Trump to Dallas church: Nation ‘in great trouble’
DALLAS — Former President Donald Trump spent the Sunday before Christmas in Dallas, appearing at American Airlines Center with former Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly and attending services at First Baptist Church Dallas.
Trump has been on “The History Tour” with O’Reilly earlier this month in Sunrise and Orlando, Fla., and Saturday night in Houston at the Toyota Center. The Dallas event was set for later Sunday at the American Airlines Center.
Trump made remarks at the end of the First Baptist worship service, which the church had said would be a Christmas message.
The former president, who acknowledged that he strayed from a prepared speech, said the nation is “in great trouble.”
“There’s a lot of clouds hanging over our country right now — dark clouds — but we will come back bigger and better and stronger than ever before,” Trump said. “There’s such spirit out there right now, I’ve never seen anything like that.”
He briefly mentioned border security, inflation, gas prices and the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, which he called a “mess” and the most “embarrassing day” in the nation’s history. He also talked about and thanked the military and police, who he said are facing unprecedented crime and looting.
“Our country needs a savior right now, and we have a savior — that’s not me, that’s someone much higher up,” Trump said before delivering a Christmas message about Jesus.
“We’re going to make America great again,” he concluded before the crowd stood and chanted “U.S.A.”
Earlier in the service, Trump walked out with First Baptist Dallas senior pastor Robert Jeffress to a standing ovation from the congregation. Trump pumped a fist and muttered “thank you” to the roaring crowd. Many of the churchgoers took cellphone photos as he walked to a seat on the front row of the sanctuary.
As the crowd waited to get in to the church service, a lone protester walked among them, calling Trump “worse than Nebuchadnezzar,” a biblical figure known for destroying Jerusalem.
“I am very upset that this church is welcoming one to me who is worse than Nebuchadnezzar,” said Ruth Torres.