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No Major Violence, Familiar Talking Points At Trump's Arizona Rally

By KJZZ News
Published: Saturday, June 18, 2016 - 4:41pm
Updated: Sunday, June 19, 2016 - 3:23pm
(Photo by Carrie Jung- KJZZ)
Supporters at a Donald Trump rally in Phoenix on June 18, 2016.

Donald Trump rallied a crowd of about 4,500 supporters at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Saturday with promises to reform health care, create more jobs and attack ISIS.

The venue was a little less than half full, but the crowd was enthusiastic when Trump mentioned policies such as tax cuts for small businesses and the middle class.

"I think he’s done a great job of getting people inspired and back in the voting process and the democratic process," said Arizona resident Garrison Leach.

Other attendees told KJZZ they came because they don’t love anyone running for president.

"Do I like everything about him? Absolutely not," said Valley resident Linda Kleist. "Do I like the important things to me? Yes."

Here’s what Trump had to say about:

Economic policy

In his travels around the country, Trump said he has seen the negative impact manufacturing jobs leaving the country.

"You would see factories that were vibrant,vibrant, 20,25 years ago and now they're worthless,” Trump said. “They're sitting there rusting, rotting and falling down."

Trump blamed companies such as Carrier, which manufactures air-conditioning units, for relocating their operations to Mexico.

In one of the only specific policy references of the rally, Trump said he would levy a 35 percent tax on every Carrier unit imported to the U.S.

U.S.-Mexico Border

Trump touted endorsements from former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, the National Border Patrol Council and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

“If we’re not strong on the border, we’re going to lose our country,” Trump said.

He repeated a promise to build a wall that stretches the span of the nearly 2,000 mile border. There is currently just over 652 miles of pedestrian and vehicle fence on the border.

Trump said he does want to encourage legal migration, but provided no specifics on how he would accomplish that.

The Republican National Convention

Trump made little reference to current poll numbers, several of which show him behind presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton nationally.

He also dismissed recent rumors that a group of Republican delegates were organizing an “anything but Trump” drive to potentially block his nomination at the Republican Convention next month.

“It’s not legal. You can’t do it,” Trump said. “Second of all, the Republican National Committee is with me 100  percent. Reince Priebus, a very good guy, he said ‘this is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard.’ Third of all, I think it’s just a pure fabrication by the press.”

Trump said he gave vast amounts of money to previous Republican candidates, but considered himself an outside candidate.

"As soon as I ran I became an insurgent,” Trump said. "You know why? Because I'm going to do what's right for you, not what's right for them."

Trump’s speech lasted just over 40 minutes.

Arizona has historically supported Republican presidential nominees. Mitt Romney won Arizona 54 percent to 44 percent in the 2012 presidential election.


Hundreds of law enforcement offices ensure security

Phoenix police and the Arizona Department of Public Safety  deployed hundreds of officers in and around Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Most of them were not needed, said Capt. Damon Cecil, with DPS.

“We actually had a really successful event on the security side because we had no major violence, no major arrests,” Cecil said.

Cecil said one person was ejected from the event for wearing an offensive shirt. Two people were arrested, cited and released for minor consumption of alcohol on the fairgrounds. Phoenix firefighters treated four patients for heat-related symptoms.

KJZZ's Matthew Casey, Casey Kuhn, Carrie Jung and Mariana Dale contributed to this report.

Politics