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Trump convinced he will win Ohio next month
By Marc Kovac
SPRINGFIELD, OHIO
Declaring his campaign up in the latest polling, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Thursday that he would win Ohio and other swing states en route to a national victory in next month’s presidential election.
That said, Trump urged supporters during a central Ohio stop to make sure to cast their ballots between now and Nov. 8.
“In 12 days, we’re going to win Ohio, we are going to win back the White House,” he said. “Early voting is underway, so make sure, get out and vote, we don’t want to give this away.”
He added, “This is a movement like they’ve never seen in this country before. … We’re going to turn this country around. We’re going to take our country back, and it’s going to be put very quickly on the right track.”
Trump offered the comments Thursday during the first of three rallies in Ohio, with stops later in the day in Toledo and Geneva. He has made several stops in the state in recent days; a week prior, he spoke to a crowd of more than 1,500 at the Delaware County Fairgrounds. Thursday’s event was at another central Ohio fairgrounds, this time in Clark County, where thousands of supporters packed into a dirt-floored pole barn.
The Democratic presidential ticket and its surrogates also have frequented Ohio during these, the final days of the 2016 campaign. Vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine was set to appear at Kenyon College in Gambier during an evening event Thursday.
Democrats didn’t let Trump’s Springfield stop go without comment. In a released statement, that city’s mayor, Warren Copeland, offered, “I personally strongly reject his attitude toward women. Hillary Clinton will build an economy that works for everyone because she believes that making things in America is critical to fostering innovation and our prosperity. Springfield is at a crossroads; we have had some success, but we have more to do. I believe the choice for Springfield in this election is clear: we should elect Hillary Clinton.”
And Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley added in a statement, “I think it’s really rich that he’s deciding to come to the Miami Valley considering this is the place where we’ve seen the amount of jobs lost to bad trade deals. He talks about trade deals but his actions speak louder than his words. This is a guy that dumps steel here from China, the guy that talks about how America’s great, but his ties are made China, his suits in Bangladesh and Mexico.”
As he has during other appearances in Ohio and elsewhere, Trump called Clinton a liar and “the most corrupt person ever to seek the office of the president.”
He also outlined his “Contract with the American Voter,” including term limits for members of Congress. “When we win, we are going to Washington, D.C., and we are going to drain the swamp,” he said.
Trump vowed to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, promised to renegotiate trade deals, citing the North American Free Trade Agreement among the worst policies for the national economy in general and for Ohio in particular.
And Trump reiterated his plans for a wall at the country’s southern border with Mexico and his intentions to deal with ISIS and other Islamic militants.
He added, “Let me say this as clearly as I can: If I’m elected president, I am going to keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country.”