Trailing far behind his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton in all opinion polls, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has launched a new offensive to turnaround his fortunes, with 17 days to go before the November 8 polling.
Mr. Trump addressed rallies in three key states Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio on Saturday and unveiled a plan for the first 100 days of his presidency, which puts a timeline for key promises that he has been making through the campaign, regarding immigration control and undoing trade deals.
This is about two futures
“In 17 days everything about America will change. We are the change. Hillary wants to keep the rigged system the way it is. It is going to change,” Mr. Trump told a cheering audience in Cleveland. He and Ms. Clinton are in a dead heat in Ohio that has 18 electoral college votes.
“This election is not about two candidates. This is about two futures,” vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence said, speaking before Mr. Trump.
‘Women for Trump’ placards
More than half of the nearly 15,000 people who cheered for Mr. Trump on Saturday evening were women – many of them African-American and Hispanic. Mr. Trump continues to face allegations of sexual assault by many women.
On Saturday, the 11th came out accusing the candidate of sexual harassment. But in this audience, that hardly makes a dent. “I love those pink placards,” Mr. Trump said and numerous of those that say “Women for Trump” went up.
Ann Jones, a white middle-aged woman whose family lost its tool and die-making unit to China, said all that mattered was what Mr. Trump would do as President. She says she does not consult mainstream newspapers or even Facebook or Google for news because they are all biased. “It might sound over the top, but the fact is that Hillary’s friends have managed to scrape her history clean on the Internet,” she said. Ms. Jones has spent a lot of time poring over the documents related to the Clinton campaign released by Wikileaks. “I do my own research and have concluded that Mr. Trump says the truth as it is,” she said.
“Many don’t admit supporting him”
Ms. Jones and two other women, who declared themselves as “proud Trump supporters” said many of his potential voters do not disclose their choice to pollsters. “If you say you support Trump, you are ridiculed. So many people do not admit it,” she said, adding that the polls that show Mr. Trump losing badly do not reflect the real situation on the ground.
Michelle Powers, an African-American woman in her mid-twenties is a successful entrepreneur, echoed the argument that the support for Mr. Trump is being underreported in analysis and polls. This is the first time that she is taking keen interest in politics, but her husband Bill Powers has been a Democrat in the last two elections. “We have the first African-American president in Obama. But what have he got? I completely agree with Mr. Trump when he asks ‘what the hell do you have to lose?” Mr. Trump raised the same question in Cleveland too, in an effort to dent the appeal of the Democrats among the African-American community.
She is Hispanic and a Trump fan
Venus, who only gave her first name, a Hispanic woman who came from Cuba a decade ago, was yet another fervent Trump supporter. “I am a Hispanic. I am a legal immigrant who waited for 19 years to come into this country. I completely agree with what Trump says about illegal immigrants who jump the queue to come to this country and then do not obey the laws of this country,” she said. She also believes that all the women who accuse Mr. Trump of sexual misconduct are lying.
If Mr. Trump has created an alternate universe for his supporters to live in as many of his critics allege, he has been successful at that, going by the response of the crowd in Cleveland.
1.8 million dead but registered voters?
Elaborating on his argument that the system is rigged and election could stolen from him, Mr. Trump said: “1.8 million dead people registered now to vote, 2.8 million voters are registered in more than station, 14 per cent non-citizens are registered to vote,” he said, and it was welcomed with rapturous applause. “I was the ultimate insider. Now, I am the ultimate outsider,” Mr. Trump said promising to fix America in a matter of days after he is elected. “I will fix it. I will fix it folks…,” he said.