Given rambling speeches and personal attacks over policy talk, supporters wonder if events do more harm than good

As Donald Trump emerged to a thunderous roar of approval in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Rust belt, he was back in his comfort zone among the people who once put him in power.

But by the time he stepped off the stage nearly two hours later, even some of the former US president’s supporters were wondering whether his rallies are doing his re-election campaign more harm than good.

“He reminded me why I’m not going to vote for him this time,” said Jenny, a local businesswoman who did not want to give her full name because she didn’t want to alienate customers.

“I voted for him in 2016 and had a Trump flag in the front yard. I voted for him again in 2020 but didn’t put the flag out that time. I’ve been thinking of voting for him again because Biden’s been so bad for the economy and Kamala won’t be any better. But after listening to that, I’m actually afraid of Trump being president again. I don’t know what he was talking about half the time. Perhaps he was always like that but he seems worse, more unstable.”

    • Lupus@feddit.org
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      4 months ago

      Seeing him ramble in a video is bad already, but to write his nonsense out makes it so much worse, it’s hilarious.

      I heard the other day – And this isn’t anything, I’m just saying. They’ll say ‘he was rambling.’ I don’t ramble. I’m a really smart guy. You know, I’m really smart. I don’t ramble. But the other day – any time I hit too hard, they say he was rambling. Rambling?

      You know, I get up, and I make a speech, I go for sometimes two hours, two and half hours because, you know, people are waiting outside for three days, four days. You guys were waiting out there for a long time! Front Row Joes are waiting, I don’t know how you guys do it.
      
      And I feel I have an obligation to speak, and speak in a certain way, and speak a little bit longer. You know, how would you like it, a guy’s waiting with his family for three and a half, four days. They have a tent and the tent is set up. They have hundreds of them, and they wait. And then I walk in, speak for 15 minutes and leave. I don’t know somehow, would that be okay, North Carolina? I don’t think so. Right.
      
      They want me to speak all day. You know, when I leave – I did one, two hours and 15 minutes and I’m leaving and they’re screaming, no, sir. More. We want to hear more. I can’t, I can’t speak more. What the hell else am I going to say? Our country is going to hell. That’s all I can say. We’re a nation in decline.
      
      You know, we were talking about that before. My phrases are copied so much, right? I use I use the term, often times in closing, we are a nation in decline. We are a failed nation. And I think it’s a beautiful phrase. Although I don’t like the topic very much, I don’t like what it represents. But there’s a certain beauty. All of a sudden all of these candidates, including Republicans, are saying we are a nation in decline. We are a failing nation. And I say, you know, what the hell do they have to copy me for? Right?
      
      But they have a lot of words that they copy. Many of our words. We were in the plane before coming in, and our people said we went through a list. I think we’re going to release a list, let’s release it. But so many of our phrases they copy. I should be really, that should be a nice thing, not an insult. But crazy Bernie Sanders has said a lot of things…
      
      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Just posted much the same, but you’ve given me an epiphany. In forums like this we cannot imagine how Trump has any support. I mean FFS, have these people not read any of what he… Oh.

      • Iapar@feddit.org
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        4 months ago

        “Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I’m one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it’s true! — but when you’re a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are — nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what’s going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? — but when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it’s four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it’s all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don’t, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible.”

      • gothic_lemons@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Yo I kinda really want to start a trump “volunteer” group where we go door to door and pass out flyers. But the flyers are just quotes of trump like this.