2024 elections. He took the opportunity to criticize Biden's handling of press conferences, contrasting it with his own approach. "I'm not like Joe," Trump said. "He's got a press conference that lasts for about two minutes and he goes like this, he's reading a card, 'umm NBC Jim, Jim,' and then they ask him a question and then he picks up the same paper and he reads the answer."
During the Q&A portion of the event, Trump addressed various issues, including border security and drug trafficking. He emphasized his plans to enhance law enforcement and hinted at imposing tariffs on China to curb the illicit fentanyl trade. At one point, he used props to illustrate the impact of inflation, comparing regular-sized Tic Tacs to a tiny version to show how inflation has reduced the value of money.
