Trump Campaign
President Donald Trump addressed hundreds of supporters at an outdoor rally in Janesville on Oct. 17.
It’s already been a long day for Debbie Miller. She drove 90 minutes from the Chicago suburbs to the parking lot at Blackhawk Technical College. From there she waited another hour to board a packed yellow school bus to be ferried to Janesville’s Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport. Now she’s inching her way up to the security checkpoint with a throng of people ahead of her. It’ll be another 2.5 hours of standing on a windy tarmac — in a state with soaring cases of COVID-19 — before President Donald Trump arrives. But Miller says it’s worth it.
“It’s important that I show my support for the president. He’s the only politician that cares about America,” says Miller, who has a mask around her neck. “I’ve also heard he’s a great speaker and I wanted to see it for myself.”
Bill Hendricks is from central Wisconsin. He’s already made it past security at the rally with his son, who is voting for the first time this November. Standing on the outskirts of the crowd, Hendricks smokes a cigarette as opera music blares over the speakers. A huge “Thin Blue Line Flag” flaps widely overhead.
“I’m an independent. I’ve voted for Republicans and Democrats before. Trump is different. Used to be everybody supported the police,” says Hendricks. “But just look at what’s happening all over the country. Protesters are rioting. Destroying businesses. Trump is standing up against chaos. That isn’t the country I want my kid to live in…. I think [Trump] is going to surprise people and win in a landslide.”
Isthmus spoke to around a dozen Trump supporters before the president’s Oct. 17 speech. Most didn’t cite specific issues that the president champions or policy positions they hope he will advance in a second term. They are here to show support and take in the Trump show firsthand.
Sandy, who didn’t want to give her last name, wears a MAGA hat and sequined American flag vest over a heavy sweater. She’s confident that Trump will carry Wisconsin this election, as he did in 2016.
“The polls said he would lose four years ago so I don’t trust anything the media says. Everyone is out to get Trump except the people. I probably wouldn’t even bother to vote if he wasn’t running,” says Sandy, who asks that this reporter not lie about the Trump rally. “[The president’s] supporters are just regular, good people. They are sick of being told what to do, how to vote, how to think. Trump tells it like it is. He’s a real leader.”
Inside the cordoned-off press area, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson speaks to reporters before addressing the crowd. He touts the president’s policies for creating a robust economy before “the China virus recession.” He balks at the suggestion that holding a large rally in the state might be a public health hazard — especially when mask use among the crowd is spotty.
“The fact that there are 30-mile-per-hour winds and we are outside…. No, I don’t think it’s particularly dangerous here today at all,” says Johnson, who announced he had tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 2. “If Democrats seize power they’ll change every rule. They’ll violate every precedent. They’ll violate every norm to stay in power…. If I was worried about polls, I’d have dropped out of the race in 2016.”
Johnson and U.S. House member Bryan Steil (R-Janesville) were the only Wisconsin Republicans to speak at the Janesville rally, though many other GOP state lawmakers are also on the ballot this November. Their short speeches were the only other programming at the event and came hours before the president arrived. A soundtrack of Frank Sinatra, James Brown, and even a song from the musical Cats were played to keep the crowd entertained. Every so often, a Trump supporter would walk by the row of cameras on risers and shout “fake news” at TV reporters, or “CNN sucks.”
Just after sunset, the president landed on Air Force One and a much needed jolt of energy shot through the crowd. With little introduction, Trump, wearing a red MAGA hat, strode to the stage to chants of “USA, USA.”
“Hello Janesville and hello Wisconsin. We love Wisconsin. Look at this crowd, it’s massive. I looked at a poll, we are even in Wisconsin. I don’t think so,” said Trump, implying that he’s doing better. “I was having a great hair day and I heard you were having 40 mph winds. So I said, ‘All right, give me the cap.’ I don’t do it often.”
Trump was right about the wind. However, RealClearPolitics — which averaged eight Wisconsin presidential polls conducted between Sept. 20 and Oct. 16 — shows he’s down 6.1 points to Democratic candidate Joe Biden in Wisconsin. That’s a little less than he was in 2016 against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He would go on to win the state by a margin of just .77 percent. It was hardly the first instance of hyperbole by the president in Janesville.
Despite being corrected by multiple fact-checking groups, Trump is continuing to say that his 2018 tax cut was the “biggest in history.” That Mexico is paying for his border wall. Also, that Kenosha “would be gone” had he not deployed National Guard troops to the Wisconsin city in the aftermath of the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
“Oh have I saved the suburbs. They keep telling me about suburban women. I think suburban women like me. I’ve only saved your house. And frankly I’ve saved your way of life. I’ve saved the American dream,” boomed Trump. “For the entire summer, Biden was silent as radicals, anarchists, arsonists and vandals rampaged through Democrat-run cities in Minneapolis, Chicago, New York, Seattle, Portland, and other places. Biden called them peaceful protesters.”
To the crowd’s delight, Trump’s speech was peppered with braggadocios statements. He insisted the presidency has personally cost him “$2 to $3 billion.” At one point he joked that he was thinking about shaving his head and then acted out a scene with his wife Melania Trump.
“How does it look, First Lady?” the president asked. “Who could top me?”
“Well JFK was good looking but nothing like you,” Trump responded, as his wife. “Nothing like you darling.”
The crowd reacted by breaking into a chant of “we love you.”
“Now you’ll go home and you’ll see this crazy CNN — fortunately their ratings are terrible — but you’ll see them say, ‘Trump said he’s better looking than JFK ,’” Trump chided. “You’ll see, [CNN] are sick people.”
Trump repeated other claims in Janesville that were found to be incorrect by a recent fact-check by the Associated Press. This includes his claim that “we had the greatest economy in the history of our country” before the pandemic; that “thousands of ballots” are being dumped in the garbage; and that Biden pressured a Ukrainian prosecutor to be fired because of his son Hunter Biden’s involvement with the energy company Burisma.
“The Biden family is a criminal enterprise,” Trump told the crowd in Janesville. “And to be honest with you, he makes crooked Hillary Clinton look like an amateur. Let me tell ya, if Joe Biden becomes president, China will own this country.”
As Wisconsin grapples with one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the country, Trump repeatedly downplayed the pandemic and claimed he “saved 2 million lives.”
“I wish you had a Republican governor because, frankly, you got to open your state up. You got to open it up. Get back to school,” said Trump. “We’re rounding the corner.”
After a 90-minute speech and dancing with the crowd to a spirited rendition of the Village People’s “YMCA,” Trump got back into Air Force One and the audience huddled close together to board buses back to their cars. Josh and Michael, among the younger attendees, traveled from Dubuque to see the president.
“I think the whole COVID thing is overblown,” says Michael. “I don’t doubt that it’s real. It’s just become political and I think the media is acting like it’s worse than it really is.”
Josh says he’s supporting Trump because “he’s the best candidate for the job.”
“He’s a lot smarter than I thought in person,” says Josh. “Once again, the media is portraying the race like he’s going to lose. I don’t buy it.”
Mike Jones was pumped up by the president’s visit.
“Trump doesn’t have allegiance to any party. That’s his appeal,” says Jones. “He’s just against the socialists who want to take over this country.”
Paula admits that she isn’t a fan of some of Trump’s divisive rhetoric. But she’s voting for him because of his pro-life position.
“How can anyone be against Amy Coney Barrett? She's smart, respected, articulate. Trump earned my vote by nominating her and the other pro-life justices,” says Paula. “The left will do anything to save abortion even though it’s murder.”
As hundreds waited to board buses, a cheer rang out as Air Force One flew over ahead. When asked what he thinks about Trump’s casual regard for facts, Richard Nowak says the president’s supporters aren’t naive.
“We know Trump exaggerates. He’s a showman. I don’t think Joe Biden is a radical or wrong on every issue,” says Nowak. “But what people really don’t like about Trump is that he’s better at playing the game than any other politician in the country. In that way, he’s the most honest president we’ve ever had.”
