Hours before the 6 p.m. start time of former President Donald Trump’s town hall event in La Crosse on Thursday, the streets were filled with “Make America Great Again” hats and pro-Trump merchandise. The event was the first time Trump had been back in Wisconsin since the Republican National Convention last month and those who made it into the venue were among almost 8,000 other attendees.
The standing-room-only affair was a surprise to 21-year-old University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student. “I’ve never seen so many people at one event ever, and I’ve lived here my whole life,” he said. “The energy is here.”
Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic presidential candidate, who has now assumed a key role in Trump’s 2024 campaign, moderated the town hall event last night.
Gabbard, a military veteran and former eight-year Congressional representative from Hawaii, has been assisting Trump in preparation for his upcoming debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 10. During the 2020 Democratic primary, Gabbard notably debated Harris and President Joe Biden, gaining attention for her critiques of Harris’ prosecutorial record.
“There is a lot of work to be done, the stakes could not be higher,” said Gabbard before her introduction of Trump.
Trump entered the venue about an hour after his scheduled start time, shaking hands with attendees as he walked a red carpet up to the stage to join Gabbard. Behind the two politicians sat 20 people selected by the Trump campaign to ask questions in a town hall format event.
Gabbard introduced her first question by telling a story about her personal infertility struggles and experience with in vitro fertilization (IVF). She explained that Trump’s political opponents accuse him of wanting to ban IVF and asked the Republican nominee how he would address concerns from women and couples who fear losing access to IVF due to cost or potential bans.
IVF took the spotlight in the debate around reproductive rights when the Alabama legislature passed a law to shield IVF providers on March 6. Alabama’s decision was based on the premise that life begins at conception, a central tenet of the anti-abortion argument. GOP politicians who are anti-abortion and support IVF have to clarify how their views differ from those of the court.
Trump had countered the Alabama decision in a statement for IVF and said to the La Crosse crowd he would use the power of the government to help couples who want to try it.
“The government is going to pay for it, or we’re going to get or mandate your insurance company to pay for it, which is going to be great,” Trump said. He did not elaborate on how his administration would cover the cost of IVF treatments or if there would be changes to the United States tax code.
Trump took aim at Vice President Kamala Harris, calling her a Marxist and attacked her for not talking with the news outlets. “She really is, and this country is not ready for a Marxist,” Trump said. “We don’t want a Marxist as a president. She destroyed San Francisco, she destroyed California, and we’re not gonna let her destroy our country.”
He blamed the Biden-Harris administration for having a loose hold on the border, referencing a recent news story about Venezuelan gang activity in Colorado. “They are taking their criminals and dumping them into the United States. Thats Kamala, Kamala is allowing that to happen,” Trump said. “Actually they want to give them papers, they want to make them citizens, they wanna give them your social security.”
These remarks came before a question from Amber, a woman on stage from Cameron, WI, who expressed concerns about illegal immigration and its impact on jobs. She asked Trump what he would do about it.
Trump explained that many illegal immigrants are taking jobs that could otherwise go to Black and Hispanic workers, affecting unions as well.
“It’s going to start with the Black population. African Americans are losing their jobs. And I don’t know if you heard the latest statistic, that of the jobs that these people created, which is very little, every single job was taken – about 107 percent – was taken by illegal immigrants,” Trump said.
Another question came from Luke Polaske, a third-year student at UWL, who told Trump Nov. will be his first time voting in a presidential election. He asked a question about inflation and worried about his ability to one day be able to afford a home.
Trump said the solution to reducing inflation involves reducing energy costs through increased domestic production of oil and natural gas. His goal is to make the U.S. the energy capital of the world.
“We’re going to pay down our debt, and we’re going to reduce your taxes still further, and your groceries are going to come tumbling down, and your interest rates are going to be tumbling down. And then you’re going to go out, you’re going to buy a beautiful house, okay? You’re going to buy a beautiful house. That’s called the American dream,” Trump responded.
An audience member, a mother who resides in Minnesota, asked Trump what he plans to do about the rise of crime in her state. In a reference to Harris’s running mate pick Tim Walz Gov. of Minnesota, Trump said, “You get a lot of those questions because, Minnesota, they pick this guy.”
Trump discussed his choice for running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, praising his performance in the campaign despite initially being labeled as “weird” by Walz.
“He’s not weird, and I’m not weird. I mean, we’re a lot of things. We’re not weird,” Trump said about himself and Vance.
Trump asserted that Walz signed a bill that forces Minnesota schools to provide free tampons in boys’ bathrooms, addressing Walz by the nickname “Tampon Tim”. The law does not specify that menstrual products must be placed in “boys’ bathrooms” and instead allow school districts to determine what constitutes a bathroom “regularly used by students.” Districts can choose to provide menstrual products in single-stall bathrooms for any gender, rather than exclusively in traditional multi-stall boys’ bathrooms.
Trump made a remark on Walz’s stance on abortion and criticized the alleged state policies, he said, “I’d love to win Minnesota cause those people aren’t digging this guy. But think of this, six states, Minnesota’s one of them, if the baby is born, you’re allowed to execute the baby after birth. Think of that…in Minnesota you’re allowed to execute.”
Minnesota state statute states, “An infant born alive shall be fully recognized as a human person and accorded immediate protection under law.”
The town hall ended lasting around thirty-minutes when Gabbard thanked the president for coming and said, “You have run out of time .” Trump final words on stage were, “Vote. Vote.”
Outside of the event 23-year-old Jessica Willson from Onalaska, WI said it means a lot for her to be here and stand out from the mainly old white supporters you see in the media. “His policies really align with what I believe as a Christian and conservative my whole life,” she said.
With Willson 20-year-old UWL student from Kaukauna, WI said, “This is the first time I can vote in a presidential election, so I think its really important to come out here and support the candidate that you like.” She said one of the reasons she plans to vote for Trump is because he is, “not Kamala”.
Another 21-year-old student at UWL attended the event for different reasons. “I am not actually planning to vote for Trump… I just thought it would be interesting to see the other perspective and become more informed,” he said. “I didn’t think anyone care about anything this much.”
The latest Marquette University Law School survey of registered voters in Wisconsin, released Aug. 7, showed Trump and Harris in a dead heat with 49 percent of respondents saying they support Harris compared to 50 percent for Trump.
George • Aug 31, 2024 at 8:48 am
Somebody might want to share with the Racquet that the center’s capacity is only 7500 and looking at pictures one could see that the top wasn’t completely totally full, so 725o is probably a closer estimate. Not that anyone but Trump is weirdly obsessed with crowd size…😂