Posted on 09/16/2015 12:53:15 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
His appeal was on full display as GOP rivals prepare debate assault.
LOS ANGELES — Master showman and Republican poll leader Donald Trump strode across a stage aboard a retired battleship on Tuesday night, reveling in the cheers and chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump!”
“I am with the veterans 100 percent,” Trump declared when he took the podium on the USS Iowa, having just been endorsed by the group hosting the event, Veterans for a Strong America.
Dubbed “the battleship of the presidents” for having hosted Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, the Iowa offered a useful backdrop for Trump, who appears eager to project a more presidential bearing as the campaign shifts to fall. Though clearly he’s uninterested in ditching the bluster that’s propelled him thus far.
His remarks were trademark Trump and over the course of 13 minutes, he hit the usual talking points. The people now running the country? “The stupidest people,” in Trump’s phrasing. The people he’ll hire? “I have the smartest people lined up,” he said. The other Republican candidates he’ll spar with Wednesday night? “Nice people.”
He rendered the problems facing the country — and his own solutions — in the broadest of brushstrokes. Lamenting long wait times veterans have encountered at VA hospitals, for example, he promised that care will improve if he’s elected president next year.
“We’re going to create a whole new system and if they’re not doing the job, the veterans are going to go to private hospitals; and you’re going to get the greatest service of any veterans in any country because you deserve it,” said Trump, before linking the issue of importance to his audience with the one that has defined his campaign.
“Right now, we have illegal immigrants who are treated better,” he said, drawing loud cheers from the crowd.
The simplicity of Trump’s language and his approach to the campaign, mocked by many in the political class, are clearly part of his appeal. And on the eve of the second GOP presidential debate, Trump remains the leader in the race for the Republican nomination due in great part to the populist nationalism he has awakened with his no holds barred, stream-of-consciousness oratory.
Indeed, what's clear from this rally is that however much the other Republican contenders come after him on Wednesday night, Trump has popular support that won't be dented by well-executed debate zingers.
Jack Arends, the Iraq War veteran and founder of Veterans for a Strong America, introduced Trump by blaming the country’s persistent problems on “professional politicians” who lack courage and then giving Trump the group’s official endorsement.
“I want a president that has one tenth of the same amount of courage that our men and women showed on the battlefield,” said Arends. “We don’t normally take sides, but 2016 is too important to not take a stand.”
Earlier this summer, Trump appeared to have alienated veterans when he dismissed John McCain’s service and questioned whether he was a hero because he was taken prisoner. But those veterans who came to hear Trump Tuesday night like his trademark bravado, although they called it something else.
“I have a lot of respect for John McCain but I can let that slide by,” said Bill Cook, a retired Marine Corps veteran who drove to hear Trump from Mission Viejo. “Who else is speaking like this? Who else is telling it like it is. I’m a Marine and we kind of respect balls.”
Jack Stitzen, 91, was one of the few veterans in the crowd Tuesday who served in World War II. For him, Trump’s message evokes nostalgia and hope.
“I fought for our country in 1945, but we lost our country now,” he said. “We need somebody to bring it back.”
Looking back at the arc of his campaign to date, Trump noted that he “took a great hit” when he first spoke during his campaign announcement speech in June about the undocumented immigrants streaming into the U.S. from Mexico. Now as the campaign moves closer to primary season, Trump took credit for steering the broader debate toward the issue of illegal immigration.
“You have found out what illegal immigration is all about and I am so happy that I brought it to the fore,” he said.
“There’s tremendous crime, tremendous drugs pouring across the border. The drugs pour in, the money pours out…it’s not a good deal.”
The crowd cheered when Trump promised he would build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. They cheered louder when he promised that Mexico would pay for it. Trump scoffed at critics who’ve dismissed that promise, to force a major trading partner and ally to build a $20 billion wall, as unrealistic.
“They don’t know,” he said. “They haven’t read The Art of the Deal.”
When the cheers subsided, shouts from a large group of protestors positioned behind a fence on the other side of a parking lot several hundred feet away could be heard atop the deck.
One refrain, shouted loudly by protesters, came through clearly: “Trump’s a racist.”
But to many who gathered on the deck for the event, he’s saying the things they want to hear.
“I trust him. He’s the first politician I’ve trusted for many years,” said Dottie Stitzen, 82, from Huntington Beach. “He’s a negotiator. He gets things done.”
Well the first adjective is “master showman”. Almost a backhanded compliment.
Money line of the speech. Tragically true and undeniable. He should use it in the speech tonight.
No one else speaks with such a sense of urgency. Trumps sense of urgency is appropriate and missing from the other candidates.
Need to see “Democrats for Trump” blue collar types and we’ll tell the fat lady to start warming up.
He’s hitting all the right notes. Awful lot of regular types have sat it out because they don’t like what they are hearing the last couple of cycles.
Funny thing is, the GOP purports to stand for market-based economics; here’s a guy who has lived and died by the rules of the jungle for several decades...and the GOPe can’t put enough space between themselves and him.
He’s rough around the edges, but he certainly has my attention. DC could use a shot of testosterone.
I posted this earlier on another thread:
I attended the USS Iowa event last night. It was a very patriotic gathering with a lot of veterans in the audience. There were also a lot of enthusiastic young people. One thing that stood out for me is that all the attendees were of the happy and optimistic type that love this country and what it represents. I believe Trump’s popularity stems from the fact these people feel someone is finally standing up for many of the things they believe and will fight hard for them and not give a damn about the consequences. In any event, everyone there had a great time. Of course I can’t say the same for the 200 or so protestors. They were not the happy type.
Cheers!
Cruz has been speaking with urgency since he arrived inDC, but he has been treated with scorn. What Trump has is 30 years of experience of dealing with the media. He knows how to break through that wall they throw up to keep contrary messages from being heard. As in the case of the Planned Parenthood Videos. Trump could win me by speaking to this issue. But I doubt he will. He does not dare.
His speech was a success, and he made MSM mad because they were looking for a detailed foreign policy speech.
Not the right venue so shame on MSM. Hurray for Trump he made them cover his speech anyway ha ha.
This guy doesn’t even want to be president.....he just loves being the center of attention. If the pubbies are idiotic enough to nominate a man more democrat than republican, they deserve to lose.....one again snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
It’s not hard to win anyone over if you promise them the moon.
Who is your candidate?
Ally?
What has McConnell or Boner done what you consider to be Republican?
Hi Onxy-ie!
If we do not nominate him, we definitely will lose. Is that what you want?
Only Trump can save us--is that it?
Ironically, it would do the pro-choice sided much good to cut loose from Planned Parenthood. We see how they hold to the most extreme positions.
Cruz-Fiorina would spank Hillary
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.