FAIRFIELD, Conn. — One line or riff alone did not encapsulate Donald Trump’s campaign rally here late Saturday night. Thousands gathered in a stuffy, sweaty gym at Sacred Heart University to hear their candidate opine on a large list of diverse and meandering topics.
Here’s a list of the top 19 quotes from the event in a state that hasn’t voted for a Republican candidate since 1988. In no particular order:
1. Trump threatens to ban the New York Times
Hardly a rally goes by without Trump bashing the media in some form and on Saturday, he took direct aim at the New York Times for a story he wasn't happy about.
Trump: "They wrote a story today, 'anonymous sources have said,' three anonymous sources, anonymous this, anonymous that, they don't use names. I don't really think they have any names, okay? But anonymous sources have said. There are no anonymous sources. You know, with my campaign, I'll be honest with you — it's me, it's me. They never called me. They don't call me. But these are the most dishonest people.”
More: “The newspaper's going to hell. They've got a couple of reporters in that newspaper who are so bad with, I mean, lack of talent. But it's going to hell. So I think maybe what we'll do, maybe we'll start thinking about taking their press credentials away from them. ... You know, when they write dishonest stories, you can't read them, there's so much. You can't read them, there's so much. I'd be reading all day long. When they write dishonest stories, we should be a little bit tough, don't we agree?”
2. Trump is running against the media, not Hillary Clinton
Trump: "I'm not running against crooked Hillary Clinton. I'm running against the crooked media. That's what I’m running against. It's true. I'm not running against crooked Hillary.”
3. Trump makes bid to be agent for Make-A-Wish “wish kid”
Trump was joined at the rally by Giacomo Brancado, a young cancer patient whose introduction to the candidate was made possible by the Make-A-Wish foundation.
Trump: "I was called a month ago by Make-A-Wish. We all know Make-A-Wish, an unbelievable outfit, great, great people, they're great people. And they said there's a young man who wasn't feeling the best and he wanted to meet Donald Trump. Now that's a problem because he's really, really smart but in this case maybe he could've done better, right? But his wish was to meet Donald Trump.”
More: “Giacomo Brancado, 18 years old, he looks like a movie star. I said, Giacomo, you're feeling great, and he's in remission, he is an unbelievable young man, I just was with him backstage. So I want to bring Giacomo up with his family, the Brancado family, and give him a big hand. So I said if I introduce you, Giacomo, with all those cameras — look at those cameras — they're the worst human beings in the world. … But I said if I introduce you with all these cameras, you, with that look, will end up being a movie star.”
Trump added: "Giacomo, I want 10 percent of everything you make."
4. Trump wants cameras out of his rallies
Trump: "If it were up to me, I'd move those damn cameras the hell out and let the people see properly.”
5. Trump concerned he is “depressing” the crowd
Trump: "The U.S. Department of Education reports Connecticut is expected to have the nation's third fastest decline in students enrolled in high school over the next 10 years, it will probably be number one fairly soon, congratulations, people. Hey! Am I depressing everybody?”
6. Trump attacks Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) for exaggerating about serving in Vietnam
Trump revived a controversy from the state’s 2010 Senate race when Linda McMahon, the GOP nominee in the race, criticized Sen. Richard Blumenthal for exaggerating his military service during the Vietnam War. Trump himself received deferments for that conflict.
Trump: "She [McMahon] exposed your Senator as being a total fraud. He said he was in Vietnam or wherever, he was supposed to be this great fighting machine, he went around for years saying that he was a great Vietnam fighter, telling false tales, telling everything. Linda exposed him. ... And he got elected? How the hell do you elect a guy like that?”
7. Trump admits he might lie to voters
Trump: "I might lie to you like Hillary does all the time, but I'll never lie to Giacomo, okay?” (See number 3 above).
8. Trump applauds crowd for braving hot weather – and room
Trump: "The fact that it's about 190 degrees in this room makes me appreciate the people of Connecticut even more so.”
9. It is Trump's opinion (and that of “a lot of people”) that Obama is the founder of ISIS
The candidate has said many things in the past several days about President Obama and ISIS. He called Obama the “founder” of ISIS then claimed he was being “sarcastic” with that characterization, then claimed it was “not that sarcastic.”
On Saturday, Trump said: "It's the opinion of myself and a lot of people that he was the founder of ISIS. Because of his weak policies and because he failed, he failed, because he failed to get them out, because he failed to do something about it, and I said, but they wouldn't let that go along, that he is going to be presented over the next short period of time with the MVP Award.”
10. He calls CNN “disgusting”
Trump: "CNN is disgusting and, by the way, their ratings are going down big league, you know why? Because I refused to be interviewed, and I get high ratings, what can I tell you?”
11. Trump says he never kicked a baby out of his rally
Earlier this month, Trump was criticized for telling the mother of a crying infant to “get the baby out of here,” before saying he was just joking (and then indicating he wasn’t).
Trump: "The media … they said I threw a baby out. It turned out I didn't throw out a baby. In fact, the mother went on television saying how she loves me. I love that mother."
The mother did do the television interview Trump praised — with CNN.
12. Trump brings up Monica Lewinsky’s “blue dress”
Trump brought back up former President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky while he occupied the Oval Office and told the crowd how thankful he was for the infamous “blue dress.”
Trump: "Remember when he said he did not have sex with that woman? Then a couple of weeks later, ‘oh you got me.’ Oh, I'm so glad they kept the dress, I'm so glad they kept that dress, alright? It's great. You know why? Because it shows what the hell they are.”
13. Trump tells crowd they can't move out of Connecticut
Trump described a tough economy in the state, telling the audience: "The good news is you can't move, cause you can't get anything for your house so don't worry about it.”
14. Trump won’t forgive voters if he loses — but he loves them anyway
Trump: “Oh you better elect me folks, I’ll never speak to you again. Can you imagine — can you imagine how badly I’ll feel if I spend all of that money, all of this energy, all of this time, and lost? I will never, ever forgive the people of Connecticut, I will never forgive the people of Florida and Pennsylvania and Ohio. But I love them anyway, we'll see. I think we're gonna do very well.”
15. Trump doesn’t want their money
Trump: "We’re gonna protect our Second Amendment. We’re gonna win so much. What you have to do — don’t send me money. What you have to do on November 8th … don’t even send me money, I don’t want your money! On November 8th, you’ve got to go to those polls and if you can put in your ballots, put 'em in early."
16. What Trump might say if he loses on November 8th
Trump: “Folks, I may be wrong — and on November 8th I’ll say ‘whoop, I guess I was wrong.’”
17. Trump accuses CNN of turning off their cameras
CNN was the “pool” camera for Saturday night’s event, meaning that the network supplied the main televised picture to be shared among the networks. While a storm did interrupt the live picture momentarily, it was not by choice.
Trump: "By the way, you didn’t get what I said. But I loved when CNN turned off its camera, as soon as I started telling you what sleaze they are. … Can you imagine having it on live television? But you know the good thing? Nobody is watching them anyways."
18. Trump calls a protester “Hillary” and tells her to “say hello to Bill” as she was escorted out
Trump, as protestor interrupts and is escorted out: "You know, she looks just like Hillary Clinton actually! Is that Hillary? Hillary, is that you?! Hillary wants to find out how you get these crowds, right? How do you get these crowds? And by the way, hi! Say hello to Bill, Hillary!”
19. Trump is OK with GE moving out of Connecticut as long as it’s not to another country
General Electric is moving its headquarters from Connecticut to Boston, a huge blow to the state he was speaking in. Trump has promised to stop American companies from moving out of the country, but he told Connecticut voters he’s fine with them moving with the borders.
Trump: "General Electric is moving to Boston, okay? See, that’s competition. That’s something you gotta fight for yourselves. Okay? It’s all the same. But General Electric is moving to Boston. Not even moving to Mexico. Or one of these places where they roll out the red carpet."
