Melania Trump Stumps in Berwyn
Melania Trump in Berwyn, PA (photo: Sun Herald)
(Berwyn, PA) The doors opened at noon at the Main Line Sports Center in Berwyn for a rally featuring Melania Trump. The wife of Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump spoke to supporters in an indoor soccer arena. The attendees were predominantly older and white with a few millennials mixed in. Loudspeakers blared the Rolling Stones, Puccini’s Turnadot and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Born on the Bayou played for suburban Philadelphians.
The warm up act consisted of a Chester County Chair of the Trump Campaign who referred to herself as “The Sheriff of Nottingham” and Carrie Arnold, who was introduced as the “National Federation of Republican Woman Chairman.”
Arnold addressed the question of why there are women standing by Trump:
“They have tried to bully us into voting us into voting for Hillary. They’ve tried shocking us. They’ve even tried to scare us . . . they’re desperate ploys don’t work.”
There were about 600 supporters present, the campaign did not release official numbers. In attendance was Norm D’Agostini, a dentist from Phoenixville. He had supported Trump since the primary.
“He was the tip of the spear in terms of his ability to say it in a common language which everybody would understand.”
An immigrant himself, D’Agostini repeated why he believed Trump’s presidency is vital: “I feel strongly in what America has done for me . . . has done for my family. And I really feel strongly that that is being undermined by forces that are very subtle, but I feel that he has tapped into government of the people, by the people, for the people.” He referred to that “force” as one of “destruction” from the “state taking over.”
When Melania Trump took the stage, it was her first campaign speech since the Republican Convention in July. She kept a low profile since she delivered a convention speech that had been plagiarized from a speech First Lady Michelle Obama gave at the 2008 Democratic Convention.
She spoke of her youth in the Soviet Bloc: “I grew up in a small town in Slovenia. . . that was back then under Communist rule . . . we always knew of an incredible place called America . . .”
She talked about her admiration for Republican icons to great applause: “When I was ten years old, we learned that a man called Ronald Reagan was elected president . . .”
She talked about her love for modeling and how it brought her to America. Trump offered the platitudes spouses usually share about candidates – his love of family, his love of country and yes, he can be a bit of a rascal: “He certainly knows how to shake things up, doesn’t he?” That elicited applause as well.
Trump also spoke in detail about her desire to address bullying. She implied this would be the focus of her work as First Lady, though she didn’t suggest any specific initiatives.
“It is never OK when a twelve year old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked, it is terrible when that happens on the playground and it is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding behind the internet.”
Trump ended her speech on a positive note. “We must treat each other with respect and kindness, even when we disagree.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump appeared at a rally in Florida, remarking on his opponent’s email issues “Here we go again with the Clintons — you remember the impeachment and the problems.”
