Trump visit rallies supporters with familiar 2016 campaign-era themes
President Donald Trump speaks Monday evening to a house packed with supporters at Freedom Hall. The president’s topics stayed close to the main themes of his presidential campaign.
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Monday, March 20, 2017 — President Donald Trump marched triumphantly into Louisville’s Freedom Hall Monday night amid thousands of sign-waving enthusiastic supporters cheering him on as if he were still running for office.
The atmosphere of the event was more campaign rally than policy presentation. The president hit on most of his 2016 campaign themes, prompting tremendous applause and chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!”
And also — as expected –Trump took several shots at the news media, drawing cat calls and loud booing from the audience.
Trump’s visit to Louisville brought his supporters and critics to the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center. There were no shortage of protests outside Freedom Hall. They lined Phillips Lane and extended along the entrance to Gate 1 and up to Circle of Champions drive. The area was a sea of signs, flags and banners highlighting a multitude of causes — gay rights, the environment, the Affordable Care Act and a numerous others.
Inside the event, several protesters were quietly and quickly removed from the hall when they protested during the president’s speech. The president never stopped talking and made no mention of them. After the event, some of the protesters moved to an area close to the front of Freedom Hall to loudly chant anti-Trump slogans. Those leaving the event were directed to exit out another direction behind where police were containing the protests.
The president seemed unfazed by the protests; he seemed to bask in the enthusiasm of the crowd, which loudly applauded and cheered as his speech transitioned from one topic to the next.
While the theme of the president’s visit was to build support for a Republican plan to replace Obamacare, healthcare was just one of the issues that the crowd responded to with loud applause.
Trump called Obamacare “a complete disaster,” that he said was “one broken promise after another.”
The president said he looks forward to working with U.S. Senator Rand Paul on healthcare. Paul has been critical of Republican plans to replace Obamacare and said recently he could not support the existing legislation.
The president also expressed his appreciation for U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and U.S. Rep. Jamie Comer for their support of the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.
He also told the crowd that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is going to help that effort, calling him one of the most powerful men in Washington and “he’s on our side.”
The president’s remarks followed the loud boos directed at McConnell when he spoke earlier before the same crowd.
Trump said that changes to the healthcare law must be completed before he and Congress tackle tax reform.
IMMIGRATION. On immigration, Trump said his administration has already taken action to expel illegal immigrants who are criminals. “One by one, they’re being tracked down and thrown the hell out of our country,” he said to chants of “USA! USA! USA!”
The administration’s efforts have reduced illegal immigration by 61 percent, which helps stop the flow of drugs into the country across its southern border, he said.
A Trump supporter is interviewed by a TV station reporter as the event was winding down.
TRADE. The president said he would renegotiate trade deals like NAFTA so they are more fair to U.S. interests. Trump said trade deals like NAFTA were responsible for the loss one-third of U.S. manufacturing jobs.
Under his administration, Trump said U.S. industry “will be revitalized and our dying factories will come roaring back to life.”
The president’s message of building a stronger country with a better funded military and strong, nationalist economy resonated with the supporters filling the 18,700-seat arena.
COAL. The president said his new Environmental Protection Agency would no longer be a “job-killer” but a “job creator” instead. Coal miners will go back to work in Kentucky, he said.
OTHER INITIATIVES. The president promised to substantially boost funding for the nation’s military so it can upgrade its equipment and help achieve what he called “peace through strength.”
He promised that the Veterans Administration would provide better care to the nation’s veterans, and his administration would also support law enforcement funding to fight crime.
Ending his comments with a nationalist appeal, the president promised supporters there are better times ahead for the U.S. fueled in part by “a new national pride that’s swelling our hearts and stirring our souls.
“Just imagine what we could accomplish together if we stand as a united America.”
As the president left the Freedom Hall stage, the choice of exit music for the president following this speech is worth noting, if only for its potential irony: “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” by the Rolling Stones.
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