Former President Donald Trump singled out Wyoming U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman and Secretary of State Chuck Gray for praise during a rally in Aurora, Colorado, on Friday.
Hageman got the first shoutout, as Trump commended and thanked her for her landslide 2022 win over former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who Trump referred to as a “whack job” and “bad news.”
“What a job, she beat her so badly,” he said.
Cheney has been one of Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, blasting him for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Although Trump claimed Hageman’s 38 percentage point win was the largest win over an incumbent in the history of Congress, it was actually the third largest in the last 46 years.
Trump also recognized Gray, who the former president said has done a “great job.”
Gray sought Trump’s endorsement for his short-lived 2021 campaign against Cheney. Trump ended up endorsing Hageman in that race, but later endorsed Gray’s 2022 campaign for secretary of state.
“I’m very thankful for President Trump’s shoutout today at the Trump rally,” Gray told Cowboy State Daily. “President Trump gave a fantastic, very important speech on what he will do to stop the Venezuelan gangs ravaging our country.”
Also receiving praise from Trump at the rally was former vice president candidate and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and Colorado Congress members Lauren Boebert and Greg Lopez, among others.
Why Colorado?
Trump made a detour from battleground states of the 2024 presidential campaign to blue-leaning Colorado to highlight his talking points about illegal immigration under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ administration.
The issue has been elevated to national prominence in Aurora over reports of Venezuelan gang members taking over an apartment complex there, which aligns with his broader claims that migrants are causing chaos in American cities and towns.
If Harris wins, Trump claimed that America will turn into “Venezuela on steroids.”
“They’re ruining your state,” Trump told those at the Colorado rally. “You’re going to vote for Trump and it’s going to solve your problem in about 15 minutes.”
The Venezuelan claims surfaced in August when a video went viral showing armed men walking through an apartment building housing Venezuelan migrants. Trump has extensively claimed that Venezuelan gangs are taking over buildings in Aurora, while authorities there say this activity was extremely isolated and the area is now safe.
In July, two men arrested following a shooting in Aurora were identified by police as members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. Photos of the mugshots of these two men were displayed on stage.
These activities prompted the creation of a billboard near the Colorado border in Wyoming reading, ““Venezuela Ahead, Be Prepared!”
Larger Picture
Trump has consistently blamed Harris and Biden for allowing a record numbers of illegal immigration into the U.S., saying that it is fueling violent crime. These numbers increased during the Biden administration but have been declining through 2024.
“No person who has inflicted the violence and terror that Kamala Harris has inflicted on this community can ever be allowed to become the president of the United States,” Trump said.
Immigration is seen as one of the biggest vulnerabilities for the Harris campaign, and the vice president has attempted to present herself as a candidate who can be tough on policing the border.
She was only about 800 miles south of Trump on Friday, appearing in Arizona where Harris said she would create a bipartisan council of advisers to provide feedback on her policy initiatives if she makes it to the White House.
During his speech, Trump reiterated his plans to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law that allows the president to deport any noncitizen who is from a country that the U.S. is at war with. Those who attempt to return to the U.S. after being deported would be locked up for 10 years without the possibility of parole, he added.
Trump also said that any migrants who kill American citizens will face the death penalty if he is elected.
The former president has also previously said he would revoke the temporary protected status that allows Haitians to stay in the U.S. because of widespread poverty and violence in their home nation.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
