President Donald Trump will hold a massive Monday evening rally in Houston, Texas, for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Organizers had to change the venue to the 18,000-seat Toyota center after more than 100,000 people requested tickets.
Trump will head to Wisconsin (Wednesday) and North Carolina (Friday) for more rallies later in the week.
Before heading to Texas, Trump ripped Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), Cruz’s challenger, as an “overrated” candidate.
“Beto O’Rourke is highly overrated,” Trump said. “When I first heard about him, I thought he might be a little special. He’s not. I think he got beaten badly in the debates. I think he’s a highly overrated guy.”
Trump has also called O’Rourke, the darling of white left-wing Hollywood elites and their media allies who share his sensibilities, a “lightweight.”
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates. All times eastern.
—
9:25 PM: Energetic Trump supporters look so happy leaving the Toyota Center. Many chanting “we love Trump!”
9:15 PM: Trump says the MAGA movement is the “greatest movement in the history of the country” and electrifies the crowd by talking about Gonzales’s “Come and Take It” slogan.
9:06 PM: Trump praising Bob Lighthizer for working on the USMCA and talks about cracking down on China’s unfair trade policies. Trump guarantees that “drug prices will soon be plunging” and talks about Right to Try legislation.
9:02 PM: Trump asks voters to vote Republican “if you want America to endure as an independent, sovereign nation” and want the economy to continue “booming.”
8:58 PM: “No more chain migration,” Trump says. He says he needs more Republicans to help him pass better immigration laws. “They’re killing and hurting innocent Americans,” he says of Democrats’ immigration plans that allow illegal drugs and MS-13 gangsters into the country.
8:53 PM: “The Democrats have launched an assault on the sovereignty of our country, the security of our nation, and the safety of every single American,” Trump says. “The crisis on our border right now… as we speak… is the sole result of Democrat laws and activists… Democrat judges… that prevent us from returning illegal Americans from Central America and all over the world… it’s called catch and release.”
8:52 PM: Trump says in places like California, illegals vote anyway. He says there are “so many people voting illegally in this country, it’s a disgrace,” Trump says, pushing Voter ID. He again says Republicans believe protecting public benefits for needy Americans and not illegal aliens.
He accuses Democrats of aiding illegal aliens as they try to “overwhelm” America.
8:50 PM: Trump says Texans can send a message to Democrats (“Don’t mess with Texas”) in November after saying that in America, we worship God and not the government.
8:48 PM: Trump says vote for Republicans if you don’t want to say “Speaker Nancy Pelosi” for the next two years.
8:39 PM: Trump now praising Abbott (“the greatest guy”) after saying nobody has asked him for more money (asking for funds after Hurricane Harvey to build a much-needed dam). He says he won’t rest with the rebuild until everything is “perfecto.”
8:37: Trump talks about how Hurricane Harvey “taunted” Houston. “That was a brutal Hurricane. And you know who was fantastic? The United States Coast Guard.” Trump says. He says they saved 16,000 lives in Texas. Trump asks the crowd to “head out of town” the next time there is a Hurricane and to not take their boats out.
8:36: Trump again saying one of his favorite new slogans: “Democrats produce mobs. Republicans produce jobs.”
8:35: Trump says everybody was talking about how great China was doing and not concerned about how unfairly China was treating the U.S. “We’re not down anymore… we’re way up… way up,” Trump says as the crowd chants “USA! USA!”
8:31 PM: Trump says Texans will make a “giant stand” in November to elect a Republican House after complaining that he can’t call Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas” anymore because she has no Indian blood.
Trump mocks the “blue wave” and says it’s “dissipating.” He says “history is against us” but the facts (great economic numbers) are with them.
8:25 PM: Trump says Cruz’s opponent is a “stone-cold phony named Robert Francis O’Rourke.” Trump says “Beto” wants to convince voters that he is a moderate when he is “radical, open-borders left-winger.” Trump says O’Rourke supports a “socialist takeover of health care” that’ll “triple your taxes” without making anything better. Trump can’t believe O’Rourke got an F-rating from the NRA. Trump says an F means “he wants to take away your guns.”
Trump says O’Rourke voted to shield MS-13 members from deportation and sanctuary cities that “result in the death of countless Americans.” Trump says today’s Democrats would rather protect “criminal aliens than Americans” and that’s why “we need more Republicans.” Trump says a vote for Democrats is a vote to “surrender” Congress to Schumer, Pelosi, and Maxine Waters.
“She’s going to be in charge of your finances,” Trump says of Waters. “Good ol’ Maxine. Low-IQ individual.”
8:24: After saying voters cannot take the risk and vote dangerous Democrats into office, Trump again says this election will be about “Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order, and common sense.”
8:23 PM: “Of course I’m unpopular with foreign nations because we’re not letting them rip us off anymore,” Trump says, mocking media reports about his low approval rating with foreign nations that Trump says were spread to purportedly make him look bad. Trump implies the joke is on the media.
Trump absolutely en fuego with his America-first agenda and he mocks the media for not reporting on new polls that showed him with his highest approval ratings of his presidency. Mocks the media for not reporting on polls that they paid for.
8:20 PM: Trump says a globalist is a person who wants the globe to do well but not America. “You know what I am? I’m a nationalist,” Trump says proudly! “Use that word!” He says electing Democrats will empower more globalists.
8:14 PM: Trump warns that the radical Democrats will take a giant “wrecking ball and destroy our country and economy” if they win the midterms. He now talks about the country’s great economy and getting rid of the estate tax. He says his administration also ended the horrible war on American energy and withdrew the U.S. from the “one-sided” and “unfair” Paris Climate Accord, “which was putting us out of business.” He now discusses approving the Keystone Pipeline on day one of his presidency. Cruz says he is speeding up approving more pipelines that Texas need “by a factor of ten.” He says with Texas leading the way, the U.S. is the top energy producer in the world.
8:12 PM: Trump marvels at the fake news media–“look how many?” …. Trump, now again revealing how much he follows the media and wants their affirmation, says he knows “every one of them” and 15% are great people. Trump says if you want the fake news media to investigate Hillary Clinton, he’ll just have to nominate Hillary Clinton to the Supreme Court. “Can you imagine Hillary up there? That would take three to four years of questions,” Trump says after the crowd chanted “lock her up.”
8:09 PM: Trump again says what the left did to Kavanaugh was a “national disgrace.” He says Democrats were on a “ruthless” mission to destroy and Democrats are only good at “sticking together.”
8:08 PM: Trump says the migrant caravan is an “assault” on America and there are very bad people in the group.
“We don’t have borders, we don’t have a country,” Trump says. “We have to protect our country.”
Trump says Cruz did a great job “staring down” the angry left-wing mob during the Kavanaugh hearings.
8:07 PM: Crowd chants “Build the Wall” after Trump talks about the need for merit-based immigration.
8:05 PM: Trump claims he’s working on putting in a 10% tax cut for middle-income Americans next week. Could be news to Congress.
8:01 PM: Trump says Cruz has become a really good friend of his even though they had their difficulties. He says nobody has helped him more with tax cuts, regulations, and the military/vets than Cruz. “He defended your jobs, he defended your borders,” Trump says. “He defends your families. He defends your faith. And we are defending together… with a lot of other great Republicans, your freedom.”
Trump encourages the crowd to vote early and asks people inside the Toyota Center to wave to those watching the rally outside.
8:00 PM: Trump says he’s thrilled to be back and says Houston treated him very well two years ago.
7:58 PM: And now, the main event. Cruz introduces Trump, who is what you call “box office,” now on stage. Crowd thunderously chanting “USA!”
Trump: “Do we have a great country or what?”
He says it’s true that everything in Texas is bigger.
7:45 PM: Cruz takes the stage and reminds the crowd that today is the first day of early voting. “God Bless Texas. And God Bless President Donald Trump,” he says. Cruz says he’s proud to have worked with Trump to pass the tax cuts. He says O’Rourke wants higher taxes and mentions that O’Rourke voted repeatedly for higher property taxes. Cruz mocks O’Rourke for being proud of his F-rating from the NRA. Cruz sounding like a Senator in front of a crowd that wants a WWE promo-style speech from Trump.
Cruz says Beto wants to tear down walls we already have and supports sanctuary cities while being “open to” abolishing ICE. “That is radical. That is reckless. But that is not the state of Texas,” Cruz says. He now hammers O’Rourke for saying he would vote to impeach Trump today. Cruz says O’Rourke is running to the left of Warren, Sanders.
Cruz predicts Trump will be “overwhelmingly elected president of the United States” in 2020. He looks forward to campaigning alongside him in 2020.
7:25 PM: Patrick also says Beto stands for “Border Enforcement Totally Optional.”
7:03 PM: Texas Governor Greg Abbott firing up the crowd: “Isn’t it great to be with patriots who pray to God almighty and who would never take a knee for our national anthem?” Abbott says he’s more powerful than Putin because Texas’s economy is bigger than Russia’s. Now talking about working with Trump to secure the border and banning sanctuary cities. Abbott now mentioning all of the California money that’s funding O’Rourke and says O’Rourke is “hostile to Texas values.” He says all of the gold pouring in from California can’t buy Beto a Senate seat in the Lone Star State. Asks voters to keep Texas “as red as the MAGA caps you are wearing tonight.”
7:00 PM: Trump rally like a bigger College GameDay experience (Trump supporters as excited as Cougar fans were at The Palouse this weekend). Would be amazing to see how packed College Station would be if Trump ever held a rally there. This could be the most energetic event at the Toyota Center (home of the Houston Rockets) this year because of Carmelo Anthony’s well-known defensive liabilities (Houston already sorely missing the underrated Luc Mbah a Moute’s defense) and inability to move the ball around.
Trump and Cruz getting ready to head to the Toyota Center: