Trump Doubles Down in Lakeland

Trump Doubles Down in Lakeland
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Accuses the Clintons and the news media of wrongdoing.

Evan Vucci - AP

GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump came to the Lakeland Regional Airport on Wednesday in an energized and playful mood. He flew in on his personal Boeing 757 jet to a waiting crowd in excess of 10,000 people. Unlike his visit to the Tampa Fairgrounds on August 24th, his message was substantially different.

In Tampa, his message was "No American Left Behind," where he articulated his plans for economic recovery, trade, immigration, and much more. Now, nearly two months later, and two debates under his belt, he turned on his detractors, specifically Hillary Clinton and the news media.

As in the second debate, Trump repeated his plan to appoint a special prosecutor to not only investigate Mrs. Clinton's dealings, but the "phony FBI investigation." Remarking on Clinton's deleted e-mails, he insisted "she has to go to jail."

He contended, "America has had enough of the Clintons. Enough is enough!" This resulted in chants from the audience to "Lock her up."

Trump then turned on the news media claiming they are protecting Mrs. Clinton. "Without the press, she is nothing," he said. This resulted in a new chant from the audience, "CNN sucks, CNN sucks..."

After dismembering the Clintons and the media, he discussed some of his policies, such as upgrading the country's nuclear defense program, helping veterans, and a military program based on "peace through strength."

Interestingly, there were but a handful of demonstrators outside the speech area, yet the media dutifully photographed and interviewed them, yet seemed to ignore the thousands of Trump supporters in attendance.

As I was sitting with the press corps, I felt like I was behind enemy lines. The main street media is a strange breed. Most refuse to stand for the invocation or pledge of allegiance, including Tampa Bay Times political reporter Adam Smith. As at the Tampa rally, reporters had their columns written before Trump took the podium.

When I returned home, I turned on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt who claimed there was only 7,000 attendees in Lakeland (there was a lot more, maybe even double their number). A young female reporter, who I recognized from the event, gave a description of the speech which certainly didn't match mine. Frankly, it sounded like two separate events, yet her spin was the one viewed by millions of viewers across the country. After watching this, I couldn't help but feel Trump has been right all along about the news media. Such is the power of the press.

Trump's message in Lakeland was rather obvious, he does not intend to take any more guff from the news media or Mrs. Clinton, or anyone else for that matter. He will fight back stronger than ever. Such talk of confidence and readiness to do battle was music to the ears of his supporters who are tired of being pushed around.

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Keep the Faith!

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