DALLAS – The National Rifle Association formally supports the former president Donald TrumpThe expected confirmation came Saturday at the group’s annual convention in Dallas.
The endorsement from his presidential campaign came shortly before Trump took the stage to keynote the NRA’s annual meeting, a speech he used to take a shot at President Joe Biden, seeking to undermine gun rights without giving specifics.
“We must have a meaningful second amendment. We’re going to have death and destruction like we’ve never seen before,” Trump told a packed ballroom at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center about the possibility of Biden winning re-election.
Trump used the event to try to drum up enthusiasm among a large sympathetic audience to vote for him.
“Gun owners need to vote,” Trump told a room full of politically active gun owners. “We want to slide”
On Saturday, hours before he took the stage, Trump’s campaign unveiled Gun Owners for Trump, a coalition of 50 Olympic athletes and gun industry leaders supporting Trump’s campaign.
Trump spent some of his time talking about gun rights and whether, if elected, he would roll back executive orders from the Biden administration designed to reduce gun violence. But he devoted much of his nearly two-hour speech to unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about immigration, crime rates and the rigging of the 2020 election.
Everytown for Gun Safety, a prominent gun control advocacy group, blasted Trump not only for his stance on gun safety, but also for another characteristic rant with no real focus.
“Between rants and golf gaffes about French President Al Capone, Donald Trump has made it clear once again that he is on board with the NRA’s politically toxic agenda to undo the life-saving progress we’ve made on gun safety under President Biden.”, – “As his first term has shown us, we should believe Trump when he says he will do nothing to protect our communities from gun violence,” said the group’s president, John Feinblatt.
Trump blasted independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, seen as a potential spoiler in a race expected to be decided by razor-thin margins for both major political parties. Moment NBC News survey Released last month, it showed that Kennedy’s candidacy hurt Trump more than Biden.
Trump led Biden by two percentage points, but when the field was expanded to five, including Kennedy, Jill Stein and Cornel West, Biden led Trump by two points, 39%-37%.
“For some reason, he … hurts Biden a little bit more,” Trump said of Kennedy’s independent presidential bid. “But we can’t waste any votes.”
Trump said he would use next week’s invitation to headline the Libertarian Party’s national convention to try and secure voters who might be seen leaning Kennedy’s way.
“Basically, they have a lot of what we have,” Trump said of libertarians, who hold political positions similar to those of Republican primary voters. “They get 3% every year regardless of who is nominated.”
“We can’t take a chance on Joe Biden winning,” he said.
Trump has been on trial in a Manhattan courtroom for the past month over allegations he paid adult film star Stormi Daniels $130,000 during the 2016 election cycle.
Trump briefly touched on the proceedings, acknowledging the gag order issued by Judge Juan Merchan, which Trump has already violated 10 times and cost him $10,000.
Trump used weekends and Wednesdays for rallies, campaign events and fundraisers.
His part-time campaign is working so far. According to the New York Times/Sienna Poll released last week, he maintained his lead in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and Nevada.
Trump said about the “New York Times” survey, which he mentioned by name: “We are the leader in every state by mass numbers.
The NRA has also suffered legal setbacks in recent months. It was a gun rights organization was held responsible in a civil corruption trial in February. Former NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre siphoned millions of dollars from the group to fund his lavish lifestyle, and the NRA failed to properly manage its finances. appointed judges.
Once seen as one of the biggest fundraisers for conservative political candidates, the NRA’s reach has shrunk significantly in recent years, limited by waning influence in the political sphere and falling membership rates. Membership has fallen from about 6 million five years ago to 4.2 million. The New York Times reported on this.
Membership dues fell by $14 million from 2021 to 2022, according to an audit filed as part of the lawsuit.