President Donald Trump used several hot-button cultural issues to make a midterm election pitch to a key conservative group in Phoenix on Friday, a day he spent portraying as a possible turning point in the U.S. war with Iran. Trump had used a series of morning social media posts to suggest a long-term deal with Iran could be close hours before he spoke to a Turning Point USA audience at Dream City Church. Once onstage at the “Build the Red Wall”-themed event, the commander in chief sounded upbeat about the prospects for a deal with Iran — even as its leaders disputed his claims. “Who knows, with Iran in particular, this process should go very quickly and that most of the points are already negotiated and agreed to,” Trump said of ongoing talks being mediated by top Pakistani officials. “This will be a great and brilliant day for the world, because Iran has just announced that the Strait of Hormuz is fully open and ready for business.” Still, the commander in chief, referring to a crackdown on ships servicing Iranian ports, offered a caveat: “The naval blockade with the greatest Navy in the world from the greatest military the world has ever seen … will remain in full force and effect as it pertains to Iran until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100 percent complete and fully signed.” While Trump spoke, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, wrote on X that Trump had “made seven claims in one hour, all seven of which were false.”“With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open,” Ghalibaf wrote. Here are three takeaways from the Phoenix event as he tried to win them back. ‘Transgender mutilation’ Trump served up ample red meat for the conservative audience, which he at one point described as “a little bit out there.” Trump got loud cheers for lines about his anti-transgender, immigration, education and economic policies. “We banned the transgender mutilation of our children, and we made it the official policy of the United States of America that there are only two genders, male and female,” he said. “Could you imagine if I was up here 20 years ago or 15 years ago, probably 12 years ago, then I said, ‘There are only two genders, male and female.’ People would say, ‘What the hell's he saying that for? Is he crazy?’” the president said to laughter. “And we got ‘critical race theory’ out of our schools, and we abolished [diversity, equity, and inclusion] across the entire federal government, and we eliminated so-called Affirmative Action in federal contracting and university admissions,” he added. Trump said that agenda was at risk in November: “But we have to win the midterms and all of these things, it'll stay with us forever, but we don't win the midterms …” Trump began his remarks by focusing on Iran and the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire. Notably, two House Republicans who spoke before him focused on domestic matters. One was Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, who is seeking his party’s gubernatorial nomination to take on Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in November. Biggs called Trump the “greatest president,” and boasted about the day last year Trump called to endorse him. Hours earlier, Biggs was among a group of House Republicans who blocked Trump’s desired 18-month extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. “We are safer all because of President Trump coming in,” Biggs said, sporting an American Flag necktie. “We didn't need new laws. We just need someone to say, ‘We're going to enforce the laws.’ And as your governor, that's what I'm going to do.” ‘Spiritual war’ Trump kept up his public optimism about November’s elections, even as some analysts have predicted an uphill battle for Republicans. “I'm thrilled to be back in the great state of Arizona with the hard working, God-fearing patriots of Turning Point,” Trump said. “We're making America great again. And this November, we're going to win the midterms,” Trump said. “We're going to win, and we're going to win like never before.” Speaking before Trump, Arizona Rep. Eli Crane appealed to the crowd’s most religious members. “This is a cultural war. It's a political war, but in my opinion, most importantly, it is a spiritual war,” Crane said to applause. “Now, we've got some midterms coming up, and I'm going to tell you guys right now something you already know. Republicans are not the solution to all of your problems, but Democrats are pretty much the cause of all your problems. “We can beat these guys. … They're going to impeach the president on Day One. And so much of this agenda that's starting to get rolling and rolling and rolling, it's going to come to a grinding halt,” Crane said. Crane also stumped for Biggs’ gubernatorial run, calling it the “most important race coming up here in this state” and his House colleague “the best candidate for governor in the entire country.” Turning Point USA is popular among young right-leaning voters, many of whom have soured on the president over his heavy foreign policy focus and handling of an economy hamstrung by still-high prices. The latest Yale Youth Poll suggested why Trump and Republicans are still targeting young voters. “Although voters disapprove of Trump by large margins,” Yale analysts wrote in a poll summary, “Democrats lead the generic [midterms] ballot by just two percentage points overall.” ‘Nuclear dust’ On Iran, Trump described what would be a complicated and dangerous operation to extract Iran’s remaining nuclear materials left deeply buried by last year’s U.S. bomber strikes. “The USA will get all ‘nuclear dust.’ You know, the nuclear dust is what was, that white powdery substance created by our B-2 bombers, those great B-2 bombers, late one evening, seven months ago,” he said. “No money will exchange hands in any way.” Trump did not explain if he planned to use the U.S. military or a private extraction company to do that work, nor how he would keep them safe. “We're going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators,” he said. President Trump arrives for remarks at a Turning Point USA event at the Dream City Church on Friday in Phoenix. The event was titled “Build the Red Wall” and intended to turn out young voters in November's midterm elections. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) From his hotel just off the Las Vegas Strip, Trump fired a barrage of Friday morning social media posts declaring the Strait of Hormuz “completely open” to oil tankers and other shipping vessels. He also said a permanent deal to end the 48-day military and economic conflict “should go very quickly,” while warning Tehran that he would order U.S. Navy ships to continue blocking access to its ports “until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100% complete.” Nevada Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, on a Thursday call with reporters, blamed rising prices on Trump’s conflict with Iran and his global import fees. “So if it's lobsters or flowers or other kinds of food products in grocery stores, that cost goes up, too, because of the shipping costs that are tied to the price of diesel, primarily. So you look at the tariffs, the uncertainty for businesses, how they impact the cost of housing,” she said. “Gas prices have gone up as a result of the war. … You can see how the current policy of this administration, that he's going to try to brag about, has made a huge difference in making it tougher, more expensive just for people to get by.”
