WILMINGTON — With Election Day fast approaching, Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump landed Friday afternoon at the Wilmington Air Park and spoke 50 minutes to thousands of supporters from Ohio, an electoral college swing state.
The crowd gathered in an Airborne Maintenance & Engineering Services (AMES) hangar, where a wide hangar door facing a taxiway was opened so people could see Trump step off his plane parked in full view for a backdrop.
Trump’s talk was more than twice as long as the one he gave when he spoke Sept. 1 at the Roberts Centre, the first of his two campaign rallies in Clinton County during the 2016 general election campaign.
The first thing he mentioned Friday were recent polls which he said show him going like a “rocket ship.” He then moved on to premium hikes under Obamacare and the email controversy involving his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, whom he called “crooked Hillary.”
Later, he turned to his theme of losing manufacturing jobs to foreign countries such as Mexico and China. Trump received big applause when he said “at the core of my contract is my plan to bring back our jobs.”
He listed examples from Ohio of jobs moving to other countries, including General Motors in Moraine, Delphi in Dayton, and the loss of 350-plus jobs in Troy.
In a Trump administration, there would be consequences to relocating jobs from the United States to a foreign country, he said. He specified that there would be a 35 percent tax on that company’s products to come into the United States. That prospect would keep companies from moving operations elsewhere, he said.
Trump promised to rebuild America’s inner cities, and to “protect those [the police] who protect us.”
Twice during his speech, the crowd began chanting “U.S.A., U.S.A.”
Of the ISIS group, Trump declared, “She [Clinton] has a zero chance of getting rid of ISIS. I have a 100 percent chance.”
The existing immigration policy in the United States is responsible, said Trump, for many American deaths.
There was loud applause when he said, “When we win, you will finally have a government on your side fighting for your community and protecting your family.”
Saying it is a new number, Trump said $6 trillion had been spent on wars in the Middle East “that we never win, they go on forever.”
He concluded his talk, “Together we are going to make America wealthy again. We will make America so very strong again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again.”
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.