Trump Stumps In Sunrise
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Despite waiting an hour to see Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump take the stage Wednesday evening, the crowd at the BB & T Center in Sunrise got what they wanted – a chance to see Trump in person and experience the energy of his campaign.
During his nearly hour-long speech, Trump touched on at least a dozen topics in a wide ranging and sometimes rambling speech.
He discussed our nation's infrastructure: "Our roads are bad, our bridges are bad, our tunnels are bad."
His ability to negotiate with the Chinese: "I've made a lot of money dealing with China."
And corporate inversions: "Companies are leaving because our taxes are too high, we're going to change it around."
But his words and digs at the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and President Obama were red meat for his audience, especially on foreign policy.
"(Obama) founded ISIS and I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton," Trump said.
The audience responded on numerous occasions with chants of "Lock her up."
Trump has faced controversy in the past few days over his comments at a North Carolina rally that some said called for a gun owner to assassinate Clinton. Trump said that was not his intent.
He has also dealt with public defections from prominent republicans in recent days. But he boasted that his policies, especially on taxes will help the majority of Americans.
"We're cutting taxes," Trump said. "Hillary Clinton is raising taxes. She's going 1.3 trillion dollars in taxes. Your taxes are going to go up."
Warm-up acts like Diamond and Silk revved up his audience as they awaited Trump.
"I said, 'Are we all on the Trump train?'" they shouted.
Cameras captured disgraced former congressman Mark Foley in the audience just behind Trump. Foley resigned in 2006 after a scandal involving emails to congressional interns.
During the rally, on at least three occasions, police escorted people out following pushing and shoving in the audience. A source told CBS4's Carey Codd that at least two people were arrested for fighting.
But it was the businessman that the crowd came to see. He used charts and strong words to urge people to vote for him in November.
"You are going to be proud of your president but more importantly, you're gonna be more proud than ever before of your country," Trump promised them.
Trump will speak at a rally in Kissimmee on Thursday, focusing in on the voters in the all-important I-4 corridor in Florida. Those voters could very well decide which candidate receives Florida's 29 electoral votes in November.