Trump Draws Older Crowd at Phoenix Turning Point USA Rally With Erika Kirk

President Donald Trump came to Arizona to rally young voters, but the megachurch in Phoenix that was supposed to help him drum up support instead drew an audience whose members skewed older and were focused on divisions within their own party, according to The Washington Post.

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The Post described the event as a venue for Trump “to drum up support among the young voters who helped deliver him to the Oval Office,” yet it “Instead, he found an audience whose members skewed older and were focused on divisions within their own party.”

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The Independent also reported that the church where Trump spoke, which it said has capacity for about 4,500 people, “was not entirely full,” with “An upper level of seats was cordoned off and empty, according to pool reports.”

KJZZ reported that the rally took place at Dream City Church in Phoenix and that Trump appeared with Erika Kirk, the widow of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, and “all but one of Arizona’s Republican congressmen.”

KJZZ added that Rep. David Schweikert was “noticeably absent from the speaker list,” and that entrance to the event was “available on a first come, first serve basis,” but “all attendees had to check their voter registration status to be eligible to enter.”

The Independent further said that “scores of supporters of all ages waited in line to get in,” while Trump’s motorcade was met by “angry crowds” who hurled insults and held signs on topics including “the Epstein files and the Iran war.”

Erika Kirk introduced President Donald Trump at a midterms-focused Turning Point Action rally in Arizona, and she framed the event as a push to “fortify the red wall” in battleground states including Arizona, Nevada and New Hampshire during the midterms, according to The Independent.

The Independent said Kirk told the crowd of young conservatives they couldn’t rest on their laurels after the youth vote unexpectedly helped propel Trump back to the White House in 2024, and she urged them to “fortify the red wall” in battleground states including Arizona, Nevada and New Hampshire.

KJZZ

The Independent also reported that Kirk echoed Trump’s recent online rants by taking aim at unnamed critics of the GOP, slamming those who were “spreading negativity” to get “clicks and influence.”

Kirk appealed to the memory of her late husband Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last year, and she told the audience, “My husband Charlie gave his life for that work,” adding, “And what gets built lasts for generations, long after the noise has run out of one-liners.”

KJZZ similarly described the rally as Turning Point USA’s “Build the Red Wall” rally and said Trump appeared with Erika Kirk before he took the stage.

Arizona Mirror reported that the rally at a north Phoenix church, hosted by Turning Point USA, was aimed at “Build The Red Wall” and served as a platform to drive Trump-supporting voters to support U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs in his bid for governor.

KJZZ reported that among a long slate of speakers were Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs, Abe Hamadeh and Eli Crane, and it listed other congressmen who arrived at the rally on Friday morning.

Trump’s remarks at the Turning Point USA rally in Phoenix centered on foreign policy themes, with multiple outlets describing his claims about Iran and his broader, rambling approach.

“Donald Trump lleva semanas buscando dar impulso a su campaña ante el gran momento que viven sus rivales, los demócratas Kamala Harris y Tim Walz”

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Arizona Mirror said Trump spent roughly 40 minutes “jumping from topic to topic” when he took the stage late in the afternoon, and it reported that he “bragged about the war in Iran, claiming that he was winning it and it would be the “” he has ended.”

The Independent reported that Trump made “occasional appeals to the young crowd” and that he told the audience, “A lot of you benefited from this,” while also saying, “It should be the opposite,” and “We’re doing well. We’re doing our job. We’re ending wars all over the place.”

The Independent also described Trump’s Iran claims, saying that in Phoenix he earned “smatterings of applause” as he made “triumphant, if inaccurate, claims that Iran had agreed to give up its enriched nuclear material as part of the peace process,” and it added that “Tehran has strongly denied this is the case.”

12News reported that Trump talked Iran and the Strait of Hormuz at the Phoenix Turning Point USA rally, and it framed the event as a setting where he spoke to the crowd at Dream City Church.

Arizona Mirror added that Trump hinted at military action in Cuba during his “rambling 40-minute speech,” and it quoted Trump saying, “This was just a military excursion,” and “This wasn’t the big time.”

The Independent also included a related note about the administration’s stance toward young voters, quoting Vance from the Georgia Turning Point event: “I recognize that young voters do not love the policy we have in the Middle East, OK,” and “don’t get disengaged because you disagree with the administration on one topic.”

Separate from the Turning Point USA rally coverage, El País described a different Arizona moment in which Donald Trump invited Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage and welcomed him into what it called the MAGA family.

El País said Trump had been seeking momentum for his campaign and that he had one of those moments “en Arizona” on Friday, when he invited the stage to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a candidate without party who had left the race just hours earlier.

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El País quoted Kennedy’s farewell remarks, saying Kennedy told the crowd, “Hemos estado en lados opuestos de la ecuación, pero es un tipo fenomenal,” before giving Kennedy a few minutes on the microphone.

El País also described the setting at the Desert Diamond stadium in Glendale, saying that in the stadium’s speakers “sonaba la canción My Hero (mi héroe), de los Foo Fighters,” and it reported that Trump said, “¡Wow! Se la merece (...) Creo que nunca he presentado a nadie que haya sido aplaudido de esta forma.”

The article said Kennedy, described as 70 years old, suspended his campaign in Arizona the night of Thursday and that he did the same in other nine states, which it described as “territorios bisagra,” where his presence on the ballots could take votes from Trump.

El País reported that Kennedy told the audience, “¿Quieren a un presidente que proteja las libertades de Estados Unidos? ¿Y que nos proteja del autoritarismo? ¿No quieren a un presidente que haga a Estados Unidos sano otra vez?”, and it said Trump responded by insisting, “Si ganamos aquí ganamos la presidencia,” referring to Arizona’s electoral votes.

El País also said Trump had previously criticized Kennedy on Truth Social, writing, “Prefiero incluso a Biden sobre Junior, porque nuestro país duraría un año o dos antes de colapsar... Sus posturas sobre las vacunas son completamente falsas, como lo es toda su candidatura,” and it reported that Kennedy had said he was a “feroz crítico” of some policies from Trump’s first administration while still aligning on issues like food and chronic disease.

The article added that Trump used Kennedy’s appearance to announce that if elected he would create an independent commission to investigate “los intentos de asesinatos” in U.S. politics, including the attempt Trump survived in Pennsylvania the previous month, and it quoted Trump saying, “Ordenaré liberar todos los documentos confidenciales del asesinato de John F. Kennedy.”

The Arizona Mirror account tied Trump’s Phoenix rally to the midterm political stakes and to specific races, including U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs’s bid for governor and the Republican primary he faces against U.S. Rep. David Schweikert.

“Conservative activist Erika Kirk introduced President Donald Trump at a midterms-focused Turning Point Action rally in Arizona on Friday, days after she skipped a similar rally in Georgia featuring Vice President JD Vance due to unspecified security threats”

The Independent

Arizona Mirror said the rally served “as a platform to drive Trump-supporting voters to support U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs in his bid for governor,” and it reported that Biggs is running against fellow GOP Congressman David Schweikert in the Republican primary election, with the winner set to challenge Democratic incumbent Katie Hobbs in November.

KJZZ

It also said Biggs has Trump’s endorsement, and it described Democrats as seeing 2026 as “a chance to repudiate Trumpism,” with Democrats expected to spend heavily to defeat Republicans up and down the ballot.

The Independent similarly described the midterms-focused Turning Point Action rally and said Kirk urged young conservatives to “fortify the red wall” in battleground states including Arizona, Nevada and New Hampshire during the midterms.

KJZZ reported that Trump appeared with “all but one of Arizona’s Republican congressmen,” and it listed the speakers and congressmen present, including Andy Biggs, Abe Hamadeh and Eli Crane, while noting Schweikert’s absence from the speaker list.

Arizona Mirror also described internal GOP tensions at the rally, saying that “At one point, a cacophony of boos filled the church sanctuary when U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar urged attendees to vote for Rodney Glassman for attorney general over Senate President Warren Petersen,” and it added that “Hours later, Trump gave Petersen a shout-out from the stage.”

The Independent added that Turning Point organizers blamed “lackluster turnout” on “shenanigans” from left-wing groups gaming an online ticket system to suppress attendance, and it reported that Trump’s motorcade was met by angry crowds with signs on “the Epstein files and the Iran war.”

KJZZ’s live updates also placed the rally amid other Arizona political developments, including that “The Arizona Senate passed a bill Thursday” requiring major utilities to file a report every six months detailing new extra high load users, like data centers, and that a Superior Court judge found the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors illegally took away Recorder Justin Heap’s information technology team and must give that staff back.