During a campaign stop on Friday, former President Trump made his claims about crime even worse. He said, without any proof, that big appliances are being stolen from department stores by large groups of people who are not being caught by police.
In an impromptu, nearly hour-long speech to Turning Point Action in Arizona, Trump railed against the policies of the Biden administration. “You go to some of these department stores, 500 people walk in, they walk out with air conditioners—they strip the whole store,” he said. “The business shuts down, and the store is empty for 25 years.” The city turns into a slum.
Trump and Vice President Biden are now very close to running against each other again in 2020. When voters go to the polls on November 5, they will likely see each other again. Both have been traveling all over the country to make their cases for why they are better for the country in the long run.
When The Hill asked the Trump team for more information about what he said in Arizona, a spokesperson pointed them to news stories about “pack theft” sprees in cities and thefts of home HVAC systems.
“People are stealing HVAC units all the time. One news source said that workers in Virginia have had multiple parts of HVAC units stolen from their job sites. The thieves were offered $100 to “go away.”
The campaign sent a link to another report about HVAC unit thefts in homes, this time in Texas. The report was called “Why stealing an air conditioner is more serious than you’d think.”
Trump has put a lot of weight on issues like crime, immigration, and inflation. Even though the economy is good, he has blamed his successor, Joe Biden, for all of these problems.
It’s not the first time the former president has talked about huge numbers of big appliances being stolen from department stores without being caught.
During the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum in Indianapolis last year, he said that “gangs of hundreds of young people” often “attack” department stores and leave with “big stuff” like freezers and air conditioners.
As an example, he said, “you see these gangs of hundreds of young, usually young people, go attack a department store. They do this in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago. They run in by the hundreds and run out carrying refrigerators, air conditioners, and other big things.”
Trump often talks about “pack thefts,” which are smaller but more planned crimes that target expensive cosmetics, designer clothes, and other expensive items. On occasion, videos of pack thefts happening in smaller stores and pharmacies have been shared on social media. However, most experts say that shoplifting is not a big problem.
In spite of being found guilty last week on 34 federal criminal counts, Trump has maintained his tough-on-crime rhetoric. This is because he is accused of falsifying business papers during the 2016 election to hide an affair he had with an adult film actor ten years earlier. Trump, who is 77 years old, is the first past president in modern times to be found guilty of a crime. The Democratic-controlled House impeached him twice while he was in office for trying to affect the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Biden, and for his alleged role in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
But new polls show that his fans haven’t changed their minds much about him. Some people polled recently even said they are more likely to vote for him this year. In general, GOP voters say they are more likely to support electing people who have been convicted of crimes after Trump’s conviction.
As he ran for a second term, Trump used the event to bring back his mysterious “Make America Great Again” motto.
Trump said in Arizona, “We turned our country around.” “I can now use that slogan since our country has failed.”
Trump said that he has changed how he uses the word “swamp” since he started the Swamp the Vote USA movement to get more early, mail-in, and general voters to the polls. He said this while promoting the movement.
He said, “It’s a different word for’swamp.'” “The word’swamp’ means a lot to us.”
