Donald Trump launched into a profane tirade about undocumented immigrants and predicted at a private fundraising dinner this summer that if Kamala Harris wins, it “might be the last election we ever have.”
The Guardian obtained a 12-minute recording of a speech the Republican presidential candidate gave at a dinner in Aspen, Colorado, on August 10, where attendees were required to donate between $25,000 and $500,000 per couple.
Trump devoted much of his speech to border security and immigration, revisiting xenophobic claims now familiar from his rallies. He claimed that “radical leftist lunatics” wanted people from prisons, asylums and asylums to come here, adding, without evidence, that the United States was harboring a “record number of terrorists.”
The former president insisted that the “smart, very street-conscious” leaders of Venezuela and other South American countries sent murderers and drug dealers to the United States to reduce their own crime rates, ease the burden on prisons and save money.
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Trump falsely cited 22 people who he claimed came to the United States after being released from prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “’Where do you come from?’ we said. They said ‘Prison’. ‘What have you done?’ ‘It’s none of your business what we do.’ Do you know why? Because they are murderers.”
“I hate using that profane language,” the candidate added, apparently aware that his use of the F-word went further than his campaign rallies. The Congolese government said that Trump’s statements were not true.
The candidate continued: “These are the toughest people. These people come from Africa and the Middle East. They come from all over Asia, the bad parts, the rough parts, and the only good thing is they make our criminals look damn good. They make our Hells Angels look like the best people on earth.”
Research shows that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.
Trump flew to Aspen on a Gulfstream G-550 jet once owned by disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after his private plane (a Boeing 757 popularly known as Trump Force One) experienced engine failure.
The dinner was held at the $38 million home of investors and art collectors John and Amy Phelan. Guests included casino mogul Steve Wynn, billionaire businessman Thomas Peterffy, Texas governor Greg Abbott, Florida congressman Byron Donalds, Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert and former Colorado senator Cory Gardner.
Trump, who attempted a coup on January 6, 2021 and claimed that his Democratic rival Harris posed a real threat to democracy, used this particular incident to warn of the dire consequences that could occur if he became president.
“Look, we have to win, and if we don’t this country is going to hell,” he said. “You know, there’s a statement, this could be the last choice we ever make, and that’s a statement that I truly believe in, and I believe this could be the last choice we ever make.”
The former president was speaking a month before his first and likely only televised debate against Harris; Opinion polls and pundits would broadly judge Harris to be the clear winner. This wasn’t what he expected.
“I’m telling you, there is a radical left person who will be president – if he wins it will be a disaster – he wants to be president so bad. Thank God, even though he’s obnoxious, he’s supposed to be terrible at debate, and he’s supposed to be really bad at interviews. “He can’t do interviews,” he said.
Trump also claimed that Harris supports the “defund the police” movement, suggesting that she is a typical politician who will return to her old ways if elected.
“His policy is to defund the police. He wants to defund the police. He wants the borders to be opened. With a politician – and I’ve seen this because I’ve been on both sides of politics for a long time; Now, it’s a short time for this side, but I’ve always contributed; he wants out and wants to defund the police. And they always come back to their original story. “They always do that.”
Harris, a former trial prosecutor, gave vocal support to the “defund the police” movement in a radio interview in June 2020, but later reversed her position after becoming Joe Biden’s running mate.
Trump also noted that he survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, when 20-year-old Thomas Crooks opened fire from a rooftop, killing 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore and wounding two Trump supporters.
Trump talked about how members of his Florida golf club Mar-a-Lago wanted to contribute to Comperatore’s family. “I said absolutely and they gave me a check for a million dollars. That’s a lot of money. “Perhaps even more impressively, we started a GoFundMe and raised over $6 million for the injured group, which was actually three people.”
He then made a risky attempt to find humor in the tragedy, recalling his meeting with the Comperatore’s widow, Helen. “So they’re going to get millions of dollars, but the woman, the wife, this beautiful woman, I gave her the check – we gave her the check – and she said, ‘That’s very nice and I appreciate it, but I’d rather have it be my Husband.’ Now, I know some of the women in this room won’t say the same thing.
While the dinner guests laughed loudly, Trump said humorously: “I know at least four couples. There are four couples, Mr. Governor. [Abbott]I know this and you are not one of them. In fact, at least four couples would be excited here.”
The event is understood to have raised $12 million for Trump’s campaign, but it wasn’t enough to stop Harris from raising more than four times as much as her opponent in August, the first month of her run for the White House.