Eric Trump Rallies Troops at GOP Headquarters

BOARDMAN, Ohio – Lisa Quade of Boardman says her dog, Daisy May, has been everywhere. Yesterday afternoon, she watched as Eric Trump, son of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, hoisted her pet – wearing an “I Love Trump” shirt – above a cheering crowd at Mahoning County Republican Party headquarters.

“Best experience ever, almost as much as me holding my son for the first time when he was born,” she remarked.

Quade, of Boardman, was among some 150 volunteers and supporters who gathered at the county GOP headquarters to hear from Trump, who campaigned for his father in several Ohio communities yesterday. She wants to make a political change that would benefit the generation of her 11-year-old son, Jacob, who joined her at the event.

“Trump can do it. He’s not a politician,” she said.

“If this country was doing great, if this country was doing amazing in every single metric … we wouldn’t be running,” Eric Trump told the crowd.

“Our politicians are selling our country down the drain. They’re doing a terrible job on behalf of the people of this country,” he said. “Politicians are enriching themselves. They’re making hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Trump sounded familiar campaign themes voiced by his father, who he called “an amazing man.”

“We’re going to have somebody who starts fighting for this country again. We’re going to have somebody who starts winning for this country again,” he said.

“We’re not winning at anything we do,” from health care to education to the military to supporting law enforcement and veterans, he continued. If his father is elected, “that is going to change immediately,” he added. “We’re going to start winning again.”

Trump warned that the Second Amendment and “our religion” are “totally under assault.” Median income hasn’t increased in 15 years and people are working two, three or even four jobs just to get by, he said.

He also pointed to the recent revelation that Donna Brazile had shared CNN debate questions with Hillary Clinton’s campaign. CNN severed its ties with Brazile, who had been a commentator for the network, following the disclosure. Had anyone supplied his father with questions in advance, “people’s heads would have exploded,” Trump charged.

While he doesn’t support the theft of emails, he said the recent disclosures by WikiLeaks of communications purportedly form the Clinton campaign has provided an “inside look” at “how bad the system is and how poorly represented we are by the people in Washington, D.C.”

In addition, he complained about the “politically correct culture” in which “Happy Holidays” is said instead of “Merry Christmas,” a situation he pledged would be corrected if his father were president. “As Americans, we’re going to go back to saying, ‘Merry Christmas,’ ” he promised.

Before Trump spoke, Mark Munroe , chairman of the Mahoning County GOP, told supporters, “There’s just been a general frustration with what’s going on in Washington, D.C..

“This is where it’s going to happen. If we’re going to change this country, this is Ground Zero,” Munroe said.

There is a lot of activity at the GOP headquarters, he reported. About 1,000 Trump-Pence signs have been distributed about 10,000 signs, he estimated, and another shipment was expected Friday.

“I have never seen anything like it,” remarked Anna Pera of Canfield, a volunteer who was selling T-shirts inside the office.

“This is a movement. I think it goes beyond political lines, to be honest,” she remarked. “People are standing up. We’re tired of the cronyism.”

Ken Godoy of Youngstown, who picked up a Trump sign while he was at Wednesday’s event, said Eric Trump and his father are in touch with the country’s working class.

“They get it more so than the Clintons ever did, even when Bill was in office,” he said.   A former union member who worked at Delphi, he described himself as a “reformed Democrat” who voted with the party consistently until this election.

The enthusiasm and support from Trump “has been nothing like I’ve ever seen,” observed Anthony DiCarlo of Neshannock Township, Pa., a former Lawrence County GOP precinct committeeman. “The American people are hungry for change,” he said.

Susan Ward, originally from Myrtle Beach, S.C. but living in Lake Milton on an assignment for work for the next three years, said she is confident the GOP nominee will turn the country in the right direction.

“We’re going in the wrong direction,” she said. “It’s undeniable that there’s just so much corruption going on in the White House right now. We absolutely need somebody to clean it up.”

Across the road from the party  headquarters,  U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio and a prominent Clinton surrogate, led a few dozen members of organized labor – along with the giant inflatable rat often seen at labor protests locally — to protest the visit.

The congressman appeared to brush off concerns about a race that has tightened amid negative coverage over the past week.

“When you hit bumps in the road like the past couple of days, you’ve  got to rely on the fundamentals of the campaign, which is your get-out-the-vote operation,” he said. Now focus is shifting back to “the main issue of the campaign,” which is “the judgment that people have to make” regarding whether Trump is fit to be president.

“That is the essential question that people are going to have to ask themselves in the next week, and I think at the end of the day Hillary Clinton is going to be fine.”

Also Wednesday:
In Final Days, Labor Mounts Full-Court Press for Clinton

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