In Sharonville, Trump hits Clinton — then pivots to Saddam Hussein, Star of David
SHARONVILLE — Minutes after taking the stage, Donald Trump called Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton a "dirty, rotten liar."
He spent several minutes addressing her private email server and mocked her tone of voice. He said the only thing she was good at was getting out of trouble.
Then, he pivoted. To his own controversies.
Sporadically, he returned to his presumptive opponent – who has never lost in swing-state Ohio – and the gravely critical assessment the FBI director gave Tuesday of Clinton's security precautions as secretary of state. Instead, he spent swaths of time defending his tweet of an anti-Clinton graphic with origins in white supremacist chat rooms and his remarks praising Saddam Hussein's approach to terrorists. Late Wednesday evening, Trump was still doubling down, tweeting a photo of a children's book related to the Disney movie "Frozen" with a six-pointed star on it.
Aides and GOP officials had forecast Trump would pivot away from controversy to a more presidential tone, upon becoming the presumptive GOP nominee. That Trump has often failed to appear in public and was nowhere in sight Wednesday. Instead, Trump dwelt on minefields that have distracted from Clinton's problems. More, he vociferated about offensive, divisive topics that have drawn rebukes from the Republican officials whose backing he needs to secure the GOP nomination this month in Cleveland.
Nothing was wrong, Trump said, with his tweet of a critical graphic of Clinton that featured a six-pointed star, a pile of cash and the words "most corrupt candidate ever." The tweet later was deleted after controversy over the apparent use of a Star of David from a graphic used by anti-Semites.
"The star is a star," Trump said Wednesday, "Not a Star of David." Trump said the staffer who tweeted it has a Jewish wife.
Trump told the crowd his staff shouldn't have deleted it. This led him to the media, a favorite target. He called CNN the Clinton News Network and criticized coverage of his comments Tuesday night in which he cited approvingly the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for killing terrorists. He criticized The Enquirer by name for asking him questions about his remarks on Hussein in an interview before his speech.
Trump: Saddam did 'good job' killing terrorists
Trump told the crowd he hated Hussein, but: "He did one thing right: He killed terrorists."
The visit of the presumptive GOP nominee to Southwest Ohio was his first in the battleground region since the GOP primary in March; Clinton and Trump are essentially tied in statewide polling. Trump also was scheduled to attend his first Ohio fundraiser Wednesday, a $25,000-per-person roundtable discussion with donors.
By Wednesday, Republicans across the country were growing increasingly anxious for Trump to connect with some anti-Clinton rhetoric. They threw up their hands this week at the presumptive nominee's missed opportunities to attack his presumptive opponent for the FBI's conclusions from its investigations into her server. FBI Director James Comey recommended against charges for Clinton and her staff, even though he said they were "extremely careless" in handling classified information.
On Tuesday, Trump tweeted and spoke about a "rigged" system and sent out a statement several hours after Comey's remarks, then made news that night instead for the Hussein comments.
On Wednesday, he set expectations for a shot at eviscerating her, tweeting: "Let today be devoted to Crooked Hillary and the rigged system under which we live."
That night, Trump talked about controversies, Scotland, golf and his son. If there was a script, Trump didn't stick to it.
"After a while, we have to talk about other things," Trump said, defending his approach.
Clinton's campaign reacted during the Wednesday night speech with gleeful tweets.
"This is the best Trump speech. It's Hendrix at Monterey. It's Dylan at Newport Folk. Swift at Metlife. An opus in our time," Clinton digital communications staffer Rob Flaherty tweeted, using a hashtag that stands for Trump's "Make America Great Again slogan."
"Newly discovered footage that could destroy Donald Trump’s campaign if everyone saw it," Clinton's Twitter handle said, linking to live footage of Trump's speech on MSNBC's website.
As Trump rambled, the audience of around 7,000 sometimes drifted to their phones. Trump would bring them back with a one-liner.
At one point, he swatted at a mosquito on the stage.
“I hate mosquitoes,” Trump said. “Speaking of mosquitoes, oh, hello there, Hillary. How are you doing?”
Almost as an afterthought, Trump mentioned Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker and presidential candidate, midway through his rant and again near the end of his speech. “No one would beat Newt" in vice presidential debates, Trump said, promising Gingrich would have some role in a Trump administration. He has been enjoying attention in recent days for parading possible vice presidential candidates on social media and in public appearances.
Yet Trump's focus Wednesday on responding to recent criticisms overshadowed the Georgia Republican's presence at times. In contrast, Clinton visited Cincinnati last week with one of her possible vice presidential picks: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who dominated headlines with her searing attacks of Trump.
For his part, Gingrich took clear aim at Clinton.
"Is there a single person here who believes that if you had done what Hillary Clinton had done, you would not be prosecuted?" he asked.
The crowd answered with a loud “no.”
The Sharonville Convention Center crowd had an appetite for attacks on Clinton. The crowd roared when Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones hit Clinton in his introduction to Trump's speech. No one should be above the law, Jones said, and if top officials break the law, they should go to prison.
People drove to Sharonville from as far away as Pittsburgh to see Trump, with a long line forming by Wednesday afternoon. Noelle Rooks, who said she appreciates Trump's sense of humor and honesty, had stood in line since 1 a.m. "I'd rather have someone who is honest and says things I don't agree with than lie to me – like Hillary" Clinton, said 28-year-old Rooks, of Delhi Township.
Trump's motorcade caused traffic jams on Northbound I-75 Wednesday evening, causing complaints from people trying to get to the Guns 'N Roses show at Paul Brown Stadium in Downtown Cincinnati.
Ahead of Trump's appearance, about 25 demonstrators lined the street across from the convention center, carrying signs that said: "Trump Record: The Art of the Steal" and "Don the Con: Your beliefs are not America." At least one protester was escorted out of Trump's event as it started.
A man with a bullhorn and a "Jesus Saves" t-shirt preached to people in line: "Trump will not help bring our country back to God because Trump is not a Christian."
"At least he doesn't have a Hillary sign," one woman quipped.
Elsewhere, a Trump doppelgänger took selfies with the crowd.
As he spoke Wednesday, Trump was interrupted by a man who said he loved him.
"I love you too," he replied.
Then, to the crowd:
"He's a guy, but I love him," Trump said. "I love everybody."
The crowd in Sharonville ate it up.