(The Center Square) – Just days after the presidential debate, former President Donald Trump made a beeline for swing state Arizona. Trump spoke at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall in Tucson on Thursday afternoon and cracked down on issues at the top of Arizonans’ minds – the border and housing affordability.
He talked about Tuesday night’s debate and wanted to make clear at the beginning that claims made about his involvement or support of conservative Project 2025 are not true, and he has not even read it.
However, Trump focused mostly on the influx of illegal immigrants in the U.S. He blamed Vice President Kamala Harris’ leadership for the border crisis.
“I am angry because we have 21 million illegal aliens invading our communities,” Trump said. “I am angry about Venezuelan gangs taking over Aurora, Colorado, and illegal Haitian migrants taking over a beautiful place. It was so beautiful – Springfield, Ohio.”
Trump also pinned affordable housing and inflation on the amount of migrants coming across the border illegally.
“Arizonans are experiencing an affordability crisis,” he said. “This is a crisis of historic proportions. Today, not a single major city in Arizona is considered affordable.”
And, Arizona has just the person to fix the border crisis according to Trump – U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, calling her “Border Kari Lake.”
“She’ll fix the border and she’ll be working with me on it,” he said. “I will begin the largest deportation operation in the history of our country. We have no choice. We will not allow our country to be destroyed.”
Trump also praised Congressional candidate for Arizona’s 8th district, Abe Hamadeh, saying that he is positive both Lake and Hamadeh will win their elections if they focus on the border.
Other priorities laid out by Trump on Thursday included making IVF treatment more affordable, protecting gun rights, reducing energy costs, reducing housing costs, defeating inflation, cutting taxes and prohibiting transgender women from participating in womens’ sports.
“We will rapidly reduce inflation by slashing energy costs,” he said. “You’re [Arizona] number one in the country on the increase in electric bills. Under my plan, it is my goal to cut your energy costs by 50% in the first year.”
Trump also said that if he is elected he will sign an executive order that would immediately terminate every “unnecessary rule that is impeding housing construction and driving up the cost of housing.”
When it comes to cutting taxes, Trump’s plan includes ending taxes on social security benefits for seniors, ending taxes on tips and ending taxes on overtime hours.
Trump took a turn towards the end of his speech to discuss transgender women participating in womens’ sports, telling stories of female athletes being disparaged because of their transgender competitors.
He went so far as to have a member of the audience stand up who was not shown on camera, but the former president described him as a “big guy,” and asked the crowd, “Is there any woman in this audience who wants to take this guy on?”
Trump circled back to his opponent at the end of his speech, saying that Arizona has suffered during the past four years due to President Joe Biden and Harris’ leadership.
“She and crooked Joe have destroyed our country with millions of criminals and mentally deranged people pouring into the USA, totally unchecked, unvetted and with inflation, bankrupting our middle class,” he said. “It has gotten bad.”
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff also visited Tucson on Thursday.
