Trump hails Ginni Thomas for standing firm on election integrity in face of Jan. 6 panel

Former President Donald Trump rallied his base Saturday night in Michigan to support the GOP election slate in the battleground state while hailing conservative activist Ginni Thomas for standing firm on her election integrity concerns in the face of House Democrats' Jan. 6 panel.

Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, testified before the panel earlier this week and stood by her actions after the last presidential contest, telling lawmakers she had "significant concerns about fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election," according to her lawyer Mark Paoletta. Democrats claim such concerns are debunked conspiracy theories.

Trump said Thomas showed courage during her testimony. “She didn’t wilt under pressure, like so many others that are weak people and stupid people. She said what she thought she said what she believed in," the former president told the crowd.

"Too many Republicans are weak and they're afraid, and they better get strong fast or you’re not going to have a Republican Party and you’re not going to have a country anymore," he added.

The 45th president said Democrats have criminalized political differences and mistreated Jan. 6 defendants. 

"The Biden administration is completely corrupt, jailing political opponents just like the Soviet Union, now Russia," he charged. "....The Biden administration has locked up dozens and dozens of political prisoners in horrific conditions — horrible horrible conditions in Washington."

As he does at every rally, Trump lambasted President Joe Biden's record and Democrats' relentless expansion of government power and spending.

"Now we’re talking communists. We don’t say socialists anymore because we’ve already skipped over socialism," he said, imploring Republicans to vote for their nominees in Michigan that including gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon.

"Six weeks from now, the people of Michigan are going to vote to fire your radical-left Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and you're going to send a very good person — a very, very good woman — Tudor Dixon to the governor's mansion," he told the crowd at Macomb Community College.

Trump said Biden had increased inflation, crime, illegal migration and instability in the world and the only viable course correction was to elect Republicans in the midterms.

"The choice in this election is simple: If you want the decline and fall of America, then vote for the radical-left Democrats, that's what's happening," he said. "We have a nation, as they say, in decline. If you want to stop the destruction of our country and save the American dream, you must vote Republican.

"Every freedom-loving American needs to understand, the time to stand up to this growing tyranny is right now," he added. "You don’t have time to waste.”

Trump also said he thinks Democrats want to put him behind bars, calling himself "their No. 1 target."

"I think they'd like to see me in prison," he said. "Can you imagine? I think that they'd like that, you know why? You know why? Because they're sick. They're sick people."