‘I don’t care about Trump’s sex life’
Cheating on Melania with a Playmate? It’ll take more than that to put off the Trumpettes in this key swing state...
FOR months he’s survived gaffes and allegations that would surely have destroyed the chances of any other candidate.
And now, even as his campaign is rocked by reports of his adulterous affair with a Playboy model, Donald Trump continues to defy political gravity. His supporters at an impassioned Republican rally in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania simply shrugged off any suggestion of scandal.
‘I don’t care about his sex life,’ said one committed Trumpette at an the event in Hershey. Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral college votes will be vital in reaching the crucial number of 270 needed to win the presidency.
Housewife Shirley Wentzel added: ‘Nothing about Mr Trump and who he has or hasn’t slept with is going to change my mind about him. He’s the only one who promises revolution in Washington. Hillary Clinton represents corrupt politics as usual.’
Hershey is famed for its chocolate and is called The Sweetest Place on Earth. And as Trump took to the stage there on Friday night, the cheers of his supporters echoed across the hall, holding out the prospect of a sweet victory for the Republican candidate.
A cocksure Trump was treated like a rock star by fans who, at the mention of Clinton’s name, chanted: ‘Lock her up! Lock her up!’
Perhaps you would expect Trump to attract fervent support in a state where white blue-collar workers in industry and farming have been hit hard by globalisation. But what was surprising was the mix of the crowd cheering him. Of the 10,000 sup- porters crammed into Hershey’s Giant Center (another 7,000 were left out in the autumn cold when the doors were closed), women seemed to make up roughly half the numbers – utterly confounding the notion that Trump had lost all female voters after he was branded a misogynist when tapes emerged of his sexist banter.
In fact Trump’s last-minute surge is now drawing support from a far broader crosssection of society than the traditional Republican white, male, middle-class base.
Leslie Brown, 42, a black mother of two said: ‘I voted for Obama last time but I don’t trust Hillary. She’s corrupt and lines her own pockets. Someone needs to shake things up and that person is Trump.’
And while three-times married Trump has been condemned for bragging about being rich and for making lewd sexist comments, his believers are unfazed.
Teacher Tracy Delfieth, who voted Democrat last time, said: ‘I’m not looking to date him – I’m looking for the best person to lead this country out of the mess we’re in.
‘He’s going to shake things up. All guys say dumb stuff. I like his stance on immigration.’
One of the loudest roars of the night came when Trump told the crowd: ‘I will end illegal immigration once and for all. What am I going to do?’
‘Build that wall!’ the crowd shouted back in unison.
Trump poked fun at Clinton’s rock star friends saying: ‘I didn’t have to bring Beyoncé or Jay Z. This is just me folks, no guitar, no piano… just great ideas for our country.’
Ex-marine Michael Fay, 63, said: ‘I’m a lifelong Democrat. I don’t like many things about Trump but I dislike Hillary even more. It’s time for a change in Washington.’
As Trump vowed to Make America Great Again, the crowd stomped its feet and chanted: ‘USA! USA!’
‘The silent majority have risen up,’ said housewife and mother of one Janie Jones. ‘We’re tired of politics as usual.’