President Donald Trump addressed his supporters at a prearranged rally hours after the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified him from appearing on the 2024 ballot.
He opened the event in Waterloo, Iowa by praising the crowd and wishing the crowd “a very Merry Christmas” and predicting he would “win the Iowa Caucuses and crush crooked Joe” in November.
The Republican Party’s frontrunner praised Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, State Senator Brad Zaun, as well as State Representatives Bobby Koffman and Derek Wolfe before launching into a denouncement of President Joe Biden and his administration.
“We have a country that has never been in trouble like it is right now so get out and vote,” Trump urged the crowd.
“Thanks to crooked Joe’s breathtaking weakness, the world is going up in flames,” he continued. “It is very terrible what is going on… Joe Biden and the Democrat Party are incapable of solving any problems. Crooked Joe Biden is a low-IQ individual.”
The former president stressed the intense economic challenge facing American voters, including the three years of an inflation rate over 20% under Biden.
“There is no American dream while Joe Biden is in the White House,” said Trump. “But all that will change on Election Day 2024.”
“What good has happened in the last three years?” he asked. “Our country has gone to hell.”
The Republican pointedly addressed issues that could concern evangelical voters in the nation’s Midwest.
Trump says he would end the war on Christians, citing the targeting of conservative parents who spoke out at school board meetings about progressive educational material and federal investigations of Catholics and pro-life activists – comparing the examples to the Soviet Union.
“I will defend religion and I will defend ‘in God we trust,’” said Trump. “And you know that phrase is under siege, right?”
Trump noted Biden did not mention the birth of Jesus Christ while lighting the National Christmas Tree.
The former president also briefly addressed his legal troubles. He said he considered the indictments brought against him by Democratic prosecutors a “great badge of honor.”
“They’re not after me. They’re after you. I just happen to be standing in their way,” said Trump. “And I always will stand in their way.”
“I think the world is in more danger than it has been because of the power of weaponry,” said Trump.
“I will be the only one who can say this with great surety – I will prevent World War 3. We’re very close. I don’t know if you feel it… but we’re very close to World War 3,” he continued.
“You know we had an axiom – never, ever talk nuclear, never mention the word nuclear … because the power is so ridiculous… and now you’re hearing that word from other countries,” the former president said.
Trump predicted a world war would lead to “obliteration.”
The former president took the stage in Iowa only a few hours after the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to bar Trump from appearing on the 2024 state primary ballot was made public.
According to CBS News: It marks the first time a court has found him to be ineligible to return to the White House due to his conduct surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Never before has a court determined that a presidential candidate is disqualified under the clause, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The ruling does not apply outside of Colorado, and the state high court, whose justices were all appointed by Democratic governors, paused its decision until Jan. 4 — one day before the deadline for Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold to certify the candidates for the state's March 5 primary.
The Trump Campaign called the ruling “unsurprising” in a statement.
“The all-Democrat appointed Colorado Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump, supporting a Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooker Joe Biden,” said Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesman. “The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision. We have full confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these unAmerican lawsuits.”
The Iowa caucus takes place on Jan. 15, 2024.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story did not include Trump's comments regarding World War 3 and nuclear war
