Sunshine and warm temperatures brought thousands of Trump supporters to Delaware County Fairgrounds where former President Donald Trump put on a “Save America” rally Saturday.

The events page on Trump’s website said gates opened at 2 p.m. and lines were formed for as long as the eye can see as mass crowds came to hear Trump’s keynote speech that evening. Trump was scheduled to speak at 7 p.m., but got on stage early at 6:45 p.m. when he began giving his remarks.

The former president was quick on talking about the poor job performance of his successor Joe Biden when he said “our country is being destroyed.”

Trump went on to speak for approximately 100 minutes at the fairgrounds located in Delaware, Ohio, approximately 40 minutes north of Ohio’s capital city of Columbus.

After Trump endorsed Ohio U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance earlier in April, Vance along with a number of sitting U.S. House of Representatives members and potential candidates were in attendance. Two GOP members of the U.S. House of Representatives: Troy Balderson (R-Zanesville) and Mike Carey (R-Columbus) were also in attendance.

Balderson spoke on the potential the Republican Party and its candidates have in the upcoming 2022 mid-term election and furthermore with the 2024 election, when the presidential election will take place. He then ended his speech by using one of Trump’s slogans, “we can make America great again.”

Congressman Carey made a commitment to the American people during his speech by implementing the “America first” policy he said will combat the issues Americans are faced with, including high gas prices and inflation.

“President Trump did so much for this country and believe me the Democrats in Congress,” Carey said to conclude his speech. ”The Democrat who is in the White House has done so much to destroy everything that President Trump built up.”

The two others who spoke were candidates in this upcoming November election for the 7th and 13th Congressional Districts within the state of Ohio that including Max Miller (R) and Madison Gesiotto Gilbert (R).

One of Miller’s first points included the United States’ military being pulled out of Afghanistan and the frustrations he had toward that process.

“Joe Biden oversaw the one of the greatest embarrassments in the United States’ history,” Miller said. “The American surrender in Afghanistan, never forget about it.”

Thirteen service members were killed during that operation in August 2021, which left many more American soldiers and allies stranded in the Middle East in that same month.

Trump also talked about the events that occurred in Afghanistan when he said over 700,000 firearms and pieces of ammunition and 70,000 military-graded vehicles were left behind and are now being sold by an Afghan terrorist group, the Taliban. Trump said those weapons are now in possession of countries like Russia, China and Iran.

Gesiotto Gilbert called for personnel change within Congress and said the Democratic Party wants to divide American citizens “based on race, gender and political ideology.”

Gesiotto Gilbert said she wants to secure the United States-Mexico border to stop the drug flow into the U.S. and said Ohio experienced a “26 percent increase in drug overdose deaths [in 2021].”

Other public figures and politicians who made appearances around the fairgrounds included the MyPillow CEO Mike Lendell, Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci and Ohio’s Secretary of State Frank LaRose. Trump announced his full endorsement of LaRose as he is up for re-election this year.

Trump was reemphasizing his full endorsement to Vance early on in his speech even though Vance in 2016 called himself a “never Trump guy,” and said he would have voted for Hillary Clinton instead of Trump in the 2016 presidential election. When Trump said Clinton’s name to the crowd Saturday night, the crowd responded back with “lock her up” chants.

When Trump also talked about President Biden’s Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci, crowds responded with “lock him up” chants.

Issues that Trump spoke on included: crime in American cities, inflation rates, the war between Russia and Ukraine, COVID-19 mandates and the United States-Mexico border, among other topics. Trump said the border wall on the U.S.’ southern border was within three weeks of being completed when Trump left office after the 2020 presidential election.

“Third-world countries have better borders than [the United States] does,” Trump said. “The Biden Administration blew the border to shreds.”

Vance also made comments about the border and the construction of the wall when he said he wants to finish building the wall. The crowd then responded with “build that wall” chants when Vance paused.

Trump also spoke on COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates where he gave praise to Judge Kathryn Mizelle, a Floridian judge that he appointed in September 2020. Mizelle struck down the federal mask mandates on airplanes and other public transportation on April 18.

With Mizelle striking down on the travel mask mandates, locally at Kent State University it was announced a few days earlier on April 14 that they are not requiring masks in classrooms when summer classes begin on May 19.

In a one-on-one interview at the rally between Kent Wired and gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci, he spoke on what he will do regarding COVID-19 mandates if elected as Ohio governor,

“I’m going to enforce that we don’t have a governor who has the overreach to take away those rights,” Renacci said. “We gotta just protect our constitution.”

As Trump was getting near the end of his speech he invited Vance and Miller back on stage with him at separate times, where they gave further remarks and when talking about Trump they both said, “[Trump is] the greatest president in my lifetime.”

Not only was support seen on the ground with thousands of people wearing red,

white and blue and shirts saying phrases like “Trump 2024,” “Let’s Go Brandon” and “Legalize Freedom,” but above the crowds large banners were being waved in the air by aircrafts.

“PUT BIDEN IN A HOME,” and “PUT TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE,” were the two banners seen from above, along with one banner supporting another Republican gubernatorial candidate Joe Blystone. The banner supporting him said “JOE BLYSTONE FOR OHIO GOVERNOR.”

Ohio has been a victorious state for Trump when he ran for office in 2016 and 2020. The website 270towin states that in 2016 Trump received 51.7 percent of the votes compared to 43.6 percent that Clinton received. In 2020, Trump’s percentage rose to 53.3, while Biden’s total was 45.2 percent.

The Delaware County Fairgrounds, which usually hosts events like flea markets, fairs and motor sport races, broke attendance records Saturday evening, Trump said. A Trump senior advisor said crowds surpassed 20,000 people on the fairgrounds.

Trump thanked the people of Ohio and gave his love to the state when he said, “I love the people of Ohio.”

Trump’s concluding remarks gave hope to his Ohio supporters when he said, “This is the year we take back America,” and “We’re going to beat [the Democrats] badly [in the 2022 and 2024 elections].”

Anthony Zacharyasz is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].