Introduced as “the next president of the United States,” Donald Trump sauntered across the stage at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts Thursday night, flashing two thumbs up at an audience of nearly 1,400.
“Wow, what a beautiful view. Beautiful,” he said, taking his place behind a podium at center-stage. “We’re in Vermont, where the air is so nice and clean.”
Waving white placards and hoisting cellphones aloft, supporters of the real estate mogul and reality television star chanted, “Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!”
“I got here and said, ‘I just wanna breathe that air,’” the candidate continued. “I went outside. There’s like 20,000 people. We can’t get ’em in. So you are very lucky.”
Lucky indeed. After waiting in line for hours, those with tickets to the biggest show in town were asked at the door whether they supported Trump. Those who answered in the affirmative were admitted; others were shown the door.
One ticket holder, Katina Cummings of Waterbury Center, joined a long line that snaked around St. Paul Street at 2:30 p.m., carrying a sign that read, “Refugees welcome, Trump not.” When she disclosed to Trump staffers at the entrance that she did not support their candidate, she recalled, “Two of them started to push me out.”
Calling those who denied her entry “thugs,” she said, “This is a rigged event!”
The sorting and quizzing failed to keep out all the haters. Though his audience appeared largely sympathetic, at least nine groups of protesters interrupted the candidate during his hour-long speech, drawing Trump’s ire and that of his fans.
Halfway through his remarks, half a dozen detractors stood up in the balcony and tried to shout him down.
“Get ’em out. Get ’em out,” Trump instructed Burlington Police Department officers. “Take them out, please.”
As they filed down the stairs and out of the room, the protesters chanted, “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!” One shouted, “Fuck you, Trump!”
“Isn’t this more exciting?” Trump asked his audience. “You go to a Hillary [Clinton] thing, it’s, like, boring. You go to a Jeb [Bush] thing and you fall asleep.”
Nobody was in danger of falling asleep at the Flynn — least of all Trump, who appeared ever more energized with each additional audience outburst.
“Get ’em out. Get them out. Get ’em out,” he demanded, as the cops descended upon another protester. “Don’t give him his coat. Keep his coat. Confiscate his coat. It’s about 10 degrees below zero outside. You can keep his coat. Tell him we’ll send it to him in a couple of weeks.”
Throughout the Flynn, Trump’s fervent supporters hooted and hollered, jeering as the man was hauled out of the theater.
Another protester, Spencer Lewis of Hartland, said he managed to sneak into the event by trading a piece of pizza for a Trump button while he was waiting in line.
“I wanted to see if the xenophobia was for real,” he explained.
Was it?
“Oh, man,” he said as he was asked to leave the building.
“I knew I was gonna have some in Vermont,” Trump said of the interruptions. “If we didn’t have that, it wouldn’t be Vermont, right? Hey, why do you think the other Republicans are not coming up here, folks? OK?”
Indeed, Trump walked into the belly of the beast Thursday, bringing his blood-red campaign rhetoric to deep-blue Burlington. Outside the Flynn, opponents lined the barricades erected on Main Street, condemning the candidate as a bigot and a racist. But inside the theater, most audience members appeared enthralled by his messianic rhetoric and signature braggadocio.
“We used to have victories. We don’t have victories,” Trump said. “We’re going to have so many victories that you’re going to be bored of winning!”
“We love you!” a woman yelled.
She wasn’t alone in expressing the sentiment. One man, with a big belly, Santa Claus beard and camouflage hat, held up a small sign reading, “U R MY GUY.”
“I am the most militaristic person in this room, except for that guy with the hat,” Trump said. “Stand up. With the beautiful beard. Stand up.”
The man complied with the order and swiveled his sign around so all could see.
“Do I know my people?” the candidate asked. “And I’ve never met him before. He just looks good to me.”
According to Flynn executive director John Killacky, the Trump campaign didn’t play by the rules. When he spotted several men guarding a box full of placards, Killacky said, “I was told it was a no-sign show.”
“It’s true,” one responded. “They won’t be handed out.”
Within 10 minutes, Trump staffers were handing out the signs.
As is typical of Trump’s speeches, Thursday’s was largely devoid of substance. In its place was a whole lot of bragging about his place at the top of the polls.
“I love ratings,” he said. “These other candidates [ask], ‘Why are you always talking about ratings?’ Because I’m No. 1. If I were No. 2 … we don’t talk about the ratings, right? We don’t talk about the ratings. But in Vermont, I’m No. 1 by a lot. Thirty-two percent.”
Trump spent even more time disparaging his political opponents, particularly those he faces in the Republican primary.
Jeb Bush? “No energy.”
Rand Paul? “Horrible job he’s done with this.”
Rick Perry? “He was brutal.”
George Pataki? “He had zero [percentage points in the polls]. He had zero! Zero! Zero!”
Trump expressed similar feelings about political pundits, who he called “dishonest people,” “brutal” and “terrible.” He sounded particularly miffed that one had referred to him as “plainspoken.”
“I went to an Ivy League school. I went to the Wharton School of Finance,” he said. “I guarantee I have a vocabulary better than all of ’em — certainly most of ’em. I know I have an IQ better than all of ’em. And they say he’s ‘plainspoken.’”
Trump repeatedly bashed President Barack Obama, calling him “one of the worst negotiators, perhaps, in the history of the world.” And he taunted former Maryland governor and Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley, saying, “It’s time for him to get out … He is really bad news.”
The Republican was kinder to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — in a passive aggressive sort of way.
“At least Bernie is getting some action. He gets much smaller crowds than me, but at least Bernie gets some action. Right?” Trump said. “Oh, I would love to run against Bernie. That would be a dream come true.”
Sanders, evidently, felt similarly. In a statement released by his campaign Thursday night, the Democratic candidate said, “Donald Trump and I finally agree on something. He wants to run against me. I want to run against him. It would be an extraordinary campaign and I am confident I would win.”
Trump did describe a few policy positions, though he delved into few details. He said he’d halt the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, allow guns in schools and fight political correctness.
“When it’s Christmastime, we’re all gonna say, ‘Merry Christmas,’” he promised, drawing perhaps the most sustained applause of the night.
And Trump mentioned several times his proposal to seal off the southern border.
“We are gonna build a wall. Don’t worry about it,” Trump said. “We’re gonna build it. And who’s gonna pay for the wall?”
“Mexico!” audience members chanted.
“Who’s gonna pay for the wall?” he repeated.
“Mexico!” they said.
“Who’s gonna pay for the wall?”
“Mexico!”
Several prominent Vermont Republicans attended the event — including Rutland City treasurer Wendy Wilton, Republican National Committeeman Jay Shepard and 2014 Chittenden County state senate candidate Joy Limoge — though not all appeared eager to speak with reporters.
Burlington heiress Lenore Broughton, who bankrolled the conservative super PAC Vermonters First during the 2012 election cycle, sat in a second-row seat, reserved for VIPs. She declined to speak to Seven Days, other than to say, “I’m very interested in Trump.”
Rep. Kurt Wright (R-Burlington), a supporter of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), said he was “here for the show,” adding, “I don’t agree with everything [Trump] says.”
Others were more forthcoming.
Marilyn Dunbar, who owns a department store in Swanton and lives in West Chazy, N.Y., said she had waited in line since 10:30 a.m.
“I didn’t want to miss history in the making,” she explained.
Dunbar said she was inspired by Trump’s call to at least temporarily ban Muslim immigrants from entering the country.
“We have to stop it. They have more rights than we do,” she said. “They don’t like somethin’ and we’re not supposed to say it or do it. But they don’t have to do any of ours. It offends me they walk around [with] their faces covered.”
Kevin McGarghan, an operating room nurse from Charlotte, saw it differently.
“The thing that got me probably over the edge was his stance on Muslims,” he said after walking through metal detectors manned by the Secret Service. “It wasn’t that long ago when the Irish weren’t allowed in here, the Italians weren’t allowed in the country. It’s crazy.”
Having worked in the Burlington Police Department when Sanders was mayor, he said he was a proud supporter of his home-state candidate. He decided to bring his wife and three children to the Flynn to witness the spectacle.
“I want to see the train wreck that is the Trump campaign,” he said. “I’m just trying to figure out why he’s so popular with the views he has.”
Three-quarters of the way through the rally, McGarghan stood up and walked out.
Terri Hallenbeck and Alicia Freese contributed reporting.
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“Mt. Philo” — Yes, Police State. You did read about, or hear, the part where Trump says that at Christmas time “we are all going to say Merry Christmas.” The “all” at least implies to me that those of us whose religion doesn’t include celebrating Christmas will be marginalized, or worse, in a Trump Administration.That’s only one example from many of his promise that particular cultural, political, and religious “norms” would be applied by his Administration. That is the part that worries some of us about what would happen to our current freedoms (Constitutional freedoms, I would add) in a Trump Presidency.
“Dispensing insults” ? Are you sure? I read the blustering article on Opinion page, full of snarky (insulting) comments. But hey, thats the Opinion page. Entitled to make cute remarks on a public figure who dares to set foot on Burnese Turf. Hmmm, but turn around and point out much much tamer language on behalf Trump makes you guys just look like a insular high school club.
Donald Trump is so full of pride and disregard for basically anyone not like him Muslims,Mexicans,Women,even Gays and those whose political views differ from Trump`s). Trumps speeches are so laced with bigotry,and hatred that he is inciting those of like mind to spew out the same hateful speech and even to the point of abuse to others who disagree with Mr.Trump. One need only to look back in history to see the same type of hate-filled rhetoric used by another man .This other man being Adolph Hitler.
Donald Trump is so puffed up with hatred for people not like himself ( Muslims,Mexicans, Women,Gays etc.) and self aggrandizement that his speaking has become a bit of a Tragic Comedy. The scary thing is that this man incites others to hate and even to mistreat people who are not supporters of Trump. Look back in history and one can very easily see the uncanny -frightening to say the least- similarities when comparing Mr. Trump`s rhetoric with that of Adolph Hitler.
A police state? Don’t be silly. Donald Trump was giving a speech, not holding a free discussion or an open forum debate. Politicians all bus in favorable crowds for events. If a person looked like trouble they were not admitted. Trump was not singling out races, ethnicities, genders, or any classification of people other than non-supporters. Get over yourself.
The best-written, funniest, and most unsettling piece I’ve read on Donald Trump to date.
America: A Police State?
Only those who agreed with Donald Trump were allowed in. Those who attempted to speak in disagreement who thrown out by “henchmen” (Keep their coats so they can freeze), it becomes a “police state” Free speech is always free to all. Ending all dissension, throwing out everyone with a different point of view, a different race, religion, or language, goes against everything that is good in America. If you want this, vote for Trump. If not, vote for someone else. There were only a couple of thousand Trumpettes there, outnumbered by protesters outside. The protesters were having more fun. Keep America Great, No More Trump.
I often compare the campaigns to poorly scipted WWE wrestling sagas.
Both parties are not much more than factions of a single corporate-backed PAC-funded uni-party. One side wins buy fossil fuel and defense contractor stocks, the other sude wins buy green energy and big pharma stocks.
But part of the reason is with social media the algorithms focus on keywords for trend analysis.
I won’t mention the former reality game show host, the former Walmarr Board of Director member(when she was First Lady of Arkansas), the Canadian vorn candidate, the fired HP CEO,the retired neurosurgeon or any other candidate by name…Except Bernie Sanders.
The media is being responsible xovering campaign stops like last night in Burlington, but let’s not fuel the additional coverage of candidates we don’t support by even mentioning their name. (That’s like day 1 of Labor Relations–call the empployer “The Company” rather than even allow rhem a name).
“As is typical of Trump’s speeches, Thursday’s was largely devoid of substance.”
Then why cover it, Paul? Where is the real news, like how much the city had to pay to accommodate a race-baiting celebrity liar? Is Burlington’s new policy to accommodate all celebrities be devoting the entire police force to their security detail?
You’ve written a lot of good stuff (i.e. Sorrell), but this is your low water mark.
@Leonard Also it is well documented that the National Socialist party didn’t have anything to do with the Reichstag fire and that it was started by communists. I also used to think that it was a Nazi false flag until I went ahead and did the research.