MOSINEE — Former President Donald Trump vowed Saturday to eliminate the federal Department of Education as part of an effort to send oversight back to the states.
Trump also said he’d sign pardons on “day one” of his presidency for those convicted of charges related to violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, drawing a rebuke from Kamala Harris’ campaign.
Trump told backers he planned to work with businessman Elon Musk on a government efficiency commission to audit the federal government and “cut the fat.” He said that process would result in eliminating the Department of Education. He added that would put states in charge of education policies and suggested there’d be a role for U.S. Sen. Ron Johnsn, R-Oshkosh, in the proposed system.
“We will ultimately eliminate the federal Department of Education and send education back to Wisconsin and back to the states,” Trump said. “Senator Ron Johnson can run it.”
Trump promised to issue pardons as he went on a riff about the January 2021 attack, including criticizing the U.S. Department of Justice, calling it “corrupt” and “Kamala Harris’ department of injustice.” He added that Harris would create a “‘Banana Republic’ ruled by an anarchy and a tyranny” if elected. He continued to try blaming former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, for security measures at the U.S. Capitol that day while slamming the House committee that investigated the attack.
“We will rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner unjustly victimized by the Harris regime, and I will sign their pardons on day one,” he said.
Harris’ campaign slammed Trump’s vow to pardon those convicted of charges related to the violent protest at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Harris spokesperson Sarafina Chitka said “Donald Trump’s only mission is serving Donald Trump” and warned he “won’t lift a finger to help the American people” if he wins in November.
“While Vice President Harris is spending the days before the debate exciting voters and inspiring the next generation, Trump is reminding voters that he is too obsessed with payback to deliver progress for middle class families,” Chitka said.
Trump’s roughly 90-minute rally at an airport in central Wisconsin was his second trip to the state since the Republican National Convention in July. He touched on a series of topics, from the former president’s call to impose tariffs on imports to immigration.
At one point, he called for changes to the 25th Amendment so if the vice presidents cover up the “incapacity of the president,” they could be impeached. The amendment includes a provision that provides for the transfer of the presidents’ powers and duties to the vice president if they can no longer perform their duties. Trump and some Republicans have repeatedly accused Harris of hiding President Joe Biden’s mental fitness from the public.
Trump said he would use tariffs to encourage American manufacturing and energy production and promised Wisconsinites cheap energy.
“We’re gonna be a tariff nation,” Trump said.
He denied claims made by Harris that his proposed tariffs would result in cost increases for Americans, saying he would be raising costs on other countries instead.
“I’m a tariff president, I’m not a tax increase president,” he said.
Trump slammed the Biden’s administration’s handling of the U.S. retreat from Afghanistan, and said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war would not have happened under his watch.
“I will have that war finished and done and settled before I get to the White House as President-elect,” Trump said of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Trump charged Harris was responsible for “thousands and thousands of terrorists pouring into our country” through the border.
“I will get these monster criminals out of Wisconsin. I will get them out of our country,” Trump said.
Trump also called on Wisconsin voters to “defeat a radical left Senator named Tammy Baldwin” and elect GOP businessman Eric Hovde, who he called a “hero” and a “true American patriot.” He blamed Baldwin for “open borders, horrific inflation, [and] the Afghanistan disaster.”
“She doesn’t do anything for Wisconsin,” Trump said.
