President Trump makes a speech in Chattanooga, urging voters to live in fear of newcomers into the country and of Democrats. (Photo Chris Long)
David Tulis of 92.7 NoogaRadio is one of three full-time journalists covering the Trump rally, while other local press platforms give it slight attention as a matter of local interest. Hear my review on the David Tulis show. (Photo Facebook NoogaRadio)
President Trump gives a standard stump speech Sunday in Chattanooga to a overflow crowd of 11,000 people at UTC, playing on conservatives’ fear of guests in the country, a hatred for Democrats, a desire for police supremacy, their love of military adventures and wars abroad to enhance “safety” at home, and (albeit briefly) their pro-life perspective.
President Trump was here to help Marsha Blackburn win a seat in the federal senate, against which she is facing former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen.
By David Tulis / 92.7 NoogaRadio
Mr. Trump was on the stage with Mrs. Blackburn, who gives a brief talk, as well as other political notables in Tennessee, such as US Rep. Chuck Fleischmann and Scott Desjarlais.
He gives a patriotic and uproarious talk, repeatedly interrupted by cheers if for a good point or hisses and boos when he mentions Democrats or the Democrat Party.
“We are all indeed proud to be Americans,” he says to an uproar from the crowd. “I am thrilled to say I love Tennessee” — more uproar.
The David Tulis show is 1 p.m. weekdays, live and lococentric.
President Trump loves people of Tennessee, the “hardworking men and women who are the heart and soul of our country.”
In two days, people will elect Rep. Blackburn to the federal senate “to protect your jobs, defend your borders and to continue making America great again.” — more uproar.
“This is one of the most important elections of our time.” maybe not as important as that of 2016, but it’s up there. “A big one,” he says. Will U.S. build on “extraordinary prosperity,” “or let the radical Democrats take control of Congress and take a giant wrecking ball to our economy and our future.”
There is little in Mr. Trump’s argument that respects constitutional limits, local economy and free markets in Chattanooga, nor the possibility of greater prosperity among the people if the federal government obeyed federal law, submitted itself to constitutional restraint, and ended its program of foreign wars, global intervention in the elections and politics of other countries and returns to what the founders initially envisioned as a fruitful and shade-bearing servant of the states, operating solely as in interstate jurisdiction (among the states) or as in maritime jurisdiction (as among other nations and on the seas).
Mr. Trump plays to fears, as does the bramble in the parable by the prophet Jotham in the biblical book of Judges, chapter 9, in which all the fruitful olive and fig trees wish not to govern, but which brings to the front the bramble, who says, “If in truth you anoint me as king over you, then come and take shelter in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.”
That Democrats are the party of death of unborn boys and girls is reason enough to support Republicans, even if one must hold one’s nose if one goes to vote.
Good economy numbers
President Trump cites Friday’s economic numbers. The United States has “the highest economy on earth,” that other leaders are wowed by.
Others try to duplicate it, but “you can’t duplicate our people, can you?” 250,000 jobs have been created and half a million people rejoined the workforce, he says.
“We created a total 4.5 million of new jobs since the election.” But media wouldn’t have believed it on the campaign, Mr. Trump says, had be predicted it. (Boos about the media, rows of whose cameramen and writers are sullenly peering into their viewfinders on their cameras).
This screenshot of a statement by Nancy Pelosi, a liberal Democrat in Congress, lets Mr. Trump ridicule Democrats as entirely detached from ordinary people.
“And we’ve lifted 4.3 million people off food stamps,” Mr. Trump declares. The U.S. has the lowest jobless rate “in over 50 years.”
“More Americans working today working than ever before in the history of our country.” Nearly 157 million people “now have a job.” — prolonged cheers.
Blacks, Asian-Americans, joblessness have “have all reached the lowest level in the history of our country.” Poverty is plummeting, wages are rising, incomes are soaring, and “confidence level of our businesses and our people is at an all-time high.”
Tax cut relief ahead
“Other than that, we’re not doing so well” (laughter from the crowd). But President Trump makes promise of relief of the siphoning labor of the IRS.
The GOP passed a mass tax cut for working families, he says, and next, a 10 percent slashback for the middle class, he vows.
Democrats, on the other hand, if elected, “will be raising your taxes” if they regain Congress, while Republicans will be cutting taxes.
He returns to the night’s theme, Marsha Blackburn. Voters must keep Congress in the party of Lincoln. “But who knows? You gotta get out to vote. But I will say, there is an electricity in the air the likes of which I and you have not seen” since the 2016 balloting.” The “blue wave” of prospective Democratic gains, he says, is fading.
Military buildup
This meme reflects the pro-military and pro-police perspective of President Trump, one shared strongly by many conservatives at his rally in Chattanooga.
Mr. Trump spins back to the economy. “We are breaking every record, practically, in the history of our country.” and more importantly taking care of veterans and “rebuidling America’s military.”
The federal military was “depleted, tired, exhausted. The planes were old. Everything was tired. We are rebuilding America’s might like it has never been done before. And, hopefully, we’ll never have to use it. The stronger we become, the less likely it is we will hafta use it – OK?”
The outlays in peacetime are F$700 billion and will be F$716 billion next year, he declares. Because of what seems a boyish delight in armaments and equipment and refurbishing the arms, as if they are toys, America “is respected again, and America is winning again because we are finally putting America first.”
Judge Kavanaugh fight
President wants to “protect your rights and freedoms” and to prove his point he cites the battle for Judge Brett Kavanaugh (wild uproar on this point), who is a defender of executive prerogative and warrantless searches and seizures and Orwellian surveillance.
The Democrats campaign to block his nomination was “a smear campaign” against “a great man, a great scholar, a great intellect” that was false at the start and falling apart even after he is elevated to the supreme court.
President Trump cites a story two days prior about the “total lie” of an accuser who admitted she never met Judge Kavanaugh and that her story “was a fake, a fake story, a totally fake story. False accusations.It was false accusations, it was false accusations, she made up the story.”
It was a lie, he says, salivating on the clearing of Judge Kavanaugh’s reputation.
Now the U.S. must find out about the others and their accusations. “This woman came out of nowhere, and because of the pressure, she admitted it was a total lie, a fabricated story” and she “tried to destroy him.”
President Trump mentions his new justice Neil Gorsuch five or six times offhandedly.
Contrast with Democrats
“Contrasts could not be more clear. Democrats produce mobs. Republicans produce jobs.”
A vote for Dems is a vote for Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and “of course, the legendary Maxine Waters.” Boos soar.
These politicians have an “extreme job killing agenda they want to raise your taxes by double, and even triple, and I don’t think the people in Tennessee want that.”
“They want to increase regulations. They want to take away your healthcare. They want to impose socialism on our country. They want to erase America’s borders. They want to invite caravan after caravan of illegal immigrants” in the country
“No nation can allow its borders to be overrun. That’s an invasion. I don’t care what they say. I don’t care what the fake media says.”
Uproar shout of “build that wall, build that wall” about 10 times.
$1.6 billion in three lumps has been been spent or allocated thus far, he says.
The U.S. has the “worst immigration laws anywhere in the world.” which other countries “laughs at us” — “catch and release” with immigrants in court four years after being seized for their cases to be disposed, he says.
Frenzy against visitors, guests, aliens, strangers
Chattanooga police and other state and federal law enforcers are out in force Sunday at UTC, some bearing distorted federal flags, such as this one on the cap of a Chattanooga policeman. One passerby tells a nearby cop, “Thank yo for keeping us safe.” (Photo Alan Guice)
President Trump makes a frenetic attack on visitors and newcomers to the U.S.
With him in charge, the federal power is more self-aware. “Now we are defending the borders of our country” against “the criminals, the smugglers, the trespassers marching toward our borders, turn back now because you are not getting in.”
Mr. Trump scoffs at U.S. trillions of dollars spent to protect the borders of other countries, and says now Washington is going to defend the borders along the southern edge of the republic.
“If you want caravans and “more crime, because crime comes with it, vote for the Democrats. If you want strong borders and safe communities, vote for the Republicans.”
Democrats will “raid your Medicare to fund socialism. You know that.” The Democrats’ plans would “obliterate Medicare and eliminate Medicare Advantage for more than half a million Tennessee seniors.”
GOP will protect Medicare for “our great seniors who earned it and who paid for it.” Republicans will always care for patients with pre-existing conditions. Dems want to “destroy health care,” which he says also includes giving healthcare to illegal immigrants. (Loud boo’s here.)
Democrats, he avers, want “free health care, free education” right to vote for people he calls “illegals.” That’s F$100 billion cost of illegals per year, more, he says, than three times the budget of Tennessee. He focuses afresh on immigration.
One hundred percent of heroin comes through border, roughly 90 percent of cocaine, and much of fentanyl and meth, too. “We can’t allow this.” These drugs kill 70,000 and destroy lives of 100,000s of people every year, he says. He talks about “brave ICE officers” and their arrest levels, to huge cheers. He defends ICE as not too tough, “because they’re dealing with tough customers,” with 48,000 assaults and 1,800 murders laid to immigrants. “We don’t want this, folks.”
Democrats want to make “turn America into a giant sanctuary city for gang members and MS-13 killers.”
The Republicans believe the country “should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not criminal aliens.”
So, immigrants are criminal aliens. “This election is about safety and it’s about prosperity,” Mr. Trump says.
His conclusion about a great America
“We are one people, one family, and one glorious nation under God, in Tennessee. Together, we will make America wealthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America safe again. We will make America great again.”
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In powerful speech in Chattanooga, Trump plays to Republicans’ desire to be “safe” from Hispanics and for their warplanes and tanks to be of the latest manufacture.
