The candidate urged the audience to vote for him on Tuesday.
Thousands of people crowded a hangar at Hagerstown Regional Airport on Sunday afternoon to listen to Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump. The real estate mogul talked about leadership. “You need leadership at the top, and the top isn’t treating us right,” he said. “The top is allowing countries–China, Japan, many, many countries–to devalue their currencies which really makes it impossible for your companies to compete.”
Like many states, Maryland has lost manufacturing jobs which, in many cases, have been sent overseas. But Trump said he has a messages for those companies if he’s elected President. “I said ‘enjoy yourselves because every unit you make when it crosses the border–which will now be very strong–there will be a 35% tax on that unit,'” he said.
Trump also said he agrees with those who say that will increase the price of products that Americans buy. “But here’s the good news. We’re also going to have million of jobs. The product will be more expensive, maybe a little bit, maybe a lot. We’re going to have millions of more jobs. They never say that because we’re going to make the product here,” he said.
As it is at any Trump rally, there are always protesters. One was Lee Patterson, who drove up from Baltimore. “We cannot allow the roots and weeds of fascism to grow in this country,” he said. “We cannot allow this man to come into this state, and to allow folks to be mesmerized and to be hypnotized into fascism. It looks like Nuremburg out here.” Nuremburg, Germany is where Nazi War Crimes trials were held after World War II.
Cody, also from Baltimore, was there to protest. He said citizens should show their opposition to bigotry and hatred. “Completely ridiculous his comments toward Mexican and Mexican-Americans. I think it’s blatant baiting to trying to get people up into a hate frenzy. And I think the consequences of that is violence, and we’ve had that since his campaign started.
That comment was echoed by Andre Powell of Baltimore. “He began his campaign by bashing Muslims, saying stop Muslims from coming into the country. The United States has always been open to everybody, and that’s why the Statue of Liberty stands and has that quote ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’ Donald Trump does not represent the majority of Americans,” he said.
But one Trump supporter, Mica, who drove up from Frederick, doesn’t think Trump has said anything inflammatory. “I don’t he said anything controversial because I’ve watch every single one of his rallies from beginning to end instead of splices put together by the media. So I haven’t seen anything controversial,” she said.
During his rally on Sunday, Trump sounded anxious to take on Democrat Hillary Clinton. “I really want to fight Hillary, I really do. I want to fight her. I don’t know if she’ll be easier or harder, but that’s the one I want to beat.”
Mica believes that he will. “He would decimate her. She’s a liar. She’s a crook. I don’t think there’s anything good about Hillary,” she said.
As he closed out his rally, Trump encouraged everyone in the audience to vote for him on Primary Election Day on Tuesday, April 26th, and to bring some friends along to help. He said fellow GOP candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich don’t have much of chance of winning the nomination on the first ballot. “They only think that they hope is that we don’t get it on the first ballot,” he said. Referring to Cruz, he said “if a guy that’s losing by all those millions of votes wins, we’re going to have some people that are very, very angry.”
Trump said he wants to go to the convention with a mandate.
The Republican National Convention will be taking place from July 18th through the 21st in Cleveland, Ohio.