By Alex Lloyd Gross
Running a Presidential Campaign is expensive. Especially, if you are losing, money goes out faster than it comes in. So was the case for Chris Christie Governor of New Jersey. He ran a campaign that went nowhere except into the red. When he suspended it, there were bills to be paid and not enough money to pay them with. Enter Republican front runner Donald Trump.
He and Christie buried the hatchet and Trump agreed to come to Lawrence Twp for a fundraiser to help pay down the bills. Christie now heads the transition team for Trump. So for about 30minutes, Trump spoke to a crowd of about 1500 people that paid $200.00 each. Make no mistake about it, Trump was in very friendly territory at the national Guard Armory. The protesters were kept across the street where they carried signs and chanted profanity directed at Trump. The candidate arrived by helicopter and never saw or heard any of them.
Chants of “Build the Wall” interrupted the Donald’s talk, “Oh, we’ll build the wall alright, it will be big and it will be beautiful”, he said. More applause. Trump was right on the money when he talked about imposing a heavy tariff on American companies that ship manufacturing to Mexico or other countries. The protesters outside wanted to chastise Trump for his position on building walls and not bridges. Truth be told, too many immigrants come here illegally.They set up shop and hurt the country. The drive vehicles with no insurance and when they kill people in an accident, there is nothing but a sorry for the family of the victims. That happens frequently in southern border towns. Trump wants them to come here legally.
Whenever he mentioned Hillary, the crowd would boo.They wanted him to call her “Crooked Hillary”. They were like children listening to a story, applauding at their favorite parts. The rally was set up like a concert, festival seating. It you did not get there quick you were relegated to the back and it was difficult to see Trump. Couple that with every idiot holding a cell phone that will record the same shaky video of 100 arms holding cellphones and you get the picture. Actually you don’t. It was hot and crowded. It was difficult to see. The best position to see anything was on the press risers in the back. People in the front could not leave to use the restroom.
Trump has a horrible habit of antagonizing the media,then complaining his coverage is less than fair. Trump helped Christie pay some of his bills with this rally. One thing people are wondering is Trumps position on the minimum wage. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have vowed to raise it. Trump has not. A bill to raise the state Minimum wage to $10.10 per hour has been passed by the New Jersey legislature and will be coming to the governors desk for a signature. before the end of the year. It’s an election year and Christie would be wise to sign it.
There were no fights or ejections from the rally. Everyone was well behaved, except towards the end when the crowd rushed the barricade to meet Trump. He shook a few hands and left quickly. The event carried no signage for the Trump campaign. All credentials were bought and paid for by Chris Christie for President Inc.