Report on Donald Trump rally in Atlanta on
2/21/16.
I attended the Trump rally in Atlanta, not as a supporter, but as a concerned American. I am concerned about the rise of Trump, about his negative message, and that he has so many supporters. From what I had heard in the media, his message borders on fascism, or the American equivalent. I had to see for myself if that portrayal was accurate. That being said, I am attempting to give an objective portrayal of his rally, his message, and the points he covered. I will let his message speak for itself. But do I have an agenda here? Damn right I do.
The Media
He accused the Wall Street Journal of publishing phony polls on their front page.
He remarked on “our dishonest press,” pointing toward the press box, and the audience booed the reporters.
Later, he again accused the press of being dishonest, and “terrible terrible human beings.”
Elections
He spoke of his victory in S.C.
He claimed to have actually won Iowa, but “they didn’t give (Trump) credit.”
Immigration
Illegal immigrants are “treated better than our veterans.”
“Illegal immigration is a disaster for our country.”
He denounced the Omnibus budget deal, in part because it allows in Syrian refugees. The audience boos the refugees being allowed in.
“We’re going to build a wall (on the Mexican border).” “Mexico’s paying for the wall.” He ridiculed the former Mexican President, who had denounced this idea. “The wall just got 10 feet taller.” At that, the crowd chanted “USA, USA…”
He compared his wall with the Great Wall of China. “Walls work.” It’s going to be a “beautiful wall.”
“You’re damn right we’re going to stop people from crossing the border.”
He brings up the case of the lady in SF who was murdered by an illegal immigrant.
We will set up “safe zones” in Syria for the refugees so they stay over there, and we’ll do it at the expense of the Persian Gulf states.
Making Deals, Foreign Trade, Foreign Relations
“We should approve the Keystone pipeline, but America should get a piece of the action.”
“We can’t negotiate trade deals,” or any other deals. The Iran deal “is so bad.” Trump is going to make better deals, great deals for America.
“Persians” are great negotiators, speaking of the Iranians. Trump thinks we should have insisted on the release of all American prisoners as part of the Iran deal.
“I’m not angry at China for ripping us off. I’m angry at (our leaders) for allowing us to be ripped off.”
“I want to start making IPhones (etc) over here, not in China.” He accuses China of being currency manipulators, “grand chessmasters” of manipulation.
He’s going to put a 35% tariff on imported goods. Commentary: This is a big scoop and should be widely covered by the media, but it isn’t because it doesn’t involve Trump insulting someone. It is unclear from the context if he only wants this tariff to apply to companies that recently moved their manufacturing out of the country. However, such a scheme could be problematic under equal-protection. He may in fact mean all imported goods.
“We don’t have free trade” because other countries charge us tariffs, but we don’t do likewise. Commentary: I’d be surprised if it were that simple. Part of these trade deals is that our goods are not charged tariffs on importation into other countries.
“There has never been a greater theft, than what China has taken out of this country.”
Defense
“We protect Japan…Germany (etc)” with our military. “Why do we protect people who compete with us” economically?
“I didn’t want to go into the Iraq war, (it) was a disaster.”
He’s going to build up the military so “no one will mess with us”.
“We are gonna knock the hell out of ISIS.”
Education
Trump will get rid of Common Core.
Guns
He brings up the Paris attacks, and if people there “had guns on their waists” then it wouldn’t have been so bad.
Health Care
He states that the govt doesn’t negotiate drug prices for Medicare, and they should. Commentary: It’s interesting because this is a traditionally Democratic position.
General
“The country is going to hell.”
He mentioned Nikki Haley the SC Governor (R), “a nice woman”, and the audience booed her. He discussed how she called Trump supporters “angry”.
“We’ve been sold down the river.”
“Nothing’s good, nothing.”
“The American dream is dead,” but Trump is going to bring it back and “make it so much better.”
“We’re not respected anywhere.”
Other Observations
On entry, we went through metal detectors and were wanded by TSA officers. I did not see any protesters outside. In addition to copious Atlanta police, there were GBI and Secret Service agents there. We were told that protesters would be removed, and that there was an approved protest area outside. We were told not to touch or harm a protester we might encounter. The crowd demographics were a bit different than I expected. Given Trump’s message, I expected zero minorities to be there, but there were perhaps 5% minorities, typical of a Republican rally. Also, there were definitely some upper middle-class looking families from the northern suburbs. This was obvious on the MARTA ride out of downtown. The train was extremely crowded, but when we reached the transfer point for the Red Line (to Sandy Springs), the train emptied out. Very few of the supporters were going to Chamblee / Doraville like I was. I did encounter protesters outside when we exited the rally, but there were only 10 or so and they did not appear very organized.
Michael Gardner, February 2016