President Donald Trump addresses supporters during rally at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado on February 20, 2020. (Photo: Jason Connolly/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
"We're Staring Into the Abyss": Unhinged Trump Rally in Colorado Highlights Stakes of 2020 Election, Observers Say
The president used the event to gin up xenophobia against immigrants, attack journalists, and joke about staying in office for decades.
President Donald Trump's rally in Colorado Springs Thursday night threw into sharp relief the stakes of the 2020 presidential election, observers said after watching the president joke about remaining in office for 26 years, complain that the Oscar for best picture went to a South Korean film, goad his audience into booing teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, gin up xenophobia against undocumented immigrants, and more.
"We're staring into the abyss," tweeted Vox's Aaron Rupar, who highlighted many of the bizarre moments from the rally and expressed hope that the clips will give the public "a sense of the stakes of the 2020 election."
"I don't want to alarm anyone," wrote the New Yorker's Susan Glasser as she watched the event, "but the president is now reading off 'poll' after 'poll' at his campaign rally to prove he won the debates in 2016. He is also complaining about Brad Pitt and that a South Korean movie won the Oscars and that he didn't win TIME 'Man of the Year.'"
Trump's rally came just 24 hours after Democrats vying to take on the president in the general election took the stage in Las Vegas for the ninth Democratic presidential debate.
"Some day in 10, 14, 18, 22 years when I'm gone, when we leave office in 26 years or so, they're going to miss us," Trump said Thursday night.
Trump used his rally inside the Broadmoor World Arena to mock several of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
"She choked," Trump said of Klobuchar, mimicking a gagging motion while grabbing his necktie.
Trump went on to rant about the media and journalists--who he described as "among the most dishonest people"--and complain that Thunberg was named TIME's "Person of the Year" over him.
The president's Colorado Springs rally was part of a three-event swing that will end in Nevada Friday, a day before the state's Democratic presidential caucus. The Nevada Republican Party canceled its presidential primary caucus last September, essentially handing Trump a victory without a vote.
According to the Denver Post, "as many as 20,000 people flocked to the city at the foot of Pikes Peak for Trump's rally at the Broadmoor World Arena, which holds less than half that number."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate, drew nearly 11,500 to a rally in Denver Sunday night.
"Our campaign is about a few fundamental issues, and at the top of the list is the need to defeat Donald Trump," Sanders said during the event. "We cannot continue to have president who is a pathological liar, who is running a corrupt administration, who has no clue what the Constitution of the United states is about, who is a bully, who is a racist, who is a sexist, who is a homophobe, who is a religious bigot."
FINAL DAY! This is urgent.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just hours left in our Spring Campaign, we're still falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
President Donald Trump's rally in Colorado Springs Thursday night threw into sharp relief the stakes of the 2020 presidential election, observers said after watching the president joke about remaining in office for 26 years, complain that the Oscar for best picture went to a South Korean film, goad his audience into booing teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, gin up xenophobia against undocumented immigrants, and more.
"We're staring into the abyss," tweeted Vox's Aaron Rupar, who highlighted many of the bizarre moments from the rally and expressed hope that the clips will give the public "a sense of the stakes of the 2020 election."
"I don't want to alarm anyone," wrote the New Yorker's Susan Glasser as she watched the event, "but the president is now reading off 'poll' after 'poll' at his campaign rally to prove he won the debates in 2016. He is also complaining about Brad Pitt and that a South Korean movie won the Oscars and that he didn't win TIME 'Man of the Year.'"
Trump's rally came just 24 hours after Democrats vying to take on the president in the general election took the stage in Las Vegas for the ninth Democratic presidential debate.
"Some day in 10, 14, 18, 22 years when I'm gone, when we leave office in 26 years or so, they're going to miss us," Trump said Thursday night.
Trump used his rally inside the Broadmoor World Arena to mock several of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
"She choked," Trump said of Klobuchar, mimicking a gagging motion while grabbing his necktie.
Trump went on to rant about the media and journalists--who he described as "among the most dishonest people"--and complain that Thunberg was named TIME's "Person of the Year" over him.
The president's Colorado Springs rally was part of a three-event swing that will end in Nevada Friday, a day before the state's Democratic presidential caucus. The Nevada Republican Party canceled its presidential primary caucus last September, essentially handing Trump a victory without a vote.
According to the Denver Post, "as many as 20,000 people flocked to the city at the foot of Pikes Peak for Trump's rally at the Broadmoor World Arena, which holds less than half that number."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate, drew nearly 11,500 to a rally in Denver Sunday night.
"Our campaign is about a few fundamental issues, and at the top of the list is the need to defeat Donald Trump," Sanders said during the event. "We cannot continue to have president who is a pathological liar, who is running a corrupt administration, who has no clue what the Constitution of the United states is about, who is a bully, who is a racist, who is a sexist, who is a homophobe, who is a religious bigot."
President Donald Trump's rally in Colorado Springs Thursday night threw into sharp relief the stakes of the 2020 presidential election, observers said after watching the president joke about remaining in office for 26 years, complain that the Oscar for best picture went to a South Korean film, goad his audience into booing teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, gin up xenophobia against undocumented immigrants, and more.
"We're staring into the abyss," tweeted Vox's Aaron Rupar, who highlighted many of the bizarre moments from the rally and expressed hope that the clips will give the public "a sense of the stakes of the 2020 election."
"I don't want to alarm anyone," wrote the New Yorker's Susan Glasser as she watched the event, "but the president is now reading off 'poll' after 'poll' at his campaign rally to prove he won the debates in 2016. He is also complaining about Brad Pitt and that a South Korean movie won the Oscars and that he didn't win TIME 'Man of the Year.'"
Trump's rally came just 24 hours after Democrats vying to take on the president in the general election took the stage in Las Vegas for the ninth Democratic presidential debate.
"Some day in 10, 14, 18, 22 years when I'm gone, when we leave office in 26 years or so, they're going to miss us," Trump said Thursday night.
Trump used his rally inside the Broadmoor World Arena to mock several of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
"She choked," Trump said of Klobuchar, mimicking a gagging motion while grabbing his necktie.
Trump went on to rant about the media and journalists--who he described as "among the most dishonest people"--and complain that Thunberg was named TIME's "Person of the Year" over him.
The president's Colorado Springs rally was part of a three-event swing that will end in Nevada Friday, a day before the state's Democratic presidential caucus. The Nevada Republican Party canceled its presidential primary caucus last September, essentially handing Trump a victory without a vote.
According to the Denver Post, "as many as 20,000 people flocked to the city at the foot of Pikes Peak for Trump's rally at the Broadmoor World Arena, which holds less than half that number."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate, drew nearly 11,500 to a rally in Denver Sunday night.
"Our campaign is about a few fundamental issues, and at the top of the list is the need to defeat Donald Trump," Sanders said during the event. "We cannot continue to have president who is a pathological liar, who is running a corrupt administration, who has no clue what the Constitution of the United states is about, who is a bully, who is a racist, who is a sexist, who is a homophobe, who is a religious bigot."