Trump steps up fascistic appeals at Arizona rally Ex-President Donald Trump brought his “big lie” tour to Arizona Saturday afternoon, with a fascistic address to a crowd of 5,000 people at the Arizona Federal Theatre in downtown Phoenix. The event was called the “Protect Our Elections Rally,” an Orwellian turn of phrase for a speech in which Trump spent the bulk of an hour and three-quarters denouncing the 2020 election and seeking to overturn it. The appearance, the latest in a series of such events over the summer, was notable for an escalation of the anti-communist hysteria from the former president. At least half a dozen times, Trump denounced both the Democratic Party and President Joe Biden—right-wing representatives of Wall Street and American imperialism—as “communists.”