Donald Trump made his first campaign stop in the state of Washington on Saturday, speaking to a near capacity crowd at the Spokane Convention Center in Spokane, Washington. He is also holding one later on Saturday in Lynden, Washington.
Trump, who estimated that he had close to 10,000 supporters show up today, turned toward the general election in attacking Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
“We’re leading Hillary Clinton. It’s already happening,” Trump said, citing a recent Rasmussen poll. “Trump wins before Clinton,” he stated, referencing the primary, adding it’s because “she can’t put the deal away.”
“We can!” he proclaimed.
“I don’t think she’s going to do well in West Virginia in November,” Trump said of Hillary Clinton. “The miners endorsed me.”
He said she wants to have all miners fired, but then apologized for saying that. “Those apologies don’t work, because they know how you really feel,” Trump jabbed.
He blamed the Clintons for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which he says cost manufacturing jobs and closed factories in the U.S. NAFTA went into effect in 1994 while Bill Clinton was president.
Trump encouraged his supporters to go vote during the May 24th GOP primary. “Right now, we just about surpassed every presidential nominee, every presidential candidate, in the history of the Republican primaries. We have more votes, millions and millions of votes,” Trump said. “We still have quite a few left,” Trump said of the upcoming state primaries.
“We are going to take the state of Washington,” Trump charged, saying he will be visiting again.
“Illegal immigration costs Washington state $2.7 billion a year. We will build the wall, folks. We’re going to do it right,” Trump told the supporters. “You’ve received a large influx of refugees.”
“Good luck,” Trump stated, adding, “They have no paperwork, they have no documentation.”
“We should take care of them,” Trump said, suggesting working with countries to build safe zones for them over there. “Believe me, they’ll put up money,” Trump said of the other countries.
He pointed to what is happening with migration in Germany and Europe, adding, “We don’t need it…our country has enough problems right now.”
Trump took a few jabs at former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), his former competition for the GOP nomination, because they signed a pledge to support the nominee but have now said they won’t support Trump.
“When you sign a pledge, it’s supposed to mean something!” Trump exclaimed, suggesting they aren’t honorable for going back on their word.
According to Fox News, the Spokane Convention Center was near capacity and there was nearly 100 anti-Trump protesters outside the event.