APPLETON, Wisconsin — Donald Trump battled the Establishment’s dirty delegate tricks in front of a packed ballroom of about a thousand people in Appleton Wednesday.
With less than a week to go until the Wisconsin primary, Trump came out swinging — against Ted Cruz, against the Establishment lining up behind Cruz in order to keep Trump below 1,237 delegates so they can broker it in Cleveland, and against Cruz’s supporter Governor Scott Walker.
“The Establishment is trying to take it all away from us, folks. They’re trying so hard,” he said, noting the fact that he won Louisiana but still ended up with less delegates there than Cruz. The crowd booed.
“You tell me. This is a straight system folks? It’s terrible. It’s terrible.”
The line of spectators stretched out the door of the Radisson hotel for blocks along Appleton’s main strip, with rejected overflow crowd members pouring into a nearby bar, toting their ‘Make America Great Again’ hats and T-shirts. Trump trails Cruz by a point in the polls, but he says “I think we have a good chance.”
“Cruz doesn’t have it. He will never be good at what he does,” Trump railed. “He lies so much. It’s really disgraceful, folks. He doesn’t have the temperament to be president. He doesn’t have the talent to be president. There would be turmoil all over the place.”
“I’m a better person than these people I’m running against, believe me.”
Trump focused on his main selling point in the Midwest: Bad trade deals negotiated on America’s behalf by globalists, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Cruz helped to pass.
“You think NAFTA was bad? TPP is worse. Jobs are going to be drained out of Wisconsin,” Trump said.
“We spend money on everybody but ourselves. We take care of everybody but ourselves. They’re draining it out of Wisconsin” he said. He threatened to cite Wisconsin budget statistics but hesitated. The pro-Trump crowd, always painted by the press as low-information voters, cried out for stats.
“Total state debt, $45 billion. A lot of money was borrowed so he could keep taxes down so he could run for president. Now he’s endorsing a guy who doesn’t have a chance,” Trump said of Walker.
“When I see Scott Walker with his little motorcycle,” Trump said to laughs. “He gets off the bike like he’s a real tough guy.”
“Bikers love Trump,” he added.
As for the terrorists who could potentially come into our country as Syrian refugees, Trump was dire.
“We’re being infiltrated. It’s going to happen. Just like I was right about Brussels, like I was right about Osama bin Laden.”
Young male police officers lined the perimeter of the room, listening intently to Mr. Trump’s words.
Outside, a line of young progressive protesters chanting “Equal Rights” was drowned out by the enthusiasm of the Trump supporters (“It’s going to be all burnouts outside,” said one young man to another on their way out of the Trump rally).
Young guys drove the street yelling, “Go out and vote” out of car windows. Young, middle-aged, and elderly women and men alike whooped or cheered and went on to patronize local restaurants and businesses.
It was like a catharsis. The street was practically shut down.
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