Trump defends trade, migrant policies
Uses rally in Minnesota for airing of grievances
DULUTH, Minn. — Hours after reversing himself to end the forced separations of migrant families, President Donald Trump returned to the warm embrace of his supporters at a rally Wednesday to fiercely defend his hard-line immigration policies while unleashing a torrent of grievances about the media and those investigating him.
Trump downplayed the crisis that has threatened to envelop the White House.
“We’re going to keep families together, and the border is going to be just as tough as it’s been,” Trump told the cheering crowd in Duluth.
The president then launched into a denunciation of his political opponents and those who make unauthorized border crossings, suggesting the money used to care for those immigrants could be better spent on the nation’s rural communities and inner cities.
“Democrats put illegal immigrants before they put American citizens. What the hell is going on?” roared Trump, prompting the crowd to chant, “Build the wall!”
Trump fumed over what he deemed “dishonest” coverage of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He raved about the roaring economy and his tough new tariffs meant to create fair trade. And he suggested that a recent Department of Justice watchdog report into the FBI’S handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe proved his innocence in the special counsel’s Russia investigation while covering up Clinton’s guilt.
“Have you been seeing this whole scam? Do you believe what you’re seeing — how that no matter what she did, no matter how many crimes she committed, which were numerous, they wanted her to be innocent,” Trump said. “But with me, nothing. No collusion, no nothing. They wanted to put us in trouble.”
The crowd responded with a “Lock her up!” chant. Trump simply shook his head.
The campaign rally in Duluth was Trump’s first in a blue state since taking office. He narrowly lost Minnesota in 2016. And with the industrial and upper Midwest looming large for Trump’s re-election hopes, the president vowed to spend more time there before 2020.
Trump was in Minnesota to back Pete Stauber, a Republican congressional candidate running in a traditionally Democratic district. Home of the Iron Range, Minnesota is important ground for Trump as a place where his new tariffs on foreign steel could play especially well.
While economists wince and farmers brace for blowback, the crowd cheered when tariffs were mentioned Wednesday.
Trump also held a small roundtable with representatives from the mining industry and local leaders before the rally.