Former President Donald Trump will hold the first rally of his 2024 presidential campaign on Saturday in Waco, Texas, a GOP-led state that has repeatedly delivered him supporting crowds.
Trump will arrive for the rally under pressure amid several ongoing criminal investigations targeting him, including a New York probe into alleged hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The former president could face potential charges in the investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which would make him the first president in American history to be indicted.
The rally in Texas was announced on Trump’s website on March 17, a day before the former president claimed on social media that he would be arrested under Bragg’s probe and called for his supporters to protest. He was not taken into custody, however, but he repeatedly criticized Bragg and the investigation, maintaining his innocence.
The timing of Trump’s rally also coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Waco siege, which ended in the deaths of 86 people after a 51-day standoff between U.S. law enforcement and Branch Davidians, an apocalyptic religious movement, who was suspected of stockpiling illegal weapons. The siege ended in a huge fire at the Mount Carmel Center, and the incident, along with its location, has been seen as a symbol of government overreach.
Trump’s spokesperson Steven Cheung told Newsweek on Saturday that the decision to hold the rally in Waco was because the city is “centrally located and closed” to some of Texas’ largest cities.
“Anyone who makes that absurd comparison [to the Waco siege] obviously has their own delusional agenda. President Trump is holding his first campaign rally in Waco in the Super Tuesday state of Texas because it is centrally located and close to all four of Texas’ biggest metropolitan areas—Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio—while providing the necessary infrastructure to hold a rally of this magnitude,” said Cheung.
He continued: “This is the ideal location to have as many supporters from across the state and in neighboring states attend this historic rally. It also happens to be the home to the Baylor Bears, one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in America.”
“It is undisputed that Texas is Trump Country,” read the rally announcement on Trump’s website, referring to state crowds who selected candidates he endorsed in past elections. Additionally, the former president could also win back millions of cable viewers now that conservative channel Newsmax, which is airing the rally, is returning to DirecTV.
How to Watch the Waco, Texas, Rally
The rally will be held at Waco Regional Airport, according to Trump’s website. The doors will open for attendees at 8 a.m. local time and undisclosed guest speakers are expected to deliver remarks at 2 p.m. local time. Cheung said that the speakers will be announced later in the day.
A pre-show of the rally can be watched on Newsmax at 4 p.m. ET, while Trump’s speech will air at 6 p.m. ET.
Newsmax is one of the few cable networks that still broadcasts all of Trump’s rallies. As of the fourth quarter of 2022, DirecTV had around 13.1 million subscribers in the United States.
The conservative Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN) and Trump’s YouTube channel will also live stream the event. Trump’s YouTube channel was reactivated last week after it has been suspended for over two years following the January 6, 2021, riot when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in an effort to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
“We carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence, while balancing the chance for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run up to an election,” YouTube tweeted last Friday.
1/ Starting today, the Donald J. Trump channel is no longer restricted and can upload new content. We carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence, while balancing the chance for voters to hear equally from major national candidates in the run up to an election.
— YouTubeInsider (@YouTubeInsider) March 17, 2023
What the Polls Show
Trump is facing three other Republican challengers who recently announced their presidential bids. These include Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, entrepreneur and activist Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton.
A Yahoo News/YouGov poll that was released in late February revealed that Trump is ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who hasn’t announced his presidential bid but has been seen by many Republicans as a favorable 2024 candidate. The survey found that in a head-to-head matchup, Trump leads DeSantis among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents with 47 percent compared to the governor’s 39 percent. A further 13 percent said they were unsure.
The former president was also leading in a Fox News poll conducted from February 19-22. He was ahead by 15 percent voter support over DeSantis, and 36 percent over Haley. The poll, which surveyed 1,006 registered voters, did not show its margin of error. In addition, Haley received only 8 percent of support from likely voters compared to 38 percent who plan to back Trump in 2024 in a recent Remington Research Group poll, which was conducted between February 8 and 9, surveying about 820 likely voters.
Two polls by Redfield and Wilton Strategies and Premise showed that Trump led Biden by a single percentage point. The former president led Biden 40 to 39 percent. Meanwhile, both were tied at 44 percent in a second poll. Both polls were shared on March 7 and March 6, respectively.
However, a poll earlier this month showed that Trump would lose in a hypothetical 2024 rematch against Biden. The new Echelon Insights poll showed Biden beating Trump with 47 percent to the former president’s 44 percent. That same survey also showed DeSantis beating Biden in a head-to-head contest.
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