Trump dangles incentives for voters at mid-term rallying in Fort Myers
President pledges $5 to each American if GOP keeps House, Senate in November's mid-term elections
A crowd of roughly 4,000 supporters of President Donald Trump filled Florida Gulf Coast University’s Alico Arena in Fort Myers and heard an offer Trump hopes they won’t refuse – $5,000 for every taxpaying American if Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate in this November’s mid-term elections.
Trump warned them if they didn’t take the offer they would instead get a 1929-style “economic Depression” because Democrats, he said, “I believe that, because they are too stupid,” Trump said. “If the Republicans win, you will each have $5,000 in your pockets.” Trump said recipients would only be allowed to spend the money in the United States.
The comments were part of a larger series of attacks Trump laid out on Democrats as part of a “mid-term rally” organized by the Republican National Committee, at the latest stop for Trump in a trip around the country to shore up the Republican vote and keep his party in control of Congress.
“Pretend I am on the ballot,” Trump told the Fort Myers audience, which appeared to be solidly in support of him.
Friday’s rally was also intended to buttress Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Naples), who is running for governor against Democratic candidate David Jolly. The rally was held in the heart of Donalds’ 19th Congressional District, which covers most of Lee County and Collier County.
Trump talked up Donalds and credited him for his early support, while attacking Jolly and claiming at one point that Jolly was kicked out of the party when he was a Republican. “He wants to take your guns away,” Trump said. “I think he is crazy.”
Trump called for the crowd to “reject this lunatic” and said Jolly “wants to transgender everybody.”
This was Trump’s his first appearance in Lee County since running for re-election in 2020, and this was his only Florida stop as part of the mid-term rally that has taken him to Alaska, Kansas, Iowa, South Carolina and other states that are typically safe Republican states and districts but which are believed to be more competitive this year.
Trump was greeted at the arena by chants of “USA” and about midway through his remarks, he began to leave the stage before returning to speak after a new round of shouts of “USA.” In all Trump’s comments lasted about an hour and a half, while broken up by brief remarks by Donalds, U.S. Senator Ashley Moody and U.S. Department of Health Secretary Robert Kennedy.
Trump offered his Make America Great Again supporters some of the one-liners that have characterized his rallies throughout his political career, referring to Minnesota Democratic Congressman Ilhan Omar in derogatory terms, and calling her home country of Somalia a “s–t house.”
Trump took credit for the release of retired American teacher Stephen Hubbard, who had been held by Russia since 2022 on charges of being a mercenary during the war on Ukraine.
Trump also took credit for the freeing of Israeli hostages that had been held by the terrorist group Hamas for more than two years year after they invaded Israel in 2023 and killed more than 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
Another foreign policy issue mentioned by Trump was the war on Iran. “We have to stop these lunatics from having nuclear weapons,” Trump said. He credited actions he took in leading the American military to disable Iran of their nuclear weapons program while acknowledging the side effect of higher gas prices as Iran attacked oil tankers, disrupted commercial traffic in the Straight of Hormuz and attacked it oil-producing neighbors.
Trump said the U.S. had blockaded the Straight of Hormuz and that he would rename it Trump Strait. He joked that he wanted to change the name of the Atlantic Ocean to the American Ocean, though he wasn’t joking about having renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Trump said that while gas prices have gone up, the stock market has risen to record levels. He told voters to check their 401K’s before they voted.
Trump was first greeted at the arena by chants of “USA” and about midway through his remarks, he began to leave the stage before returning to speak after a new round of shouts of “USA.” In all Trump’s comments lasted about an hour and a half, while broken up by brief remarks by Donalds, U.S. Senator Ashley Moody and U.S. Department of Health Secretary Robert Kennedy.
Trump’s comments were also preceded by speeches from U.S. Senator Rick Scott, 19th Congressional District Republican candidate Jim Schwartzel, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters.
Gruters set up for the crowd what was at stake, warning that if Democrats won they would “investigate, obstruct and impeach.”
There were numerous references during the leadup to Trump’s speech that his ascension was part of a divine intervention. A video montage right before Trump spoke also referred to his divinity.
The loudest applause lines of the day were reserved for repeated references throughout the day to accusations that Democrats support biological men playing in women’s sports.
Trump accused Democrats at one point of supporting gender mutilation.
Trump’s biggest targets were Omar, who he accused of changing her name, and of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon and her ties to the Democratic Socialists of America.
Trump used the “fake news media” as an attack line and each time he attacked the media he received a larger chant of boos. Some of the college students seated behind him who were in grade school or intermediate school when he first ran for the presidency a decade ago and began referring to the media as “the enemies of the people,” were animated behind him as they joined in the chorus of boos. Trump estimated that “six or seven percent” of the media in attendance were actually good at their jobs,
Before laying out his $5,000 promise for all Americans, Trump took credit for giving a bonus of $1,776 to military personnel.
During his remarks, Trump shifted from topic to topic, at different points making references to past elections, crowd sizes at his speeches and the speeches of democrats, lamented he hadn’t won the Noble Prize, and made references to former President Joe Biden and his controversial renovation of the White House. At one point while discussing his renovation of the White House, which included the demolishing of the East Wing for a new ballroom, the fact that he has been sued many times. “I have hundreds of lawsuits,” Trump said. “I don’t give a s–t.”
Of Biden, Trump said “he was sleeping most of the time.”
Trump and Kennedy announced they are working on new protections for shrimp boaters, which would benefit the local Fort Myers Beach shrimping industry. Kennedy said there would be a new label of “Made in the USA” put on shrimp caught off United States shorelines, in order to protect the American shrimping industry from cheap, shrimp taken from polluted water in places like Vietnam and Cambodia, where he said the shrimp was loaded with antibiotics and disinfectant chemicals.
At one point, a man shouted out at Trump “I love you.” Trump responded “I love you too but you are not my type.”
The line to get in to see the president stretched around several university buildings and was hours-long for some attendees. According to organizers, some had waited in line since before dawn to get in.
Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers, wearing a purple jacket, was among the local political figures in attendance.
“It was a great turnout. I didn’t think I was going to get in honestly. It was a really long lone, we made it in and there were a lot of people left waiting outside,” Allers said. “I am a fan. I wish sometimes he would stay off Twitter (X).”
Trump said he was also there to support Donalds, who was running for governor. Allers said Donalds had helped get the town in front of FEMA to get help for Fort Myers Beach when it was put on probation. The town is still waiting on millions of dollars in FEMA funds from when Hurricane Ian brought the island utter devastation in 2022, wiping out hundreds of homes. Allers said getting FEMA funds that the town has been approved for could help with a number of projects, particularly roads and getting people back in their houses. One of the FEMA grants relates to elevating 20 homes. “Everybody is still waiting on FEMA,” Allers said.