Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump, at rally, touts first month
Speech is 2020 campaign event
Just three years, eight months and two weeks before the 2020 presidential election, President Donald Trump held his first official re-election rally Saturday in Melbourne.
Trump attacked judges and the media in defending the first four weeks of his administration, including his controversial travel ban from seven majority-Muslim countries, before an estimated crowd of 9,000 at the Orlando Melbourne International Airport.
“It’s now been one month since my inauguration, and I am here to tell you about my incredible progress in making America great again,” Trump said after being introduced by first lady Melania Trump, who opened with the Lord’s
Prayer.
Trump’s return to campaigning so soon after his swearing-in on Jan. 20 — the rally was paid for by his official re-election campaign, which he created the same day — was surprising, but for Trump it was about surrounding himself with a supportive crowd after a heated first month in Washington.
“I’m here because I want to be among my friends and among the people,” Trump said. “I want to be in a room with hardworking patriots who love their country, who salute their flag and pray for a better future.”
Trump arrived from what he calls the “Winter White House” in Palm Beach, his private club Mar-a-Lago, during his third straight weekend visit to Florida.
He also pulled up to the hangar in Air Force One, in full view of the crowd, despite attacking former President Barack Obama for using the plane during the 2016 campaign — and after the White House specifically said this week it would not be used as a “prop.”
Trump surprised the crowd — and his Secret Service protection — when he pulled Gene Huber of Boynton Beach on stage, saying he saw him on TV. After clambering on stage, Huber praised Trump — who in return said of Huber, “A star is born.”
Saturday’s crowd, however, was smaller than the one that attended the rally for the then-candidate in September, which drew 15,000.
The president once again called most media “fake news,” even quoting Thomas Jefferson and some his other predecessors in saying “Many of our greatest presidents often fought with the media and called them out on their lies.”
“I will never let them get away with it,” he said, the day after calling the media “the enemy of the American people. … I will do whatever I can.”
He also insisted “the White House is running so smoothly, so smoothly,” despite recent controversies such as the resignation of National Security Advisor Mike Flynn over his speaking to Russia before entering office.
Trump spoke about jobs, trade and reworking military contracts — he praised Lockheed Martin while claiming he caused the company to get into a “fight” with Boeing over one contract — but mostly stuck to promises about future actions, as he did during the campaign.
His most fervent defense of his actions in office was over his travel ban. He read the statute from the Immigration and Nationality Act that he said gave him authority to ban refugees, green-card holders and visa holders from seven countries from entering the U.S.
“I’ve taken decisive action to keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country,” he said to cheers. “The reason is for protection and safety … The statute is so plain and so clear.”
After criticizing the three 9th District federal court judges who ruled against him, he hinted that a new order was upcoming.
“We’ll be doing something over the next couple of days,” he said. “We don’t give up, we never give up. … We will do something next week, I think you’ll be impressed. We’ll see what happens.”
Trump also reiterated his call for a wall on the border with Mexico and a 35 percent tariff on American companies that shift work out of the U.S., an idea even many Republicans have questioned.
“In short, you want a government that keeps its promises,” Trump said. “Look at what’s happening to the stock market, look at what’s happening with every poll that looks at optimism in our country.”
Trump’s overall approval ratings after one month, however, were among the lowest for a new president in decades — reaching just 38 percent in a Gallup poll on Friday and 40 percent in a Pew Research poll Thursday. But the people who waited out in the warm February sun to see him, in comparison, were thrilled with his job so far.
“I think he’s amazing,” said volunteer Carolyn Cook of Orlando. “The speed in what he’s doing to fulfill what he said he was going to do is completely beyond belief. It’s like a super rocket.”
Colleen Skee of Stuart also loved that “he’s actually getting things done,” with Tom Robitaille of Melbourne adding that he liked Trump’s orders and decisions on “jobs, trade and immigration.”
“I haven’t been this happy in my 66 years,” Robitaille said.
“America’s voice is being heard again,” Skee said. “He speaks the truth. He doesn’t tell you something and go into office and not do anything. He does not lie.”
Pat Leroy of Jacksonville, meanwhile, was circumspect.
“If you’re thrown into a job you’ve never done before, in 30 days would you be proficient?” Leroy said. “The answer is no. But he’ll do what he has to do.”
People in line wore shirts ranging from simple ones with Trump’s name to ones with elaborate pictures of Trump on a naval gun or astride a city.
After weeks of anti-Trump protests around the country, a large group of protesters lined up outside the barriers across the street from the airport.