Trump Complains About Teleprompters at His Minnesota Speech: “They Wonder Why I Don’t Pay the Bill”

The former President, Donald Trump, used his day off from his New York hush money trial, to attend his son Barron's high school graduation in his hometown, Florida. He later spoke at a Republican fundraiser — the Minnesota GOP's annual Lincoln Reagan dinner in St. Paul, which coincided with the party's state convention in the typically Democratic state. He opened his keynote speech with concerns over the teleprompters, noting that they were 'falling down'.

As reported by Raw Story, soon after taking the stage, Trump ranted, "Before I got up, the teleprompter fell down. That's great. Great going, fellas back there. Then they want to know why we don't pay the bill. I get a lot of heat. We have a teleprompter that's gone. This one's almost gone." Trump then mimicked Joe Biden and claimed that the current U.S. president would 'leave' if the same thing were to occur during any of his addresses. Subsequently, he complained about how the podium itself required maintenance. 

During the address, he also stated that Special Counsel, Jack Smith, was prosecuting him in New York, when in fact, Smith takes cases in Washington, D.C., and Florida. This prompted trolling from netizens online. A user shared on X, "Deranged Dementia Donald has confused his criminal cases." Another echoed, "In his defense, I can’t keep up with all his criming either." Chiming in on the mix-up, another user sarcastically added, "...it’s not really about specific indictments, prosecutors, judges, witnesses, or jury members. It’s about him being the victim. He just needs people to feel bad for him and vote for him because he would gladly go to prison for you."

Trump's decision to spend a portion of his day, to campaign in Minnesota (a state he believes he can win in November) also struck people as odd as it's on the other side of the nation. Judge Juan Merchan had granted the former president the break from the trial to attend the graduation in Florida, given how unhappy he was over not being able to spend the day with his kid when the judge declined his request in the past. 

In his 2016 presidential election win against Hillary Clinton, Trump lost Minnesota by just 1½ points. Subsequently, in his failed re-election bid in 2020, he lost the state by more than seven points to President Biden. As per Fox News, ahead of the 2020 election, Trump swore to win Minnesota, claiming that if he lost he would never come back. Fast forward four years, Trump is not only back but anticipates another triumph. In a Wednesday interview with KSTP, a local TV station in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, he said, "We think we have a really good shot at Minnesota."