Trump slams Biden admin’s ‘weaponization’ of justice system as he kicks off 2024 campaign with Waco rally

Donald Trump denounced “The Biden regime’s weaponization of our system of justice” in Waco, Tex. Saturday with a defiant speech as his potential indictment by a Manhattan grand jury loomed.

“For seven years, you and I have been taking on the corrupt, rotten, sinister forces trying to destroy America,” Trump — in his usual blue suit but without his trademark red tie — told the crowd at the first public rally of his 2024 presidential campaign.

“The Biden regime’s weaponization of our system of justice is straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show,” he said.

“Our opponents have done everything they can to destroy our spirit and crush our will,” he added. “Put me back in the White House and America will be a free nation once again.”

Trump’s branded red-white-and-blue Boeing 757 circled the airfield over the heads of the crowd — to the strains of “Danger Zone” from “Top Gun” — minutes before he took the stage.

He stilled the crowd to listen to a version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” — as sung by jailed January 6 rioters — before striding to the podium.

The city of Waco expected about 15,000 people to attend the outdoor rally at the Waco Regional Airport.

Rocker Ted Nugent kicked off the event by shredding through a two-minute “fire-breathing” rendition of the national anthem on electric guitar.

“Well glory, glory hallelujah, look, it’s the real America!” Nugent shouted.

“You are the shit-kickers that drive the American dream,” Nugent told the crowd — before denouncing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky as “some homosexual weirdo” who is taking American taxpayers’ money.

Trump spent much of the day posting on Truth Social — where he boosted the “BIG CROWD IN TEXAS,” attacked “The Manhattan D.A. Witch Hunt against me,” and ripped President Joe Biden for his gaffes that make the US “a laughing stock all over the WORLD!”

Former President Trump spent much of the day posting on Truth Social boasting the “BIG CROWD IN TEXAS,” while attacking Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and President Joe Biden. AP

He also needled Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — his most formidable GOP rival, according to recent polls — by posting a manipulated photo that merged the governor’s face with the distinctive coif of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, implicitly tying DeSantis to the establishment wing of the Republican Party.

Many top Texas Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, steered clear of the event. Instead, Trump loyalists like Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene warmed up the crowd.

“This is Donald Trump’s party,” Gaetz declared, “and I’m a Donald Trump Republican.”

Waco expects about 15,000 people to attend the outdoor rally at Waco Regional Airport.AFP via Getty Images

The rally site is located 15 miles from the site of the Mount Carmel Center, the compound where 76 members of the Branch Davidian cult were burned to death after a 51-day FBI siege on April 19, 1993.

Trump’s visit came just three weeks shy of the 30th anniversary of the disaster that sparked anti-government rage — and led directly to the rise of the modern-day militia movement, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told the crowd it was “pure bullshit fake news” that Trump was visiting Waco “because of the anniversary of an event that happened 30 years ago.”

“I picked Waco,” Patrick declared, “because the president called me and said, ‘I want you to pick a great town.’”

Trump brushed off criticism that his choice of a rally site would stoke a dangerous flame.

“We’re going to have a great time in Waco,” he told Newsmax Friday.

“I won Texas by a lot, two times.”