Trump: ‘The Silent Majority is Back and We’re Going to Take the Country Back’

From Phllip Rucker and Robert Costa writing at The Washington Post: 

PHOENIX — GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, whose caustic comments about Mexican immigrants have inflamed the immigration debate, told thousands of cheering supporters here Saturday that “we have to take back the heart of our country.”

“These are people that shouldn’t be in our country,” he said in a rambling, angry speech. “They flow in like water.” A man shouted from the crowd, “Build a wall!”

Basking in polls that show he is near the front of the crowded Republican field, Trump took obvious glee in mocking former Florida governor Jeb Bush, the establishment favorite who is setting fundraising records.

“How can I be tied with this guy?” Trump asked the crowd. “He’s terrible. He’s weak on immigration.”

The campaign said about 4,200 people gathered to hear Trump at the Phoenix Convention Center. As he railed against Spanish-language broadcaster Univision on stage, a handful of protesters in the crowd interrupted. Trump’s security guards arrived to break up the skirmish that broke out. His supporters screamed “USA! USA! USA!” in the protesters’ faces as the guards escorted them of the convention hall.

“I wonder if the Mexican government sent them over here,” Trump said from the stage. He assured the crowd, “Don’t worry, we’ll take our country back.”

Bush, immigrants and the Mexican government weren’t the only targets of Trump’s scorn: He also criticized Macy’s, NBC, Caroline Kennedy and, more than once, the press.

Trump walked off stage to Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”

“The silent majority is back and we’re going to take the country back,” he said as he exited.

Read the full story at The Washington Post.