Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:24 pm
Donald Trump held a rally in Cleveland, OH, his second appearance there, at the I-X Center with running mate Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani, Saturday evening. He spoke in front of a very white crowd that cheered at the idea of being “deplorables,” as well as the ridiculous idea that the guy who gets his clothes made in Mexico and China was somehow going to bring jobs back to the United States.
Trump promised the crowd “real change which puts America first,” blaming job loss for which he is, in part, responsible for, on Democrats. He promised to make lives “richer and better” by cutting taxes for the 1 Percent, and by destroying a “rigged system” of which he has been a huge beneficiary.
Trump, as he has in earlier speeches, took the opportunity to double down on his usual lies about corruption and crime and the Affordable Care Act.
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“In 17 days we are going to drain the swamp of corruption in Washington, D.C.,” he said, promising to “repeal and replace the total disaster known as Obamacare.” He promised to “repeal and replace it” with “something that is so much less expensive, a great healthcare system, a system you deserve.”
No details, of course, what this “great healthcare system” might entail, or how it might work.
Trump dwelled on Wikileaks, claiming what all experts are saying is true of Trump, that he lacks the judgment and temperament to lead the country, is true instead of Hillary Clinton, repeating his claims that the system is rigged and that the purpose of her campaign is “to keep the system rigged” and to “prevent change.”
Remarkably, he claimed “we don’t want four more years of Obama” even as Obama’s popularity surges to new highs.
He went on to claim he would charge companies who move to another country a 35 percent “tax” when they want to “ship their products back into the United States.” You have to wonder if that includes his own products made in Mexico, China, and elsewhere.
Like these:
And no Trump rally would be complete without a whole boatload of lies about non-existent voter fraud, claiming 1.8 million dead people are registered to vote without admitted to the fact that there is no evidence of these dead people actually voting.
The crowd loved his talk about crime and open borders. You can get a good look at the crowd – and the reason why – in this photo from before Trump took the stage:
Trump claimed the murder rate in D.C. is up 50 percent, even though it has actually dropped in 2016. He promised again to build the wall and to make Mexico pay for it, and that along with Mexicans, he would keep “radical Islamic terrorists out of our country.”
According to Giuliani, anyone who doesn’t support Trump, who isn’t a “deplorable,” is a pinhead, which is apparently perfectly permissible even if “deplorable” is not. Amusingly, Giuliani also claimed Putin pushes us around, even though Trump says exactly what Putin wants him to say. The crowd proved they continue to love this imaginary reality.
Fantasy is more congenial to the Trump base than the cold hard facts.
For example, Giuliani told the crowd that his friend Mike Pence gave Indiana an improved bond rating, but as Politifact explains, that rating was attained before Pence became governor.
So the rule is to credit Republicans with good things that happened before they took office but blame Democrats for bad things that happened before they took office.
Pence said, once he was introduced, that “Trump has a plan,” but if he has a plan, it is nowhere in sight. Even when Trump spoke, he spoke in generalities, claims of what he would do without any explanation of how he would do it.
Trump had earlier in the day given what was supposed to be a major policy address in Gettysburg, PA, which amounted to a promise to sue the women who have accused him of sexual harassment. That speech, as noted by journalists, was light on substance and heavy on Trump.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
