Mary Trump slams Donald for leaving stranded supporters in the “desert”

Former President Donald Trump’s estranged niece, Mary Trump, has blasted her uncle for reportedly abandoning his supporters in the “desert” following a weekend rally in California’s Coachella Valley.

The former president’s rally on Saturday was held at an outdoor venue where temperatures soared to over 100 degrees. Despite the intense heat, thousands of passionate supporters braved the elements to hear Trump, the GOP’s presidential nominee, speak. During the rally, some supporters reportedly collapsed because of the stifling heat.

Several buses were provided to transport supporters to the rally location. However, after the rally, poorly organized transportation logistics and a lack of basic services left many attendees scrambling to find their way home, with many stranded miles from their cars, as reported by the Times of San Diego.

Videos posted to X, formerly Twitter, show a large number of people waiting in line after the rally. One, filmed from a bus departing the venue, has what appears to be a bus driver shouting to those waiting telling them that this is the last bus, with another passenger saying: “No more buses, they just got notice.”

A different video posted by an attendee shows the aftermath, describing it as “chaos,” with many facing the prospect of an estimated “two-hour walk” through the desert to get back to a parking lot.

In her Monday Substack blog post titled, “What Line Can’t Donald Cross?” Mary Trump, a vocal critic of her uncle, highlighted the incident as part of a broader pattern of what she perceives as the former president’s disregard for his Make America Great Again (MAGA) loyalists.

“During a rally in Coachella, California, at which he left the attendees stranded for hours in the desert, Donald lied about crowd size as he stood behind bullet-proof glass there to protect him but nobody in that crowd,” she wrote.

Newsweek has contacted Trump’s campaign via email on Monday for comment. The former president’s campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, has previously said Mary Trump suffers from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

Meanwhile, event organizers reportedly promised shuttle services, but the available buses were overwhelmed by the massive crowd size exiting the venue as Trump ended his speech.

A firsthand account from the rally site, shared on X and later deleted but preserved via screenshot, stated: “Apparently 60 [buses] employed for this event.” The same post added that “all buses have been called off,” and claimed that the CHP (California Highway Patrol) had instructed bus drivers to stop collecting attendees.

A representative from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office previously told Newsweek on Monday: “Regarding the logistics of the event, which include the shuttle buses, we will defer those questions to the campaign team as our department was not in charge of that aspect of the event.”

In her blog post, Mary Trump also criticized major news outlets for their lack of coverage of Donald Trump’s statements and behavior. She wrote that neither The New York Times nor The Washington Post had front-page stories about what she called “disqualifying behavior and language.”

Of particular concern to Mary Trump was her uncle’s use of offensive language during an event with wealthy donors. She noted that the former president referred to Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, by using a derogatory term, which she says major news outlets have largely overlooked.

“Use of the R-word outside of clinical settings has always been despicable, an awful slur meant to be harmful and demeaning,” she wrote.

The Times and other major news outlets reported on the fundraiser after his remarks went public.

Mary Trump later pointed out several controversial statements made by the former president during the California rally, including remarks about immigration and threats to withhold disaster aid from California.

She wrote, quoting her uncle: “‘We’re gonna take care of our farmers. We’re going to take care of your water situation, and we’ll force it down his throat and we’ll say [California Governor] Gavin [Newsom], if you don’t do it, we’re not giving you any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the fire forest fires that you have.'”

In response to the former president’s statement, Newsom took to X on Saturday night and wrote, “@realDonaldTrump shows us exactly who he is—threatening life saving disaster aid to achieve his political goals: ‘We’ll force it down his throat we’ll say Gavin if you don’t do it we’re not giving you any of that fire money we send you’ This man is sick.”