BREAKING: Trump speaks to massive crowd in Florida, slams media, witch hunts, critical race theory

At the Save America rally in Sarasota, Florida, on Saturday, former President Donald Trump slammed the mainstream media's disinformation campaign and the left-wing establishment's witch hunts against the Trump name.

Trump opened with talk of "free and fair elections" then pivoted to lambast the new White House under President Joe Biden. "In just five months, the Biden administration has launched an all-out assault on everything we cherish and value," Trump said. "Under Joe Biden and the left—I don't know if it's Joe to be honest with you. It's somebody! Does anybody know who it is?"

Trump fired at critical race theory. "It's pure plain racism. It has no place in our schools, in our military, or in our country," Trump asserted. "In place of old-fashioned love of America, the Biden administration has new rules pushing hateful Marxist critical race theory into our children's schools and into our military. The poisonous left-wing doctrine is flagrant racism. It's plain and simple."

Trump again blasted Biden's failing border policies as the crisis is escalating at America's southern border with Mexico. He said that six months ago, America had the "safest border in history," but now it's the "worst and most unsafe" border.

"But we are helping other countries, because their prisons are very soon going to be totally empty. They're sending them into our country. They're saying, 'We don't want these people.' Biden terminated 'Remain in Mexico' [program]," he said.

In January 2019, the Department of Homeland Security announced the implementation of the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the "Remain in Mexico" program. The Trump-era policy allowed border officers to return asylum seekers to Mexico as claims were adjudicated in American immigration courts.

Trump also took aim at Biden for ripping up the Trump administration's "safe third country" agreements with Central American countries.

"They've reversed our asylum reforms and they halted the border wall and they shut down ICE [...] and instituted catch-and-release nationwide," Trump stated.

Trump also reaffirmed right-wing America's commitment to back the blue while Democrats have been working with anti-police activism organizations to defund the police. "Law enforcement's been treated very badly, but we love you," he said.

"To all law enforcement, I want you to know that the American people thank you, they believe in you, they love you, they respect you, they need you. And we are going to fight for you," he applauded the nation's police force.

Trump criticized the Democrats for claiming it was the Republicans who wanted to defund the police: "It's disinformation. They say it again and again and again."

"And we have no free press anymore. The free press is truly gone," Trump stated. "Other than a few sources, it's gone. So they get away with this stuff. We cannot let it happen. We have to be much tougher, stronger."

Last month, White House press secretary Jen Psaki falsely stated that it was Republicans who voted to defund local police department.

Trump touched on the Mueller Report, an investigation into alleged Russian interference of the 2016 presidential election, comparing the witch hunt to how communist nations fabricate charges against political opponents.

He called out prosecutors running on promises to "get Trump," although he didn't mention the charges filed against the Trump Organization or its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. Trump added that prosecutors didn't go after Biden or his controversial son Hunter Biden whose questionable overseas business dealings have been ignored by the mainstream media and Washington.

"You know how many investigations—they've all seen it. Mueller, he spent $48 million. He saw it," Trump said. "But the radical left said, 'Listen, we failed in Washington to get him. Here's the papers. See if you can take him out, New York!'"

Trump stated that the left is out to get him because he's "called them out on their lies, exposed their incompetence, and taken away their power."

"And perhaps most importantly, I got, we got 75 million votes!" Trump declared as the audience erupted into applause. "And by the way, it's probably a lot more than that. But that's by far the most of any sitting president in history."

Trump also talked about how he did the opposite of what the World Health Organization and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci, then-leader of the White House coronavirus task force, wanted.

He also exposed Fauci's flip-flopping stance on mask mandates and the effectiveness of face coverings. "Remember: 'No masks! Masks are terrible! Don't wear masks!' And now he's a radical masker. 'Have three masks! And if you can, put on goggles and a helmet!' Different kind of a deal," Trump jested.

Trump asked who shot Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt who was shot dead inside the Capitol building on Jan. 6 when pro-Trump rioters breached federal property.

"We all saw the hand. We saw the gun," Trump said, noting that he spoke to Babbitt's mother the other day who's devastated. "If that were on the other side, the person who did the shooting would be strung up and hung."

Trump said that the name of Babbitt's killer ought to be released. He also questioned why so many Jan. 6 rioters are still in jail while numerous Black Lives Matter-Antifa rioters did not pay the price for the "fire and carnage and death that took place in Democrat-run cities" across the United States.

"This is what a leader looks like! While Joe Biden can't keep his sentences strait, ruined the sovereignty of our nation by opening the border, and is rapidly passing AOC's Communist plans for America President Donald J. Trump is fighting for all of us and putting #AmericaFirst," praised Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

The rally comes in the wake of the fatal Surfside condo collapse.

Republican state leaders said that that the absence of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who opted to remain in south Florida to oversee recovery efforts at the building's site, was a mutual decision. Florida GOP chairman Sen. Joe Gruters and vice chairman Christian Ziegler both said that DeSantis was busy attending vigil services for the victims of the Surfside collapse and overseeing preparation for Tropical Storm Elsa, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.

Trump's speech at the event, billed as an early Independence Day celebration, was followed by July 4 fireworks. Thousands of fervent Trump supporters were expected to appear on the Sarasota Fairgrounds despite the forecast of heavy rain and thunderstorms. As the downpour resumed, the dreary weather still did not dissipate or dissuade the crowd from sticking around to see Trump.

The rally was Trump's third in Sarasota as others in the past have drawn large crowds. Trump's massive rally in December 2015 was among Sarasota's largest political events in recent history, the Herald-Tribune reported.

"Wow, that's a lot of people," Trump reacted to the crowd size as he was greeted by patriotic chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!"

Saturday's event was also Trump's second major campaign-style rally since leaving the White House, following his explosive speech in Wellington, Ohio, last week.

Preparing for 2022, Trump has vowed to help Republican lawmakers regain control of Congress in next year's midterm elections. The GOP is close to flipping both chambers of Congress given the Democrat Party's razor-thin majorities.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) warmed up the crowd by vowing that he'll vote to nominate Trump to be the next Speaker of the House if the GOP retakes Congress.

The former commander-in-chief's appearances at the Trump-branded rallies parallel the signature right-wing gatherings that propelled Trump into the presidency in 2016 and garnered hype on the 2020 re-election campaign trail when he amassed jam-packed conservative crowds across the country.

Trump is slated to make more similar appearances in support of causes that further the Make America Great Again agenda as well as the numerous accomplishments of the Trump administration.