Trump Stops Rally, Invites Unexpected Guest To Join Him on Stage
Donald Trump gets plenty of love from coal miners for his stance on energy and mining. At a rally in North Dakota, Trump gave a bit of that love back.
The rally took place in Fargo in support of Kevin Cramer, the Republican Party’s challenger to Democrat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. This seat in North Dakota is seen as one of the more difficult seats for the Dems to hold on to.
There was plenty of love for Cramer, mind you. However, the president also showed some serious respect for one particular miner in the audience.
He began by talking about the Obama administration and his infamous prediction that the jobs that were lost weren’t coming back.
“Well, President Obama said you won’t have manufacturing jobs anymore, they’re, not around they’re around, because if you look at what I’ve done for your coal industry, it’s incredible,” the president said. “We had a man who is in the mining business. He said, ‘Sir, what you’ve done for the coal industry is incredible because we were dead and now we’re vibrant again.’
“Where is he? Where is that guy? Where — shout out your name, please. Come up here,” Trump said.
When the man was vetted by the Secret Service and got up on stage, he said that under Obama, “the coal industry absolutely had the boot of government on its throat.”
“Many, many jobs were lost,” the miner said, “and many towns were destroyed by this. It was just a horrible thing.
“Horrible suffering happened in this country. Really for made-up reasons, I think. And what your administration does — has done — is bringing us back to life,” he added, bringing a cheer from the crowd.
“Jobs have been created, families now have an opportunity to provide for themselves and have a great future and education, and small towns in North Dakota and other places really survived because they’ve got a great coal mine — they’ve got a great power plant.”
“It’s what America is about,” he added. “It’s great to see that we again care about those things. So thank you, Mr. President.”
That’s the kind of endorsement you can’t buy, and Trump knew it.
“I could stand up here and talk about coal for a half an hour,” the president said.
“And I couldn’t do as good a job as he just did. Because, seriously, he’s in the business.”
Will that be enough to get Kevin Cramer into the Senate this November? Only time will tell, but that’s the kind of thing that Republicans should probably like hearing.
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