A political showman with a well-known ambition to “Make America Great Again,” former U.S. President Donald J. Trump received an enthusiastic welcome from thousands of supporters who braved serious cold and wind to see him at a campaign rally in Schnecksville April 13.

Wearing a broad smile, a red MAGA cap, and a long black dress coat, Trump, 77, entered the Schnecksville Fire Company venue to the sight of cheering supporters and the sound of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.”

Trump had just come from a fundraiser in Bucks County. He arrived around 7:30 p.m. and spoke for about an hour to a packed venue of cheering supporters. Many people had waited for hours in a long line that stretched for about a mile onto the campus of Lehigh Carbon Community College.

During his speech, Trump endorsed Republican businessman Dave McCormick for U.S. Senate. He also demanded that President Biden close the southern border and agree to debates.

In 2020, Biden won Pennsylvania with 50.0 percent of the vote to Trump’s 48.8 percent.

Trump remains steadfast in his belief that the 2020 election was rigged. He says so at every rally and at every opportunity. The Schnecksville rally was no exception.

If re-elected, Trump told cheering supporters that he would support paper ballots, same day voting, proof of citizenship, and voter ID. “Until then,” he said, “we want a landslide that is too big to rig,”

Trump blamed President Biden for almost everything that is going wrong in both the U.S. and the world. He said that Biden is the worst president in U.S. history and referred to him as “crooked Joe” throughout his speech.

After opening comments about Pennsylvania and how thrilled he was to be back in the Keystone State, Trump quickly changed course and called attention to a drone and missile attack that Iran had just launched against Israel. Trump said that the attack on Israel would not have happened if he were still president. “Everybody knows that,” he added.

“We will return the world to peace through strength, and it will happen very quickly,” Trump said. “We’ll revive American strength abroad and we will restore America’s strength at home. Four years ago we were respected all over the world. Today we are considered a joke. It’s not going to be for long, believe me. It’s not going to be for long.”

No major wars broke out during Trump’s presidency. Trump is credited with facilitating the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Arab states, strengthening the Quad alliance among the U.S., India, Australia, and Japan, improving diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and getting NATO to spend more on defense.

Turning to the U.S. economy, Trump condemned Biden’s climate change initiatives as a “green new scam” that has derailed U.S. energy independence and increased inflation.

The average annual inflation rate, measured by the consumer price index (CPI) during Trump’s term was 1.9 percent. During Biden’s term, it’s been 5.4 percent.

“Under Biden, gasoline prices are up over 50 percent, electricity prices are up 39 percent, rising 13 times faster than under the previous seven years,” Trump said to cheering supporters. “When I’m back in the White House, we will end Biden’s inflation train wreck and we will tell Pennsylvania, ‘Drill baby drill!’”

Trump criticized Biden’s pause of new permits to export liquefied natural gas. He said the ban puts “countless Pennsylvania jobs at risk.” Objections to the ban aren’t limited to Republicans. Democratic Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman are also against it, according to a recent article published in Politico.

Trump attacked Biden’s plan to transition from gas-powered vehicles to electric. Biden’s goal is to have 50 percent of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030.

“On day one, I will terminate crooked Joe’s insane electric vehicle mandate,” Trump said. “And I’ll end Joe Biden’s natural gas export ban on behalf of the people of Pennsylvania.”

Trump is vehemently opposed to Biden’s decision to allow an estimated 10 million migrants cross the southern border and enter the U.S. illegally. Trump said that many of the migrants are violent criminals, drug dealers and terrorists. He has vowed to deport them if reelected.

Trump warned that the cost of social services for large numbers of migrants would cause taxes to increase and could eventually destroy Social Security and Medicare.

“You know as president, I closed the border,” Trump said. “I never had Congress tell me to close the border.”

Trump recalled that while in office he built 571 miles of border wall and would have built another 200 miles of border wall if he had been re-elected.

The former president is especially concerned about 31,000 to 32,000 Chinese migrants, mostly men of military age, who have recently entered the country illegally.

“Are they trying to build a little army in our country?” Trump asked. “Is that what they’re trying to do?”

If re-elected, Trump said that his priority on day one will be to seal the border. In addition, he has pledged to protect First and Second Amendment rights, rebuild and revitalize America’s cities; and cut federal funding to schools that push critical race theory and gender ideology. Schools that have vaccine and mask mandates will also be subject to federal funding cuts.

While Trump did not talk about abortion during the rally, he has said that he supports the right of states to determine abortion law.

Trump is currently facing four criminal cases brought against him in state and federal courts. He is the first former president to ever face criminal charges after leaving office and has denied any wrongdoing in all four cases. Trump said that the allegations are all politically motivated and that the justice system has been weaponized against him.

“Remember, I’ve been indicted more times than Al Capone. . ,” Trump quipped. “I never heard the word indictment before. Now, all of a sudden, if I fly over a blue state, I get subpoenaed.”

Trump went into detail about his hush-money trial since it was set to begin on Monday, April 15, just two days after the rally. He rattled off quotes from legal experts who all agreed that the indictment for this case was phony.

Quoting from retired Harvard law professor, Alan Dershowitz, Trump said, “Every American is in danger if we don’t have an objective standard of justice that is applicable to all.”

Trump is now in the unique and unenviable position of having to prove his innocence in four criminal cases while campaigning to be re-elected president. Trump says that he’s doing it for the American people.