Donald Trump compared himself to the late president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, during a speech on the campaign trail.
Trump held a rally in Derry, New Hampshire, this week where he attacked President Joe Biden’s response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
In his speech, Trump mentioned his four indictments and defended his actions.
“We have a capital that if you go there, you get shot,” he stated. “With this in mind, there’s no way I can get a fair trial. You know, I’m supposed to be getting because Donald Trump challenged the election, so let’s put him in jail for the rest of his life.”
“They don’t go after the people that cheated,” he continued. “Those people are free. If you want to challenge the result of an election, they hound you. Look what happened this weekend with two good people. They hound them, and they scare them, and they — but we don’t get scared… I don’t mind being Nelson Mandela because I’m doing it for a reason.”
Trump later added that he was attempting to “save our country from these fascists, these lunatics” claiming that “they’re horrible people and they’re destroying our country.”
Mandela spent 27 years in prison protesting the country’s apartheid system, which separated whites from non-whites.
He later became president of South Africa and won a Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump is currently facing 91 criminal charges and has been indicted four times. He recently was also found liable for business fraud along with his eldest sons. A court is now hearing the case that will decide the extent of the damages against him, which could reach $250 million.
This is in stark contrast to a previous statement Trump has made after calling Mandela “no leader” in 2013.
Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, reported in his book that Trump said, “Mandela f—ed the whole country up. Now it’s a s—hole. F— Mandela. He was no leader.”
Trump recently fell off of the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans, leading him to lash out at the publication.
