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Interview: The Trump Train Stops In Reno

Robert Petersen

We're about a month away from Election Day and Reno just had a visit from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday. Our News Director Michelle Billman was there and she relayed the details to our host Steve Shadley. Let's take a listen. 

Steve Shadley: Michelle, you were at the Donald Trump rally at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. What were your key takeaways from his speech?

Michelle Billman: It was a large crowd; several thousand people came out, pretty energetic. You know, it was pretty familiar talking points. Trump didn't branch out and say anything brand new, but he did talk a lot about the importance of creating and keeping jobs here in the U.S., lowering taxes, and then, of course, building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. And what's fairly new about the immigration discussion is the fact that Trump was recently endorsed by the union that represents officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE. Anytime the wall or the ICE endorsement came up, just loud applause and cheers to build that wall coming from that Reno audience. 

He briefly touched on issues specific to Nevada. He talked about conserving natural resources for hunters and tackling some drug addiction problems we've had in the state. And then, sort of awkwardly, he made the point to say "Nev-AH-dah" several times and I could tell the crowd was a little confused about how to respond to that. 

One thing that was missing from the rally, missing from many political rallies that I've covered for sure, was a real discussion of concrete strategies for actually delivering on the promises being made. 

Credit Michelle Billman

SS: Now, Hillary Clinton has recently been criticized for calling Trumps' supporters a basket of deplorables. I'm assuming that came up...

MB: Yeah, that was a major theme of the event. Before Trump even spoke, there were several speakers introducing him, sort of warming up the crowd. They included Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt and Representative Mark Amodei and a few others as well. They all seemed to make references to it. Let's hear how Donald Trump brought it up in his speech:

"And remember what Hillary Clinton said: "basket of deplorables?" No, the greatest people on earth. And you're irredeemable? I don't think so, right. I think the "irredeemable" might be worse. No, she doesn't get it."

MB: I also saw a lot of people in the crowd wearing T-shirts that said, 'I'm a deplorable.' And you can hear from Trump's remarks that the campaign is really trying to use that phrasing, whether or not it was taken out of context from what Hillary Clinton was saying--and there have certainly been conversations about that--but trying to use that phrasing to bring supporters together and create a sense of camaraderie. 

Pamela Nicolay and Ginger Keyes drove in from Placerville, California to hear Trump speak in Reno.

SS: And before the rally got underway, you had the chance to speak to several people attending this event. What did you hear from them?

MB: I spoke to a few small business owners, a few parents, and also a lot of people who seemed to drive in from California. They felt so impassioned about this election and their support for Donald Trump that they drove several hours to be here. They were really concerned about the economy, about taxes and regulations for their businesses, and about the job opportunities for their children.

There was also a common thread with a lot of the folks I spoke to: they really seemed to connect with the fact that Trump is not a career politician. Let's listen to Jeff Nichols. He owns a small barber shop in Carson City:

"He just talks like a regular guy, like one of my buddies sitting across, you know, the table from me. It's just something I can relate to and a lot of my friends and customers all say the same thing. He doesn't offend us in the least bit."

 
MB: And that was, like I said, a common thread. I heard several people saying, 'We can trust Donald Trump. He speaks our language. We can related to him. And he's not more of the same,' meaning more establishment politicians.
 

Michelle Billman is a former news director at KUNR Public Radio.
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