Former President Donald Trump took on both Bidens during his MAGA-themed 78th birthday party in Florida Friday night.
Thousands of the ex-president’s faithful gathered at the Palm Beach County Convention Center to mark the big occassion – wearing a variety of red, white and blue outfits to salute Trump’s birthday coinciding with Flag Day.
The head of ‘Club 47’ – South Florida’s large pro-Trump club – presented the presumptive GOP nominee with a six-tiered cake featuring a MAGA hat and scenes from the White House and the golf course.
The crowd sang Trump ‘Happy Birthday,’ while he marveled in return, ‘This is the biggest birthday party I’ve ever had by far.’
But instead of cutting the cake, he cut into the Bidens – pointing to the now viral moment of the 81-year-old president wandering away during a parachute demonstration with G7 leaders.
‘The one beauty was here’s a parachute landing, everybody’s watching and he’s turned around in the other direction,’ Trump said. ‘The new leader of Italy did a great job. She said, “turn around you fool.”‘
‘And then his wife flew back and forth like it was a taxicab,’ the presumptive GOP nominee added.
Former President Donald Trump headlined a ‘Club 47’ event in West Palm Beach, Florida to celebrate his birthday – complete with a cake and the birthday song. But it was politics as usual, with Trump mocking both President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden
Club 47 organizers wheeled out a six-tiered cake that included scenes from the Oval Office and on the golf course as well as a bright red MAGA hat
The viral clip, shared by conservative accounts online, failed to show that Biden had walked over to talk to a parachutist who had just landed.
First lady Jill Biden flew from France back to Wilmington earlier this month to spend the day with son Hunter in court, before boarding her government plante to fly back to Paris for a state dinner with the Macrons.
‘It’s Air Force One and/or Air Force Two – I mean just back-and forth, back-and-forth, let’s go, let’s go, sit at a trial for a day, go back, forth, back, forth. It’s really terrible,’ Trump said.
The first lady has her own plane, which is referred to as Executive One Foxtrot.
On Tuesday a Delaware-based jury convicted Hunter Biden on three federal gun charges.
He made a similar complaint about the president – who visited France to mark D-Day and then several days later flew back across the pond to attend the G7.
‘He flies back and forth and back and forth. He spends a day and then comes back. He falls asleep at every single event,’ Trump said.
As Trump turned a year older, he hit Biden on the Democrat’s competency and age.
‘And we have a president who has no clue what the hell is going on. Just look at him yesterday. Look at him the day before. In Europe. He doesn’t know where the hell he is,’ Trump remarked. ‘Our country has never been in danger like it’s in danger right now.’
‘Just this week ICE has arrested not one, not two, but eight suspected terrorists at the highest level of terrorism,’ Trump added.
He was referring to the arrests of eight Tajik nationals with alleged ties to ISIS found in the American cities of Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia.
A supporter attending former President Donald Trump’s birthday event in Florida Friday night wore a shirt that read: ‘I wish Hillary had married OJ’
Red, white and blue attire was being sold at vendors at the back of the convention hall where former President Donald Trump spoke to mark his 78th birthday
Trump supporters were given the opportunity to buy t-shirts that said ‘I’m voting for the felon 2024,’ after the ex-president was convicted in the Stormy Daniels hush money case
‘We had a year, where they actually have down zero terrorists came in, if you look at 2019 – that was a Trump year – zero terrorists came in. Zero. I don’t know if I even believe that, but it was certainly a nice report.’
It wasn’t immediately clear what report he was referring too – but it was a rare moment that Trump commended the ‘fake news.’
He then turned again on journalists when bringing up positive coverage Biden received during his trip to the G7 in Italy.
‘I looked at the fake news today and they were saying what a wonderful job he was doing in Europe. The guy is lost,’ Trump said. ‘Every time he does something, all he has to do is complete it sort-of.’
Trump then complained about the glowing reviews of Biden’s State of the Union speech earlier this year: ‘Wasn’t he wonderful tonight,’ Trump said.
A number of birthday party attendees turned to the media pen and jeered.
‘So in addition to all of his other well-documented offenses, Crooked Joe Biden is now also guilty of providing material support for terrorism,’ Trump claimed.
The presumptive GOP nominee pledged that he would replace ‘Bidenomics’ with ‘MAGAnomics’ – and went after Biden’s advanced age once again.
‘Weak and failed Joe Biden has no plan to stop inflation. He has no idea what the hell is happening. He doesn’t know where he’ll be in an hour. “Where you going to be later on this evening?” I have no idea,’ Trump went on.
With Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson – a former White House doctor – as part of the night’s pre-show, Trump also recalled how he aced a cognitive test under Jackson’s watch.
‘All presidents should have aptitude tests, IQ tests or cognitive tests,’ Trump said.
The ex-president recalled how Jackson had described the test as ‘hard’ – ‘the last three-quarters are pretty hard right?’
‘I aced it,’ he said with a grin.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was the last speaker before Trump’s appearance Friday night. He is a favorite to become Trump’s VP among political donors
Two potential VP picks bookended the pre-show – with the birthday event kicking off with Florida Rep. Byron Donalds leading the crowd in prayer and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio giving the final speech before the cake, and then Trump, arrived.
At just 45 and in his second term of Congress, Donalds’ political rise has been rapid.
He’s one of three black men Trump is reportedly considering for the No. 2 spot on the ticket, alongside South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former HUD Director Ben Carson.
He wished a ‘happy birthday to the 45th and 47th president of the United States’ to cheers and applause.
Rubio, a Cuban-American from Miami, was one of Trump’s 2016 rivals – and slapped him around at the end of that cycle’s GOP primary, after Trump had nicknamed him ‘Little Marco.’
The Florida senator emerged as a Trump donor favorite several months back and appears to remain in the running for VP.
Florida Rep. Mike Waltz teased that fact Friday before Rubio came out onstage.
‘Maybe Florida might have a new vice president. We’ll see,’ Waltz said.
The man who once mocked Trump’s hand size and suggested he might have wet his pants on Friday talked about the ex-president and presumptive nominee’s love of country.
‘There’s only one reason like someone like him would be in politics,’ Rubio said, pointing out how Trump is wealthy, has a a great family and could be doing a lot of other things with his life.
‘There’s only one reason – because he loves our country and he wants to save it from people who want to destroy it,’ Rubio said.
The Florida senator noted how a lot politicians ‘leave richer.’
‘Politics has cost him money,’ he said of Trump.
Cardboard cut-outs of the birthday boy were being sold at the back of the convention center ahead of the ex-president’s appearance
A number of supporters wore homemade Trump birthday hats emblazoned with MAGA slogans
A group of Trump supporters waits outside Friday to get into the Palm Beach County Convention Center for a birthday event sponsored by the group ‘Club 47’
Rubio was liked well enough by the Florida crowd – but wasn’t necessarily the top vice presidential candidate on the MAGA crowd’s lips.
Anita Ingram, who declined to give her age but simply said she was ‘old’ and is a retiree from Viera, Florida said her top pick for vice president was Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as Trump’s White House press secretary.
Evangelical pastor Lydia Maldonado, 66, of Boyton, Florida first mentioned Sen. Ted Cruz as Trump’s best pick for VP.
‘I believe with all my heart, I think Ted Cruz would be amazing,’ she said. ‘Ted Cruz would bring the Latino and evangelical vote in.’
Cruz doesn’t appear in the running.
After that, she mentioned her home state senator of Rubio.
Maldonado said Rubio’s main issue is that he’s from the same state as Trump, which is prohibited by the 12th Amendment, but still she liked him.
‘Second choice Marco Rubio. As you can see I’m Hispanic,’ she noted. ‘I think Marco Rubio would be great.’