Former President Trump, opening the Republican Party’s fall convention in California, blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom, “California radicals” and “tech tyrants” on Friday in a rambling speech that drifted from mandatory vaccines for schoolchildren to the quality of his Palos Verdes golf course .

The clear frontrunner for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination told the party’s 1,500 loyalists gathered at a $600-a-plate lunch at the Anaheim Marriott that Republicans had been “screwed for years” in left-wing California, as he promised to be corrected if voted back in the White House.

“We are thrilled to be here with the conservative patriots who are leading the way to take back the state from the radical left lunatics,” Trump said.

Trump appeared in Southern California two days after skipping the Republican Party’s second presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, where he was lambasted by his Republican rivals for refusing to appear on stage next to them . Trump instead spoke to supporters at a state-owned, non-union truck parts supplier in Michigan

flooded

with a strike by the United Auto Workers.

He was followed later in the day by Senator Tim Scott, who spoke about how his “life is a testament to his faith, family and commitment to the values ​​that make our nation exceptional.”

Fellow candidate

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

,

campaigned in Long Beach earlier in the day

,

and is expected to speak at the conference Friday evening.

In Anaheim, just a few blocks from Disneyland, Trump stoked false accusations similar to those he made after losing the 2020 election against President Biden. The former president blasted California’s mail-in voting practices with unsubstantiated claims that residents received five or six ballots and falsely declared that there is no in-person voting in the state. He predicted he would win the general presidential election in California, where Biden won by an overwhelming margin in 2020, if the election had not been “rigged.”

To cheers and applause from Republican Party representatives, Trump attacked several California Democrats he considers enemies, including Newsom, Vice President Kamala Harris, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House representatives. Eric Swalwell, Maxine Waters and Adam Schiff.

“Guess who runs your state? Bad people,” Trump said. “It becomes a symbol of the decline of our nations. Gavin Newsom and the far-left communists in Sacramento, San Francisco and LA cities, which are being absolutely rapidly destroyed on a daily basis, have given you sanctuary cities, wide open borders and massive homeless encampments. , out of control taxes.”

Trump mocked Pelosi and her husband Paul, who were violently attacked in their San Francisco home last year by a man who espoused a baseless QAnon theory that Trump is at war with Satan-worshipping Democratic elites running a child sex ring.

We will stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi, who destroyed San Francisco, Trump said.

How is your husband? he added as the crowd roared with laughter.

In a hard-to-follow statement, Trump also said California should fill in its forests to help prevent wildfires. It was reminiscent of a familiar refrain from his years in office, when he blamed California’s worsening fires on the state’s inability to rake the forest floors.

“Under the Trump administration, we will return law and order to California,” Trump said to loud applause, promising to do so with a reformed US Justice Department. “I will lead a complete overhaul of the DOJ to investigate every radical prosecutor… and we will start with the Marxist monsters unleashing chaos in Los Angeles and San Francisco.”

He was critical of Newsom on a number of fronts,

which has emerged as President Biden’s

chief defender and leader of the Democratic charge this re-election season.

If Trump is re-elected, he said he would take action against anyone involved in organized shoplifting

starlings

in California and elsewhere would be shot before leaving malls, an allegation that violates legal standards for the use of deadly force and the nation’s system of local law enforcement governance. He also pledged to end federal funding to schools with mask or vaccine mandates.

“You want it, you can get it, but no mandates,” Trump said.

In addition to the former president, DeSantis and Scott, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will address the convention this weekend.

Trump’s appearance came at a crucial moment for the former president’s campaign and the nation.

The federal government is on the brink of a government shutdown on Sunday if Congress fails to pass a dozen appropriations bills.

And on Thursday, a New York appeals court rejected the former president’s attempt to delay a civil fraud trial.

That’s in addition to the four charges he faces in Washington, New York, Florida and Georgia. In March, Trump will go on trial on federal charges that he illegally tried to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election. California Republicans seemed largely unconcerned about these issues, warmly welcoming the former president with a standing ovation, sustained applause and raucous cheers.

This weekend’s state party gathering was by far the liveliest in years. In addition to paying up to $150 to attend the conference, they could spend as much as $1,325

if they chose to attend the presidential candidate events, they spent as much as $1,325

to attend

the

is working with the potential GOP nominees, causing sticker shock for some

attendees

.

Others, however, were thrilled to see California

at the epicenter of the Republican presidential race this week. Despite California being home to former Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, GOP candidates rarely travel to the state except to raise campaign money from wealthy Republicans.

Before Trump spoke, outside the hotel ballroom, Lake Forest City Councilman Scott Voigts posed for a photo in front of a collection of Trump T-shirts with his wife Stephanie. They were unimpressed by the cost of tickets for the event and were excited to see the former president in person.

“He’s so charismatic and a change agent and I want to feel what it’s like to be there,” Stephanie Voigts said.

The appearance of four candidates at the convention is due in part to the state’s importance in the Republican Party’s primaries. Despite California’s overwhelmingly Democratic tilt, the country has a huge supply of Republican nominated delegates, roughly 14% of the number needed to win the party’s nomination, as well as the deep-pocketed donors who live here. Trump, DeSantis and other California candidates spent much of their time fundraising here this week. Trump will headline a fundraiser in Beverly Hills on Friday evening, with tickets costing $100,000 per donor

that will

benefit a super PAC supporting his bid.

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That said, many Southern Californians were not happy with the former president’s performance in Orange County, a former conservative stronghold that, thanks to Trump, voted for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since the Great Depression.

because of Trump

.

Democrats gathered outside the Republican convention with signs designed in the style of a monopoly sign that read Trump: Go Straight to Jail, sometimes clashing with Trump supporters, including outside the hotel.

This is MAGA land! Trump supporter Nick Taurus, a failed congressional candidate who identified himself as an American nationalist on his campaign website, shouted at Democrats.

I don’t even know what that means, 79-year-old Gerlind Kennedy, a Democrat who lives in Dana Point

resident and democrat

, replied, shaking his head. I’m here because you need to make your voice heard. You can’t just complain.”

Nearby, more than 100 Trump supporters gathered at an intersection, waving flags and pro-Trump signs. Adrian Gonzalez, 26, handed out cutouts of Trump’s face on wooden sticks to passersby.

He’s putting America first and keeping our country safe by building a wall to keep our borders secure, said Gonzalez, who lives in Los Angeles. He was also tough on China during the COVID pandemic. And he’s still standing after everything the Democrats threw at him.

Earlier in the day, DeSantis met with truckers at the Los Angeles Harbor Grain Terminal in Long Beach, saying the U.S. should become a dominant energy producer. He pledged to reverse president biden’s push for electric vehicles, stressing that the

the electricity grid is not equipped to handle the cars and that natural disasters necessitate an abundant supply of domestic gas and oil.

We are going to save the American car, DeSantis said. Washington, DC or the state of California should not have to tell you that you can only buy the type of car they want you to buy.

In one of several statements in California, DeSantis pointed to rising costs

S

of gas in the state, where the average price per gallon recently rose to $6.03

per gallon

.

DeSantis also attacked the leading candidate in the primaries, Trump, and challenged him to a one-on-one debate. He criticized him

Trump

for skipping the presidential debates and for not fulfilling his 2016 campaign promise to complete construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

You have to show up, answer questions and defend your record,” DeSantis said. ‘He had four years and couldn’t get the job done.

Times staff writers

Gabriel San Romn

Hannah Fry and Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.