Your support helps us to tell the story
After his chaotic performance in Tuesday’s election debate with Kamala Harris, Donald Trump is now preparing for a rally in Tucson, Arizona something that has angered local music icon Linda Ronstadt, who has branded the ex-president a “rapist”.
Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, 78-year-old Ronstadt lamented the fact that Trump was heading to her hometown and that his rally would be held in the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, which was named in her honour in 2022.
In a scathing post, Ronstadt wrote: “Donald Trump is holding a rally on Thursday in a rented hall in my hometown, Tucson. I would prefer to ignore that sad fact. But since the building has my name on it, I need to say something. It saddens me to see the former President bring his hate show to Tucson, a town with deep Mexican-American roots and a joyful, tolerant spirit.”
She went on to say that she didn’t just “deplore his toxic politics, his hatred of women, immigrants and people of colour, his criminality, dishonesty and ignorance” but his treatment of migrant families across the southern border was a “humanitarian catastrophe that Physicians for Human Rights said met the criteria for torture”.
Ronstadt added: “There is no forgiving or forgetting the heartbreak he caused. Trump first ran for President warning about rapists coming in from Mexico. I’m worried about keeping the rapist out of the White House.”
In May 2023 a jury in New York found Trump liable for the sexual abuse of writer E Jean Carroll. Ms Carroll, 80, sued the former president for raping her in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman in New York in 1996, and then “destroying” her reputation when he claimed she was lying.
In August 2023, Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in a public order that Mr Trump hadn’t proven that Ms Carroll’s statements on CNN, the day after a civil trial jury found that the ex-president had sexually abused Ms Carroll and subsequently defamed her, were false or “not at least substantially true”.
Trump insists that he has never met Carroll and has labelled her a liar, claims that landed him a second defamation lawsuit, which he lost earlier this year. A separate jury awarded Carroll more than $83 million.
Ronstadt concluded her post by also taking a swipe at JD Vance and his controversial comments about “childless cat ladies” which have sparked backlash from the likes of Jennifer Aniston.
The singer wrote: “I raised two adopted children in Tucson as a single mom. They are both grown and living in their own houses. I live with a cat. Am I half a childless cat lady because I’m unmarried and didn’t give birth to my kids? Call me what you want, but this cat lady will be voting proudly in November for @kamalaharris and @timwalz.”
After Tuesday’s debate, Taylor Swift officially endorsed Harris for president in an Instagram post which she signed off as: “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady.”
Trump’s campaign has been contacted for comment.
