Donald Trump Draws Large Crowd To Campaign Stop

Business man and Presidential Candidate Donald Trump addressed an overflowing George Daily Auditorium on Saturday. (photo by Oskaloosa News)

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The race for the White House begins in Iowa and, often times, Oskaloosa plays a role for candidates along the way.

Donald Trump is leading in most national polls in a crowded Republican field. Saturday had Trump landing squarely in the middle of a well choreographed campaign stop. Food and an overflowing and excited crowd welcomed him to George Daily Auditorium.

Next door, at the Oskaloosa Middle School, nearly 500 persons watched from closed circuit TV screens. A simple RSVP, from those interested, got them a catered lunch from Hy-Vee.

Trump’s last visit to the state was one that many called his Howard Dean moment. During that last trip, Trump was not pleased with Sen. John McCain calling his supporters ‘Crazies’, so he fired off at the Arizona Senator over his record of being a war hero.

In Oskaloosa, that controversy was all but lost in the volume of voices as Trump made his way down the left side of the auditorium and onto the stage.

Trump thanked the nearly 1200 on hand for attending, while at the same time taking a jab at the Des Moines Register and its editorial board. Trump mentioned the overflow room at the nearby middle school and the remaining supporters that remained outside of George Daily. “Actually, the Des Moines Register is standing outside too,” Trump joked.

In the press event after his speech, Trump said that he did not deny the Des Moines Register entry, they could get a ticket to the event like any other individual, they just weren’t credentialed as media for the day. Trump called the Des Moines Register, “a super liberal rage, not respected around here.”

In Oskaloosa, the comments and opinions about Trump and the Des Moines Register spat weren’t difficult to find, as people took to social media to express their thoughts. The question most often raised is why a news source would be doing that, versus reporting the news in an unbiased fashion.

Reporters, in the news conference afterwards, asked Trump if he would ban reporters from the White House Press Corps if elected President. “No, not at all. I just don’t respect the Register,” said Trump. “Because every story they write is wrong. In my opinion, purposely wrong. They could be here. I didn’t ban them. I just didn’t give them credentials.”

Trump said to a member of the press corps during his press event that, “When they start writing accurately, like you sometimes do,” the Register would once again be welcome at his events.

Trump took aim at Wisconsin Governor and Republican candidate for President Scott Walker. Walker has been strong in Iowa since his announcement, riding the wave of excitement many new candidates have.

“Something happened today that was not nice,” said Trump of Walker. “Oh, finally I can attack,” sparred Trump. “So I hear the only one beating me in Iowa is Scott Walker.

“Wisconsin’s doing terribly,” Trump said. “First of all, it’s in turmoil. The roads are a disaster because they don’t have any money to rebuild them. They’re borrowing money like crazy. They projected a 1 billion dollar surplus,” but Trump says that Wisconsin now has a deficit of 2.2 billion dollars.

Trump said that both education and health care in Wisconsin are “a disaster” and that “he [Scott] was totally in favor of Common Core.”

Common Core is a directive by the Department of Education in an attempt to standardize education around the nation. The program has drawn strong criticism from the Republican camp during this election cycle. “Scott Walker changed [his stance] when he seen he was getting creamed, so he changed,” Trump said of Walker. “He was strongly in favor of Common Core.”

When it comes to Hillary Clinton, Trump says that her actions with emails and potentially sending secret information via a person email server,  “are very criminal and very serious.” He hopes that the prosecutors are honorable when investigating Clinton’s involvement.

Trump also worked on cleaning up some of his commentary from earlier campaign stops. He said that Hispanics are “incredible people” and called Mexico’s leadership better than the United States leadership. “Mexico as a country I respect.”

With several campaign placards, ‘Veterans For Trump’, floating around the auditorium, the billionaire addressed veterans. Trump said that he worked with and helped to fund the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, “because they were never treated properly.”

“I’ve been fighting hard for the vets because the vets are being treated like third class citizens in this country,” said Trump. “They’re our best.”

Trump held up a sizable stack of letters he claimed to be from veterans saying what a disaster the Veterans Administration is. “It is the most corrupt group of people in all of Washington.”

When completed at George Daily Auditorium, Trump left the stage and headed the few short steps to the Oskaloosa Middle School, where an additional 500 people were watching on closed circuit TV. There he talked for an additional 10 minutes, eventually signing a few autographs before ending his day back inside George Daily Auditorium with the press corps.

Chad Ford, an area resident commented after the event, “He can’t be bought and he’s not intimidated by main stream media. Enough said. Go Trump Go.”

Donna Bergstrom-Settimi, also from Oskaloosa, said, “Trump says what others are thinking and are afraid to say. He has a plan to get this Country back on track and he clearly stated that today! I heard no excuses today, just cold hard facts about where he stands and what he plans to do to.”

Jessica Myers Van Leuven added, “My husband took our kids cause I had to work. He was able to keep their attention the entire time. When I asked my youngest what he learned, the first thing that came out of his mouth was, ‘We are dumb and China is smart.’ I’ve often wondered myself why that is. If our kids can hear it, see it, and believe it then why can’t our leaders?”

Not all from Oskaloosa were as supportive. Randy Spoelstra commented, “He’s a blowhard that says what he thinks will make the biggest headlines, but doesn’t actually have any viable solutions.” Lisa Payne-Dickinson stated, “Can’t wait to hear a realistic answer from him.”

You can watch his speech in its entirety below.