Former President Donald Trump on Saturday repeatedly went on bizarre tangents while delivering a eulogy for Lynette "Diamond" Hardaway.
Hardaway, one half of the right-wing duo "Diamond & Silk," passed away earlier this month. Hardaway and her sister, Rochelle "Silk" Richardson, were prominent Trump supporters who spoke at his rallies and met with him at the White House. Both sisters were also vocal anti-vaxxers who lost their show on the streaming service Fox Nation after spreading conspiracy theories.
The cause of Hardaway's death is unclear but Richardson on Saturday suggested that Americans are "being poisoned" in a plot to "depopulate."
"People are dropping dead around here, and nobody is talking about it! They are dropping dead suddenly and unexpectedly," she said, echoing an unfounded conspiracy theory that the COVID vaccine has been linked to a rise in sudden deaths.
Richardson in her remarks recalled how Trump treated her and Hardaway "just like the other children: Eric, Don Jr., Tiffany."
But Trump during his remarks said he "just learned" about Richardson despite hosting her at the White House and at his rallies.
"The world has lost one of its brightest stars," Trump said. "But I see that we have another star who was equal to, but she stepped up and she is different. I'm serious, I thought I knew them both, I didn't. I knew Diamond, but I didn't know Silk at all. I just learned about Silk. You're fantastic, you're going to carry on beyond, beyond anybody's wildest imaginations."
After Silk goes on and on about how much she loves Trump and all the great times they had together, Trump gets up and says this: “I knew Diamond, but I didn’t know Silk at all. I just learned about Silk. You’re fantastic.” pic.twitter.com/jgReN5hW5C
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) January 21, 2023
Trump during his eulogy repeatedly complained about the length of the funeral.
"They told me, just give me a little time. I've got a lot of people waiting for me back in a place called Palm Beach, Florida," he said. "They said give me a little time. What do you think it'll take? 'About 15 – 20 minutes, in and out.' I said 'Well it could take longer.' This is a little longer than 15 minutes, right?"
I can tell you one thing for sure, because he said it himself 5 times, Trump was definitely NOT expecting to sit through 3+ hours of hymns and stories at Diamond’s memorial service today: “They said about 15-20 minutes, in and out. This is a little longer than 15 minutes, right?” pic.twitter.com/IZgRioU3Iq
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) January 22, 2023
At another point in his speech, Trump went on a tangent to push his familiar and false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
"How do we stop the cheating? How do we stop it where you get more votes, but you still don't win?" he complained. "The answer is the Republicans have to get tougher, the top people have to get tougher, and you have to really swamp 'em."
Trump concludes his moving eulogy to Diamond by saying the 2020 election was stolen from him, and Republicans have to get a lot tougher so they can swamp the Democrats in 2024 so they can fix the country. pic.twitter.com/vJ3TE0PdNz
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) January 22, 2023
Conservative commentator Charlie Sykes marveled at how "rude" Trump appeared at the memorial services.
"Just beyond bizarre, beyond rude, beyond anything that anyone would see in normal, polite, let me say decent society, and this is a guy that a lot of people want to be the next president of the United States again, and so on brand for him, too," he said on MSNBC. "Look, this is what happens when you have a narcissistic sociopath give a homily at a funeral. It won't go well."
Richardson used her remarks at the funeral to imply, without citing any evidence, that vaccinated people are causing unvaccinated people to die.
"Instead of asking if Americans are vaxxed or unvaxxed, the real question to ask is: Are Americans being poisoned?" she said. "In the wild, when they want to depopulate and sterilize a large group of animals, they usually inject one animal, and that one animal infect the rest of the animals."
There is no evidence that COVID vaccines are causing people to die, much less people who were not even vaccinated. But that didn't stop Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., from citing Richardson's remarks to call for a federal investigation.
"I demand an IMMEDIATE investigation into Covid vaccines and the dramatic increase of people dying suddenly!" Greene tweeted. "This can no longer be ignored and is NOT political.."
I demand an IMMEDIATE investigation into Covid vaccines and the dramatic increase of people dying suddenly!
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) January 21, 2023
This can no longer be ignored and is NOT political. https://t.co/5vOfMFJ57c
