HOT SPRINGS -- More than 1,000 people turned out Friday to see Republican presidential contender Donald Trump, who was defiant in the face of critics of his comments on immigration and confident in his ability to negotiate trade deals and create jobs.
Trump said his rise in the polls has been because of plain talk. He said politicians -- other than Gov. Asa Hutchinson and other public figures in the room, Trump added -- were all talk and no action.
"The problem we have, and the problem the American people have, is they see it," Trump said. "They're really smart. It's amazing."
Trump spoke at the Hot Springs Convention Center during the Reagan-Rockefeller dinner -- the largest fundraiser of the year for the state Republican Party. Tickets cost $150 for a dinner seat or $350 for two people to attend the reception and dinner -- plus a photo opportunity with Trump. Speech-only tickets were $75.
Dinner tickets sold out. A few dozen riser seats were empty.
"The American people were clearly hungry for someone who's plain-spoken, who speaks honestly and doesn't hold back. They don't like focus group-tested messages and phrases and words," said state Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, who introduced Trump. "Sometimes you have to rock the boat in order to save the ship."
Trump reiterated several past comments. He said he would secure the Hispanic vote and would be "the greatest jobs president God ever created."
"I turned out to be 100 percent right on illegal immigration," he said. "They like that I didn't go back."
Trump said in a June 16 speech in New York: "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."
During a question-and-answer session with reporters before his speech, Trump said the Marines killed in Chattanooga, Tenn., should have been armed. He referred to a 2009 shooting in Little Rock, where Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, a convert to Islam, opened fire at the Little Rock Army-Navy Career Center on Rodney Parham Road.
"These are people who truly know how to protect themselves and other people. They know how to use the guns," Trump said. "And you had the same problem in '09. You had the problem where you had Islamic terrorism."
Trump focused his speech on his ability to negotiate and achieve victories. He chided Secretary of State John Kerry for falling off a bicycle and injuring himself. He said Americans looked like fools in the recent nuclear deal with Iran.
"I promise you one thing," he said. "As president, I won't be in any bicycle races."
Trump asked audience members when was the last time America achieved a significant win. He said Kerry should have pressed the Iranians to release Americans held in the country.
"That's why they're dancing in the streets. You don't see anyone dancing in the street in Arkansas. I can tell you that," he said.
"It's so sad to see because we have such opportunity, but we have such stupid people representing us. It's clear and simple."
Trump said President Barack Obama is a terrible cheerleader. After the shootings in a black church in Charleston, S.C., Trump said the country needed "spirit" to overcome division.
The real estate mogul said he had proved commentators wrong by running -- and would continue to do so.
"They said he'll never run, the genius pundits," Trump said. "Then they said they'd never fill out his forms. Well, I did that three weeks ago. Then they said he'll never file his financials."
"The bottom line is that I'm running. I'm going to make this country so strong and you're going to be so proud."
Before Trump's speech, Miss Arkansas 2014, Ashton Campbell, sang "God Bless the USA." After the speech, Doyle Webb, chairman of the state Republican Party, presented Trump with a Henry repeating rifle.
"We hope you fire it a lot," Webb said.
Metro on 07/18/2015