I SWEAT MY ASS OFF AT THE PRESCOTT VALLEY TRUMP RALLY SO YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO

Since losing the 2020 election, Donald Trump has kept up his endless train of MAGA rallies, with Arizona hosting the most post-loss events. On July 24, 2021, Turning Point Action sponsored a Phoenix Trump rally while the fraudulent, discredited Maricopa “audit” was still ongoing. Six months later, on January 15, 2022, Trump helicoptered into the prison town of Florence to throw his support behind the loyalists who have most proven their allegiance to him. Another six months later on July 22, 2022, Trump returned to Arizona to campaign for his acolytes once more.

First there were rumors the rally would be in Tucson, then it was moved to Prescott Valley for Saturday July 16, but then (following the death of Ivana Trump) it was moved again to Friday July 22. The last minute rescheduling didn’t stop the Toyota Findlay Center from filling up its ~6,000 seats. Fans started lining up the night before the rally while rain periodically sprinkled the town. The traveling merchandise booths and food trucks that follow every Trump rally were already setting up, awaiting the sea of possible MAGA buyers.

In the early morning before the rally, the small town was already filling up with visitors. The roads around the stadium were now closed off for the all-day MAGA tailgate party. A spiky bush on an intersection leading up to the arena had a sign lazily stuck into it reading “TRUMP GEAR HERE” with an arrow pointing towards the rally location. The rain from the night before had passed and the hot sun was already beating down on the growing crowd.

In the arena parking lot was a set of large sinophobic banners decorating the street light poles.

“THEY WANT TO DESTROY THE USA AND THE WORLD,” one read.

Also spotted in the parking lot was the Scooby Doo/Trump/JFK Jr. themed bus of the “Scooby Doo Crew,” a sect within an already fringe QAnon sect led by abusive, antisemitic leader Michael Protzman aka Negative 48. The gematria-pilled followers of Protzman repeatedly await the return of JFK at Dealey Plaza in Texas and also travel the country to follow the Trump circuit. The schism in the Protzman cult hasn’t stopped the Trump-obsessed groups from rallying at the same events, but the infighting has escalated where they are now filing restraining orders against one another.

While wandering around the merchandise stands, I overheard Protzman rambling to a couple about Michael Flynn. While listening, I was interrupted by a man trying to sell his MAGA wares. The traveling vendors openly complained about the sweltering heat and tried their best to keep themselves and their products out of the direct sunlight. Each row of booths were packed with every variation of Trump branded merchandise you can think of. Shiny golden Trump bobbleheads, official branded “Trumpy Bears,” commemorative Melania plates, lifesize cutouts, or a shirt reading “The Return of the Great MAGA King” with Trump photoshopped as Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. Mixed with the never ending variation of Trump gear also included Confederate and III%er merch and “I HEART BOOBIES” magnets. Multiple transphobic shirts were being sold, with one singling out NCAA swimmer Lia Thomas. One of the few Prescott-based vendors sold a mock Biden/Harris shirt reading “No more border, no more walls, no more genders, girls with balls,” which he also displays at his nearby storefront on (what he called) a “[trans slur] mannequin.”

Trump rally streamers Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN) was also wandering around the arena, with Trump attorney and election disinformation peddler Christina Bobb as co-host. In between interviewing rally attendees and hawking Mike Lindell’s new coffee brand “My Coffee,” Bobb continued to spread more election lies. During their hours-long broadcast, Bobb repeatedly cited the discredited Cyber Ninjas report and Dinesh D’Souza’s election disinformation film 2000 Mules. Banners tied to the fencing along the line also promoted D’Souza’s movie while a truck drove around the nearby road with at least half a dozen flags attached to another promotional sign for 2000 Mules. Bobb fawned over Arizona for being “on the front lines” of election disinformation (what they call “election integrity efforts”), and being “the first in the history of the nation” to conduct an “audit.”

“This is one of the states that has the most MAGA candidates of all the states and a lot of their folks have done really great work and we see the Kari Lakes and the Blake Masters and they have really made a platform out of the chaos surrounding Arizona,” said Bobb.

Even with the dangerous heat, check-in was delayed. Doors were scheduled to open at 2 P.M. but that time came and passed with no movement. About 15 minutes later, a security guard announced to the disappointed crowd there would still be a delay. He told the group to stay well hydrated but reminded everyone that no water bottles would be allowed inside. With no shade, no free water, and temperatures rising, several people required medical attention for heat-related incidents. As the dangerous conditions became clear, those running the event finally spared some free (hot) water bottles. Rally officials waded through the lines checking if anyone was having a medical emergency. Finally, over an hour past schedule, check-in began.

Leading up to the rally, QAnon influencer and 8chan/8kun administrator turned congressional candidate Ron Watkins said he would also be handing out campaign merchandise. Despite the claim, Watkins was nowhere to be found. Rumors have been swirling about Watkins’ current location. He appears to have fled the Grand Canyon State. With the Arizona primary approaching, his lack of appearances is hard to ignore, especially when he was previously so desperate for any media attention. Watkins claims to be hiding from threats from white nationalist “groypers” at the behest of Sen. Wendy Rogers but within two days of the rally he was thanking and sharing “information” from a loud and proud local groyper. Watkins has also associated with other groypers during his short time in Arizona, as LCRW previously reported.

While Watkins remained in hiding, his new campaign manager, Orlando Munguia, was handing out fliers near the entrance for the longshot congressional run. In the halls, hard hat wearing, Q-pilled gubernatorial candidate Scott Neely could be seen chatting with Munguia. Later that night, Trump would endorse one of Watkins’ opponents, Eli Crane, who otherwise runs a Shark Tank-approved company making bottle openers from 50 caliber bullets. Trump’s support of Crane, who is also unlikely to win the primary, was met with boos from the crowd.

Despite the presence of Q influencers, QAnon promoting candidates, and feuding QAnon cult sects, the rally security warned attendees any Q shirts would not be allowed. Those with swear words or Q references on their shirts were forced to turn their top inside out. While the event organizers were adamant about keeping the arena clear of explicit Q symbolism, they took no issue with the uniformed hate group also handing out recruitment fliers near the entrance. As the crowd zigzagged through the line, two duos from the Highlands Chapter Proud Boys shared information to men interested in joining.

After getting past metal detectors and being forced to throw away their water bottles, the halls were filled with people waiting in concession lines to again purchase more water. Also throughout the arena were information booths for the Trump-endorsed candidates about to take the stage. Free stickers and pamphlets for Oath Keeper state senator Wendy Rogers and Peter Thiel-backed Blake Masters. Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake had her team hand out an 11-page outline of the “immigration and border security” plans featured on her website. Some of Lake’s objectives include militarizing the border by “expanding the Arizona Rangers,” and “empower[ing] sheriff departments to deputize Arizonans.”

The rally started, as usual, with prayer and the National Anthem. Immediately after the Anthem, a man in the top row pulled out a trumpet he somehow snuck past security and replayed the song himself. After finishing up, security confiscated the instrument.

Speeches from the Trump-backed candidates were nothing out of the ordinary. They each pledge loyalty to their MAGA King and promise their audience a return of his presidency.

“Stand up if you’re ultra MAGA! ULTRA MAGA! I’m a proud member of the orange mafia,” Arizona Republican Party chairwoman Kelli Ward screamed into the microphone.

Ward, along with each following speaker, are all Trump acolytes involved in Stop the Steal, the January 6 insurrection, and/or the further efforts to discredit the 2020 election. Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem is a longtime far-right extremist. He’s a member of the Oath Keepers, has ties with powerful QAnon influencers, is an associate of white supremacist pastor Matt Shea, and is described as “Steve Bannon’s man in Arizona.” Finchem was also photographed amongst the chaos of J6 and has been one of the lead Arizona Republicans to continue the impossible quest to “decertify” the 2020 election. During his Prescott Valley speech, Finchem bragged about his involvement in the post-J6 disinformation campaigns including the multiple unofficial Arizona “hearings” with Rudy Guiliani and 2000 Mules/True the Vote duo, Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips.

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb also bragged about his relationship with True the Vote’s Engelbrecht and Phillips, the “data” disinformation duo featured prominently in D’Souza’s 2000 Mules. True the Vote has recently teamed up with Richard Mack’s Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) to “investigate” claims of “voter fraud.” Lamb, a constitutional sheriff himself, is openly working with the group to survey and report “suspicious” voters. The calls for vigilantes to police voting boxes has already led to multiple people being targeted online for legally voting. Targeting the legal democratic process and labeling it as suspicious echoes of the attacks against election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman during the 2020 election.

“I want to talk to you about something else I’m working on, Sheriffs standing up. I just teamed up with True the Vote, you know who True the Vote is,” Lamb said. “We are going to make sure we have election integrity this year. Sheriffs are going to enforce the law.”

Sheriff Lamb then directed the audience to a Lamb/True the Vote partnered website that has a soon-to-be launched “National Election Integrity Voter Hotline” with information on how to build “relationships between voters and their sheriffs to help defend election integrity in 2022.” Lamb, a far-right media darling, received one of the most positive audience receptions of the night.

Oddly, despite his lack of physical attendance, tech billionaire Peter Thiel also had a notable presence. Senate candidate Blake Masters has long been referred to as “Thiel’s protégé,” and the billionaire has poured millions into the Arizona race in hopes of getting the former COO of Thiel Capital and president of the Thiel Foundation elected. Masters’ speech was as boring as his personality, but he  has built a campaign off election disinformation, praise of Ted Kaczynski, and far-right nationalist rhetoric. Founder of neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, Andew Anglin, and white nationalist, anti-immigrant website VDare have even endorsed the Masters campaign (though Masters rejected Anglin’s endorsement).

The open praise of Thiel and a Thiel-backed candidate seems ironic in a Soros and Zuckerberg-obsessed crowd that insists they’re “anti Big Tech” but Trump’s former National Intelligence director Ric Grenell informed the audience:

“Jim Lamon is attacking Blake Masters and pretending like Peter Thiel and Blake Masters were part of the Big Tech problem. Let me tell you something, they were part of the Big Tech solution, they were trying to reform Big Tech. Don’t be attacking people on the frontlines, these are Donald Trump endorsed candidates. If you’re going to attack them, you’re attacking Donald Trump.”

The Prescott Valley rally worked to provide a final boost for the Trump-backed picks about a week before the Arizona primary begins. The non-Trump headliner of the night was far-right, conspiratorial gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. Hours away, Lake’s top Republican opponent Karrin Taylor Robson was holding dueling campaign events with former Vice President Mike Pence and current Arizona Governor Doug Ducey in Peoria and Tucson. Pence is attempting to amplify the Republican candidates who are willing to accept Trump’s 2020 loss but even Robson is too cowardly to fully reject election conspiracism. Robson doesn’t scream “STOLEN ELECTION” and “DECERTIFY” in a megaphone, but she quietly whines about the lack of “fairness” during the 2020 election.

After Lake’s speech, the crowd kept themselves occupied by doing the wave and dancing to the usual bizarre mixture of Broadway songs and vintage top 40 hits: “Memory“ from Cats, the Undertaker WWE entrance music, the Phantom of the Opera theme, NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.” Then, sandwiched in between “Macho Man“ and the “YMCA,” (and also sandwiched between a Toyota and Bud Light ad) a loving jumbotron tribute played for the recently-deceased Ivana Trump.

Trump was going to be an hour late, so the music mix track began to repeat.