Donald Trump held a rally outside Dayton Saturday morning, after canceling his appearance in Chicago the night before, due to what he said were safety concerns. His appearance was disrupted several times by protesters, who appeared to act alone as they interrupted his speech.
Thousands of people lined up beginning early in the morning, vying for standing spots inside a hangar at the Wright Brothers Aero expo center next to the Dayton International Airport in Vandalia.
Deborah Sakal from West Milton said she likes that Trump is an outsider.
“He has a compassion for America and the American people, and he wants to see America great again. We’re tired of what’s happening in Washington and I think it’s going to clean Washington up," Sakal said.
Trump arrived on his massive private passenger plane, and began his speech by addressing the events in Chicago head-on. His Friday night appearance was canceled after multiple scuffles broke out in the arena where he was supposed to appear.
"It was determined that if we go in, it could cause bad, bad vibes," he said. "They want me to tell my people, be nice, please be nice—my people are nice."
Trump blamed Bernie Sanders supporters for the events in Chicago. "He should really get up and say to his people, stop."
Bernie Sanders has already responded calling Trump a liar—he says his campaign wasn't involved with plans to disrupt Trump in Chicago.
After hyping up the crowd over the events in Chicago, Donald Trump gave an impassioned explanation of his continuing support for illegal torture tactics, including waterboarding terror suspects.
"I'm one hundred percent fine with waterboarding, and it should be increased," he said. He also brought back a dubious fable about General George Pershing allegedly dipping bullets in pigs' blood before using them to execute 49 Muslim terrorists in the Phillipines over a hundred years ago. He offered the story—told in graphic detail—as a fable to suggest that contemporary tactics should be similarly harsh.
"Today we read 'em their rights, we take care of them...we give them areas to pray. We're wonderful, wonderful, stupid, stupid people, okay?" He said General Pershing killed 49 of 50 accused terrorists, dumped their bodies in a mass grave and sent the last one back with the final to warn others. As the crowd cheered, he said, "I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I'm not saying that's a good thing, this is history folks."
The Pershing story has been debunked by historians since Trump told the story at a rally in South Carolina last month. He insisted that the tale should inform strategy against ISIS today. "We have to do what we have to do."
Outside the hangar, a few dozen protesters gathered, and some said they were too nervous to go in or that they'd been turned away for carrying anti-Trump signs.
“I’m here to say that I don’t want Donald Trump as president of the United States," said a resident of Dayton who only gave WYSO her first name, Teri. "I don’t want somebody who is a bigot and a fascist and a hater. And I sure don’t want him in my state today.”
Inside, demonstrators disrupted Trump one-by-one. They were quickly escorted out by the Secret Service. One young man yelled "Trump’s a liar." A 70-year Springfield woman, Sharon Stout, was escorted out with her walker after yelling out "fascist" and holding up a sign that said "Trump=Hate".
Another jumped the security fence and made for Trump directly as the crowd went wild with boos and Trump mocked the protesters over a swell of crowd noise. That protester was reportedly arrested.
"I was ready for him, but it's much easier if the cops do it, don't we agree?" said Trump. "And to think I had such an easy life. What do I need this for? Because I've done great...it's payback time."
Towards the end of the rally, supporters put their hands in the air to swear that they'd go to the polls Tuesday and vote for Trump. As the energy in crowd simmered almost to a boil, he ended the rally, got back on his plane, and flew out over honking car horns and waving American flags.
Hear Trump's full speech here:
