Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump hammered home his intent to achieve peace through strength and to restore law and order in the United States at a Waukesha rally Wednesday.
Over a thousand supporters crowded inside the Waukesha County Expo Center to hear Trump speak, while hundreds of protesters stationed outside the center. Trump touted his tough-on-crime agenda in the deeply-conservative Milwaukee suburb and said tough policies wouldn’t just improve lives for whites in suburbs, but for minorities in high-crime inner cities as well.
“The people in Milwaukee? They’re going to love Donald Trump,” Trump said. “We’re going to have safety. We’re going to save thousands of lives.”
Paul Farrow, Waukesha County executive and host of the rally, asserted Waukesha is the reddest county in the state of Wisconsin, and among the reddest in the country. With the crowd’s help, he said, Waukesha could help turn all of Wisconsin red for the November election.
To whip up support in Waukesha, Trump’s campaign had a strong lineup of conservative speakers, including a surprise appearance from former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani said Hillary Clinton and other Democrats have been “mocking people into poverty” by fostering dependence on government.
“[Minorities are] locked into a system of dependency,” Giuliani said. “Donald Trump wants to give them the ladder to success, he wants to put down the ladder to success, and you know what the ladder to success is? It’s a safe community, a good education and a good job.”
Citing recent statistics about crime increases across the country, Trump said the government’s focus should be on supporting the police. He directly cast a line to those living in America’s inner cities and struggling with violence.
“To the inner cities in America, what the hell do you have to lose?” Trump asked. “I will fix it, vote for me.”
But Trump and other conservatives at the rally didn’t just talk peace at home. Former Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Bob Kasten, an outspoken Ronald Reagan-era conservative, said Trump would financially support the military and bring about peace abroad.
David Clarke, the widely-popular conservative Milwaukee County sheriff, compared the presidential nominee to a modern-day Reagan. He said Trump won’t be afraid to handle radical Islamic terrorism or inner city crime.
“Ronald Reagan was made to win the Cold War, and I believe that Donald J. Trump was made for this moment of turmoil in the United States,” Clarke said.
Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson also compared the Republican nominee to Reagan.
He said the country was at a pivotal point, and just like Reagan’s, Trump’s election would lead the country into a tough-on-crime era.
“We have the opportunity, ladies and gentleman, to elect another individual that is leading a movement,” Thompson said. “A movement of patriotism, of supporting law enforcement officers, of getting tough with criminals and saying you’ve got to have law and order.”
And abroad, Trump said while it isn’t his intention to deploy the military, bolstering it is the best way to show other countries the dominance of the U.S. on the world stage. In contrast, Trump said, his opponent Hillary Clinton would further dismantle the military.
“It’s all about we,” Trump said. “This is a movement, folks. A movement like they’ve never seen before.”
