By Matthew Jack
DAVENPORT — GOP hopeful Donald Trump spoke to a crowd of hundreds on Dec. 5 as part of his Iowa campaign courting potential caucus-goers and fire up support in one of the most important swing states in the country.
While briefly addressing a variety of issues, the core topics that have become central to his campaign remained unchanged.
‘On illegal immigration, I’m the king’
Trump iterated one of his campaign’s trademark talking points: a wall along the Mexican-American border to prevent immigrants from entering the country illegally, promising that Mexico would finance the project, and attempting to quell criticisms on its feasibility by comparing it to the Great Wall of China. “2,000 years ago [sic], they built a wall 13,000 miles long. We can’t do 1,000 miles?” he asked his crowd, who responded with a resounding cheer, “Build that wall.”
He also addressed his role in bringing the issue of immigration to the forefront of the 2016 presidential race.
“If I hadn’t brought it up, you wouldn’t be talking about it,” he said.
‘I’m the most militaristic person in the room’
Criticizing both the Bush and the Obama administrations about their policies regarding Middle Eastern military campaigns, he claimed he would “attack and take their oil,” which he contended was the main funding source of ISIS. He also criticized the capture of Saddam Hussein, whom he considered an asset to the United States if only for his efforts to combat terrorism. Saddam “takes great pleasure in killing terrorists, so we take out Hussein,” Trump said. Regarding U.S. prisoners of war in the Middle East, “our prisoners will be back before I ever take that office,” he promised.
Trump noted the massive trade deficit with China and Japan, saying, “They’re taking our money, they’re taking our jobs, and we owe them money?”
‘The Second Amendment is so important’
Addressing the recent attack on Paris, Trump said, “If some of those people had guns and knew how to use them a little bit, you’d have a whole different story in Paris,” and he iterated the point regarding the massacre in San Bernardino earlier this week. A lifetime member of the NRA, Trump ridiculed recent attempts at gun-control legislation, saying, “If a few of them had guns, don’t you think that’d be better? No one can debate me.” He reaffirmed himself as a strong proponent of the Second Amendment. “If you don’t have the right to protect yourself, you have a whole different country,” he said.
