{"id":28507,"date":"2024-06-16T22:48:07","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T03:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=28507"},"modified":"2024-06-16T22:48:11","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T03:48:11","slug":"trump-marks-his-78th-birthday-with-a-towering-maga-cake-and-attacks-on-his-81-year-old-rivals-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=28507","title":{"rendered":"Trump marks his 78th birthday with a towering \u2018MAGA\u2019 cake and attacks on his 81-year-old rival\u2019s age"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Donald Trump<\/u><\/a> marked his 78th birthday on Friday night by addressing a fawning crowd in Florida and repeatedly dismissing his opponent in November\u2019s election, 81-year-old President Joe Biden<\/u><\/a>, as too frail to handle a second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur country is being destroyed by incompetent people,\u201d said Trump, who devoted large swathes of a jovial speech to poking fun at Biden. \u201cAll presidents should have aptitude tests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former president addressed \u201cClub 47\u201d fan club members at a convention center in West Palm Beach, a short drive from the former president\u2019s Mar-a-Lago residence. As part of the festivities, organizers brought out a towering, multi-layered cake as audience members tossed red and blue balloons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting on a gold-colored base, the cake featured separate tiers that included a \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d baseball cap and the Club 47 logo, an American flag, the phrase \u201cBorn in the USA on Flag Day,\u201d a depiction of Trump golfing and the Oval Office fitted gold frames common in many Trump properties as well as Trump and Republican logos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Trump took the stage, the crowd sang \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d and chanted \u201cUSA! USA!\u201d The layer cake was just for show. But backstage, there was a sheet cake with vanilla icing that was served to some members of the presumptive Republican nominee\u2019s campaign staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u201cThis is the biggest birthday party I\u2019ve ever had by far,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>The former president elicited strong cheers by listing his now-familiar campaign plans, including discussing immigration in menacing terms and pledging to reduce regulations, scrap environmental protections to stimulate domestic energy production and cut taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite so often scoffing at Biden, even declaring that the president often \u201cdoesn\u2019t know where the hell he is,\u201d Trump also offered a seemingly contradictory message to his own supporters. He endorsed early voting, casting ballots by mail and also on Election Day in person, only to later note: \u201cI actually tell our people, we don\u2019t need your vote. We\u2019ve got so many votes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Trump took the stage, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Byron Donalds, both Florida Republicans, helped warm up the crowd, gushing about Trump and his prospects for winning back the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was yet another strong show of support for Trump and came a day after Republicans in Congress sang their own rendition of \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d and presented the former president with a cake and gifts during a Thursday visit to Capitol Hill \u2014 displaying remarkable loyalty for a former president who was shunned by many of the same lawmakers after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even after becoming the first former president to have been convicted of a felony<\/u><\/a>, Trump has tightened his grip on much of his party\u2019s base and elected officials. Next month, he is scheduled to accept his party\u2019s presidential nomination for the third time \u2014 despite facing sentencing in his hush money case on July 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump referenced his conviction on 34 felony counts on Friday, declaring, \u201cIn the end, they\u2019re not after me. They\u2019re after you and I just happened to be standing in their way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary Lou and Sue Reardon both came to the event from the Villages near Ocala, about 240 miles (386 kilometers) northwest of West Palm Beach. Both were wearing U.S. flag shirts and matching \u201cBirthday\u201d headbands with candles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u201cWe just feel like he\u2019s our last hope,\u201d Sue Reardon said of Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden will turn 82 shortly after Election Day in November. His campaign marked Trump\u2019s birthday by compiling a listing of \u201c78 of Trump\u2019s historic\u2026 \u2018accomplishments,\u2019\u201d with links to media coverage of policy proposals including \u201ccutting Social Security and Medicare,\u201d Trump\u2019s presidency during GOP losses in the U.S. House and Senate and several references to his legal cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn behalf of America, our early gift for your 79th: Making sure you are never President again,\u201d Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer added to the birthday wishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, there was no hint of GOP disunity when Trump was in Washington to meet with House and Senate Republicans on Thursday, in his first visit to Capitol Hill since the riot, which was carried out by Trump supporters seeking to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those attending was Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who endorsed Trump earlier this year despite not having spoken<\/u><\/a> since 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Club 47 is based in Palm Beach County and says on its website that the club\u2019s goal is to keep Trump\u2019s supporters \u201cin our area connected and engaged.\u201d Trump most recently spoke to the club in October, days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lydia Maldonado, a local Hispanic activist, said Friday\u2019s event is unique compared to any rally nationwide with the former president and that Trump feels comfortable and familiar with this crowd since it\u2019s his hometown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe purpose of having this event is pretty much to let him know how much the community here loves him and how much the community supports him,\u201d Maldonado said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

apnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Donald Trump marked his 78th birthday on Friday night by addressing a fawning crowd in Florida and repeatedly dismissing his opponent in November\u2019s election, 81-year-old President Joe Biden, as too frail to handle a second term. \u201cOur country is being destroyed by incompetent people,\u201d said Trump, who devoted large swathes of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":28508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7747,1226,1169,5506,29079,1230],"class_list":["post-28507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-age","tag-attack","tag-biden","tag-birthday","tag-cake","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28509,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28507\/revisions\/28509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}