President Trump’s midterm election rally in Texas on Wednesday was repeatedly interrupted by protesters, including several who shouted over an “angel mom” as she described how two criminal illegal immigrants killed her son.
Roughly a dozen people disrupted the San Antonio event during the first 45 minutes of Trump’s remarks. The president used the rally to argue that Texas would be under threat if Democrats defeated his endorsed candidates in the November elections.
Trump responded to the interruptions by criticizing the protesters’ appearances and alleging that they had been paid to disrupt the event.
After the first interruption, Trump said, “His mom voted for Trump.”
When a second protester began shouting, the president remarked, “That guy’s got to lose a lot of weight.”
Following another disruption, Trump declared, “They’re paid protesters. They’re paid by enemies of our nation.”
The interruptions continued when angel mom Marie Vega took the stage. She recounted surviving an armed robbery involving two illegal immigrants, an attack that injured her husband and killed her son, Border Patrol agent Javier “Harvey” Vega Jr.
“Everything was going perfect until two career criminal illegal aliens decided to ambush us in an attempt to steal two four-wheel-drive trucks,” Vega said, describing the day her son was killed.
“Without warning, they jumped out of the stolen vehicle they were driving and … they shot at us, killing my Harvey as he so desperately tried to protect us,” she recalled. “They shot my husband in the back and continued shooting at everyone there, including my two little grandsons and their friend.
“In an attempt to protect our family, I picked up the AR that Harvey had reached for before getting shot in the chest, and I returned fire.”
Vega was discussing her claim that Democrats “want to strip” Americans of their Second Amendment rights when a disturbance erupted in the crowd. The commotion forced her to stop speaking for approximately a minute.
In a departure from Trump’s previous event in the Lone Star State, he invited Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton to join him onstage Wednesday night.
Trump also refrained from mocking Paxton’s clothing or public-speaking style, something he has done at past appearances.
“I think he’s probably the greatest attorney general in the history of the state of Texas. He is tough. And he was with us all the way,” Trump said of Paxton.
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“If you get elected for job performance, you’re going to have a blowout because there’s nobody like him,” Trump added. He called Paxton “the only thing standing between you and the migrant conquest, the invasion you had two years ago.”
“I’m very proud of him and I think he’s going to be an unbelievable senator,” the president said later.
Trump also repeatedly targeted Paxton’s Democratic opponent, state lawmaker James Talarico. He referred to Talarico as “Talafreako” and a “fake,” while also criticizing him for being vegan.
The president joked that first lady Melania Trump has reminded him to pronounce the word “vegan” correctly during his rallies.
“You know, my wife told me, ‘Sir, do me a favor … it’s not vaygun, it’s vegan… Please pronounce that word properly,’” Trump told the crowd.
Defending his pronunciation, Trump said, “How the hell would I know? I like steak.”
He also ripped Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), whom he provided an eyebrow-raising pardon last year.
“I gave a full pardon at the request of his two daughters because they said, ‘Please don’t let them take my mother and father away,’” he said of the congressman and his wife, both of whom were indicted on federal corruption charges.
“But shockingly, after the pardon was given … only a few days later, he said he was going to stay and remain in the Democrat Party,” Trump fumed.
“Many consider this to be a tremendous act of disloyalty, and it certainly showed him to be an extremely ungrateful kind of a person,” he continued. “ I mean, you know, I saved him from going to jail for like, I think, 15 or 20 years.”
“He was afraid to do it,” Trump said of why Cuellar declined to switch political allegiances.
Trump also seemed to clear up comments he made at a Nebraska rally Monday about Iran blowing up Los Angeles and San Diego, which drew backlash from Democrats.
“We had no choice because we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said of the Iran war.
“But you want to see trauma? You want to see problems? And I said it the other day: Let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles,” he continued, before adding, “We’re not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country. We’re not letting them.”
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