Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:39 pm
In Donald Trump’s third stop on his post-election victory tour, the president-elect stuck closely to the teleprompter and once again patted himself on the back for winning the electoral college despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes.
In the Iowa event, Trump called his supporters, a minority of the country, a “movement, the likes of which our country has never seen before.” He also hit the normal empty applause lines about “building up the military” and making the country great again.
Just when it was building up to be a complete snoozefest, protesters holding a banner reading “Iowa Says No Hate” Â gave the event a welcome jolt, before quickly being escorted out by security.
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Video:
Protesters w/ “Iowa Says No Hate” banner getting escorted out: pic.twitter.com/KUTpkhY2rL
— Steffi S. Lee (@SteffiSLee) December 9, 2016
Trump, showing marginal growth from the campaign, did not encourage his supporters to inflict physical harm on the hecklers or promise to cover the legal fees if somebody decided to “knock the crap” out of them. Instead, he said the protesters are actually supporters and “they just don’t know it yet.”
Video:
After protester disrupts speech, Trump says, “I think they’re actually on our side, they just don’t know it yet.” https://t.co/hK5DlgPdDU
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 9, 2016
With Trump now refusing to stray from a teleprompter or hold press conferences, his rare and highly scripted public appearances are becoming nearly unwatchable. Trump’s Thursday night event in Iowa was no exception.
Thanks to these few protesters, it was at least momentarily tolerable.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
