“Has anyone ever heard of Dana White?” Trump asked during his speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority conference in Washington. “…I said, 'Dana, I have an idea. Why don't you create a migrant league of fighters and have a regular league of fighters, and then you have the champion of your league – these are the greatest fighters in the world – fighting the champion of the migrants.” I think the migrant man could win, they are that tough. He didn't like that idea very much.”
At a post-fight news conference in Saudi Arabia later Saturday, White confirmed that Trump made the comments but said it was “a joke.”
“I saw everyone going crazy online. But yeah, he did say it,” White told reporters.
The comments are part of Trump's broader pattern of using dehumanizing language when discussing immigrants, which during this election cycle has included portraying immigrants as violent criminals and saying they are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Trump spoke for nearly an hour and a half at the conference hosted by the evangelical group founded by longtime conservative strategist Ralph Reed. He referred to issues championed by the group, such as imposing government restrictions on abortion. But the themes of his speech were more similar to those of his campaign rallies, including immigration and election denial.
In his speech, the former president continued to claim that undocumented immigrants are violent criminals who come from “prisons and mental institutions.” He also talked about the February murder of Georgian nursing student Laken Riley, who police say was killed by Jose Ibarra – a man immigration authorities say crossed the US border illegally in 2022. has been in custody since the day after Riley's body was discovered in May and he pleaded not guilty.
Trump reiterated his pledge to “initiate the largest deportation operation in American history” if he returns to the White House. He also warned that undocumented immigrants are “just getting comfortable” but that “they are going to hit us very hard.”
And in his speech at Temple University in Philadelphia, which lasted about the same length, Trump acknowledged the presence of relatives of Rachel Morin, a Maryland woman who died during a flight last year. Trump called the man accused in the death, Victor Martinez-Hernandez, of El Salvador, an “animal.”
According to federal data, most people arrested at the southern border have not had criminal convictions. Experts say most evidence suggests that having undocumented immigrants in the country does not lead to more crime.
“Befitting that convicted felon, Donald Trump spent his time at a religious conference threatening to round up Latinos, bragging about taking away America's freedoms and promising to be even more extreme if he regains power,” said Sarafina Chitika, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign. in a statement after Trump's speech in Washington.
Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign, dismissed concerns about the demeaning comparisons of migrants.
“These elitists are the same people who foolishly think martial arts are human cockfights, thus showing their ignorance of the sweet science of mixed martial arts,” Cheung said in a statement.
During a campaign stop at a cheesesteak restaurant in South Philly, Trump greeted fans and told reporters that he had picked a running mate but had not yet told that person. Trump has often teased his vice presidential decision, which he says he will announce at the convention. In January, he said he had already decided which campaign staffers were stepping back. The campaign has vetted several candidates.
Trump raised the issue of abortion earlier in the day during a speech before the Faith and Freedom Coalition, which advocates for it abortion bans. He referred to the Supreme Court decision which was overturned Roe v. Wade. The second anniversary of that ruling is Monday.
“We took abortion out of the federal government and brought it back to the states,” he said, before falsely claiming that “every legal scholar” along with “just about all Democrats” wanted to see it Roo fallen over. He referenced issues championed by the group, such as appointing conservative Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the case Roo. He also said he believes in exceptions for abortion “for the life of the mother, rape and incest.”
“You have to go with your heart” on the issue, Trump said, “but you also have to remember that you have to be elected.”
Trump reminded the audience at several points in the speech to vote in November, saying, “Vote, Christians!” He also continued to falsely claim that the 2020 election was “rigged.”
“If I knew there would be no corruption, if I knew… that everything would be honorable and fair as it should be, I would stop campaigning,” he said.
The former president also claimed that widely known evangelist Franklin Graham wrote him a letter advising him not to use foul language. “I said to myself, 'He's wrong about that,'” Trump said, adding that while he tries to cut back on swearing, “sometimes there's no [other] word to describe it.”
Trump complained about what he said was the Biden administration's political persecution of Christians. He cited a Clinton-appointed federal judge's recent decision to sentence an anti-abortion activist whose lawyer says her health is deteriorating to two years in prison. The activist, Paula “Paulette” Harlow, was among a group of individuals charged with violating federal law by participating in a demonstration that blocked access to an abortion clinic. He also portrayed himself as a victim of attacks.
“Together we stood up to communists, Marxists and fascists to defend religious freedom like no other president has ever done,” Trump said. “And I have the wounds all over my body. … I have suffered many wounds, I can tell you, more than, I suspect, any president ever.”
Arnsdorf reported from Philadelphia.
