Clinton’s supporters undaunted by candidate’s very late arrival

There is a lot to take away from the recent Hillary Clinton rally at Youngstown’s East High School.

First, the Democratic presidential nominee – along with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, her vice presidential running mate, and their spouses – was extraordinarily late arriving at the event.

The rally was to start at 7:45 p.m. The campaign emailed me around midnight that day to say the event was being pushed back from a 7:15 p.m. start time. Events such as these rarely start on time, but it wasn’t until 9:30 p.m. that U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, addressed the crowd. Clinton, Kaine and spouses didn’t arrive inside the stifling-hot East High gymnasium until 10:20 p.m.

Clinton said the delay was because “we ran into a lot of thunderstorms, and it slowed us down. I really appreciate all of you waiting.” It rained a lot, but she isn’t known for being on time.

The wait was incredible with some people standing in that gym for five hours.

However, the crowd loudly chanted “Hillary, Hillary” on and off before she arrived. And when she showed up, the place exploded with cheers.

The excitement was significantly greater at East High on Saturday than it was at M7 Technologies in Youngstown, where Clinton spoke at a rally on March 12, three days before the Ohio primary.

Since her acceptance speech last week at the Democratic National Convention, Clinton has been in general-election mode.

At East High, she spent a lot of time attacking Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.

Trump delivers stump speeches spending nearly every moment bashing Clinton.

At Saturday’s event, Clinton spoke about her economic plan, but also sharply criticized Trump. And it was the shots at Trump that drew the most enthusiasm from a crowd that was likely exhausted.

“When you run for president, it’s kind of like a giant job interview,” she said. “If you were interviewing somebody to hire and that person came in to see you and that person spent all of his time insulting and scapegoating and blaming other people, and then got up and left your office, you’d be kind of wondering ‘what does that person do?’ I think it is fair to say he is temperamentally unfit and unqualified to be president and commander-in-chief.”

Clinton then essentially told the crowd that she believes Trump has some sort of mental condition.

“This is not a normal election. Donald Trump is not a normal presidential candidate. Somebody who attacks everybody has something missing. I don’t know what it is. I’m not going to get into that.”

Recognizing that Trump did exceptionally well in the Mahoning Valley during the March GOP presidential primary, Clinton urged those in attendance to persuade their friends who are backing her opponent to support her. Good luck with that.

“I know that there are people here in the Mahoning Valley who think they want to support Trump,” she said. “I just want you to try to have a conversation with them. I want you to ask them please to look at the facts.”

Clinton spent much time questioning Trump’s business practices saying she takes “really personally” what Trump has done to small businesses and workers. This is a point she will continue to make as she tries to convince blue-collar workers that Trump is not going to help them if elected president. “Person after person has come forward to say the same thing. I got the contract, I did the work, he wouldn’t pay me. I’m talking about plumbers and painters, glass installers, marble installers, all kinds of people. And then what happens is, you know, they do the work, [when] they go to get paid, he or his minions say, ‘No, we’re not going to pay you.’ And, you know, it’s a kind of like a shock. ‘What do you mean you’re not going to pay me?’ They say, ‘If you don’t like it, go sue us.’ Well, if you’re a small-business person, you can’t afford to sue a guy who puts his name on big buildings all over the place, has a battalion of lawyers. This man has been sued 3,500 times. He plays the odds. ‘A lot of people won’t sue me. A lot of people will give up if they try. So maybe at the end we’ll have to pay them 50 cents, 30 cents on the dollar.’ That is so wrong, and it is something, it is something, that people who have been treated like this are coming to the forefront to speak out about. Because, you know what? They don’t want America being treated by Donald Trump the way they were treated by Donald Trump.”

Clinton vowed to return to the Mahoning Valley. There’s no doubt she’ll be back and Trump will campaign here, too.

Hopefully future campaign stops will be at venues that can hold everyone who wants to be there rather than a small high school gym limited to 1,200 people by the fire marshal, forcing about 400 people who arrived to sit in the nearby cafeteria and could only hear Clinton speak. Some just went home.

Trump didn’t pick a better location when he campaigned in the Valley on March 14, the day before the primary. He spoke at Winner Aviation at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, a place that can hold a lot of people but has inadequate parking. It’s been a favorite location for Republican presidential and vice-presidential candidates over the years, but there’s no easy way to get in or out of there.

As important as location is working harder to stay on schedule. Be on time!