Donald Trump suggested that he might run for three terms during his visit to Dallas, Texas, this weekend to speak at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting.
The NRA awarded Trump its endorsement as he went on stage. He delivered his usual rambling, non sequitur fest by comparing himself to Al Capone, talking about his inherited “genius,” and bragging about how he ended Roe v. Wade. Trump also shared a good amount of fear-mongering, claiming that President Joe Biden had eroded gun rights but failing to give any examples.
But the most impressive part of Trump’s speech has to be when he didn’t say anything for 35 seconds. The teleprompter froze, and so did Trump—as the creepy theme song of QAnon played for the gun-loving audience.
It certainly looked like Trump, deprived of his teleprompter, simply stared around the stage looking for something to say until the words started to roll again, which is how Biden’s campaign is taking it. But Trump sent an angry message on his social media platform claiming that he hadn’t frozen up, saying it was just a “musical interlude” inserted into the middle of a sentence. He then claimed that this is a regular feature of his speeches. Except that it isn’t.
Trump’s campaign also used his NRA appearance to roll out something called “Gun Owners for Trump,” which it claims is being created in response to what Trump called “the violent migrant crime wave that Joe Biden has unleashed on our country,” which might be the most obvious lie that Trump and Republicans are pushing this cycle, as violent crime has actually fallen sharply.
Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott gave a speech during the meeting that actually told the truth.
“Trump’s election depends on the extraordinary effort by the NRA,” he said.
Failed Republican candidate Kari Lake delivered a speech that issued a threat about 75 million “card-carrying members” of the NRA backing Trump.
But the truth is that NRA membership is crashing after losing more than one million members. The NRA is riddled with corruption, from the former CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre treating the organization like a busted piggy bank to new leadership getting caught up in a cycle of infighting.
Trump and his Republicans still feel the need to bend the knee to the NRA, who they’re counting on to pull them through this election cycle. But if the NRA is weaker than it has been in ages, what does that say about the GOP?
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