Donald Trump rallies in Florence, Arizona, says ‘We are going to take

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Appearing on stage shortly after 7pm, local time, he launched a 90-minute tirade against US president Joe Biden and the “radical left”, attacking his successor on everything from coronavirus and the economy, to immigration and the botched withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

At a time when Biden is struggling to push voting rights reforms through the Senate, his predecessor weighed into the debate, calling for same-day voting (the Democrats want early voting to be expanded); paper ballots (as opposed to the electronic format often used in the US); and an end to ballot harvesting (the process in which third parties are allowed to collect and deliver ballots in some states).

And within minutes of starting his speech, he once again repeated his false claim that the election was “rigged”, insisting without evidence that “the proof is all over the place – the media just refuse to talk about it.”

The rally was a striking reminder of the sway Trump continues to hold in the party, and his trademark brand of reward-and-retribution politics.

Attending the event were loyalists such as state politician Mark Finchem, who was outside the Capitol with demonstrators on January 6 and congressman Paul Gosar, who was recently censured over an animation video depicting him killing a Democratic congresswoman.

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Former television presenter Kari Lake, Trump’s chosen candidate to unseat the current Republican Governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, also appeared on stage with him.

“Arizona loves you, and I predict at the end of 2028 when you leave office after your second term, the whole country is going to love you,” she said, as Trump nodded approvingly.

But while Trump remains highly popular among his base, some Republicans fear that some of the candidates he has endorsed may be unelectable by the broader public.

This week, limitations to his authority also emerged, when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he would run for another term as the chamber’s top GOP leader and there did not appear to be anyone challenging him – despite Trump’s repeated push to knock him off.

Meanwhile, as the Associated Press reported, top Republicans in Washington have engaged in a behind-the-scenes effort to encourage Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, one of Trump’s most vocal antagonists in the party, to run for a Senate seat. And on Saturday, Glenn Youngkin became the first Republican since 2010 to be sworn in as Virginia Governor after running a campaign that kept Trump at arm’s length.

Nonetheless, Trump is likely to be ever-present as America heads towards the mid-term electio

ns, where Democrats are widely expected to lose their majority, making it even harder for Biden to deliver on his ambitious first term agenda.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be contested, along with 34 out of the 100 seats in the Senate.

Trump has said he…