In a politically charged town hall meeting held in La Crosse, Wisconsin, former President Donald Trump and former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard took center stage, engaging in a vigorous discussion about pressing issues facing America today.
The event attracted a packed audience, eager to hear Trump’s views on everything from immigration and economic hardship to national security and social policies.
Gabbard began the discussion by sharing a deeply personal story about her struggles with infertility and the challenges of in vitro fertilization (IVF). She highlighted concerns that some of Trump’s critics claim he wants to ban IVF.
“I just know that there are women and couples in this crowd who may be going through this same struggle,” she said, inviting Trump to address these fears directly.
Trump responded unexpectedly by expressing support for IVF, stating, “I kept hearing that I’m against it, but I’m actually very much for it.”
“In fact, in Alabama, where a judge ruled against it, I countered the judge and came out with a very strong statement for it. The Alabama legislature was very quick in its response. They were amazing. They virtually approved my statement…” Trump added.
He outlined plans to potentially mandate insurance coverage for IVF treatments and eliminate taxes on related expenses.
“I said, “So with the tips and with the Social Security, no taxes on Social Security, maybe for IVF,” and I’ve been looking at it. What we’re going to do is, for people that are using IVF, which is fertilization, the government is going to pay for it, or we’re going to get or mandate your insurance company to pay for it. We’re going to do that.”
The town hall also provided a platform for Trump to outline his plans to revive American industry, particularly in the manufacturing sector. He promised to bring back jobs to states like Michigan, which have been hit hard by the outsourcing of manufacturing to countries like Mexico and China.
“We’re going to bring back the car industry, and we’re going to get a lot of it back to Michigan. They’ve been taking our cars away. They’ve been taking our manufacturing away over years, over decades. If you look at it today, it’s a shell of what it was years ago, but we’re going to bring it back. Mexico is, right now, building massive car factories, actually being financed and built by China. They think they’re going to sell their cars back into our country. It’s not going to happen. That’s not going to happen.”
“The union leadership has been horrible. I’m going to win by 85% with the union because we’re bringing it back. We’re going to have electric cars, but we’re going to have gasoline-powered cars, or we’re going to have hybrids,” Trump said.
Trump did not hold back in his critique of Marxist Kamala Harris. He blamed Harris for the current regime’s failures, particularly in managing the border crisis and handling economic issues.
“I call her “Comrade Kamala.” You know that. She’s a Marxist. Her father was a Marxist before her, so she was brought up in the family tradition. She really is, and this country is not ready for a Marxist. We don’t want a Marxist as a President. She destroyed San Francisco. She destroyed California. We’re not going to let her destroy our country. I’ll tell you, it’s not going to happen.”
The conversation quickly turned to immigration, a topic that has long been central to Trump’s platform. An audience member, Amber from Cameron, Wisconsin, expressed concerns about the impact of illegal immigration on job opportunities for her children.
Trump responded by blasting the current regime’s handling of the border, stating that “millions and millions” of illegal immigrants are taking jobs from Americans, particularly from minority communities. He vowed to “close the border, really close it” if re-elected.
Amber: I have three beautiful children, and I’m torn on who to support. My youngest daughter is here tonight. My oldest son is 18, and he just started trade school this week. I’m very proud of him. My concern is that illegal immigration is threatening opportunities for my children. I worry that it’s taking away jobs from Americans. I’m wondering, what will you do about that?
Trump: I’ll tell you, we have the people that I’m talking about. They’re pouring in at levels never seen before. They’re coming in by millions and millions, and a lot of them are taking jobs from the Black population, the Hispanic population, and unions are going to be very badly affected because… And I was talking to some of the union heads who I actually do get along with, but they’re very concerned about it because the people that are coming in are just taking… It’s going to start with the Black population.
African-Americans are losing their jobs. I don’t know if you heard the latest statistic that of the jobs that these people created, which is very little, every single job was taken, about 107% was taken by illegal immigrants.
There’s been no job creation from them. The jobs were filled by illegal immigrants. With all of that being said, I want to give you a very positive answer. We’re going to win this election.
We’re going to turn this country around. We’re going to become an unbelievable growth country, and your boy is going to have that job he did, and you want to have a lot of choices with jobs.
Luke Pulaski, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, raised concerns about rising inflation and the cost of living. Trump laid the blame squarely on the Biden administration’s energy policies, which he said have driven up prices across the board.
Pulaski: I’ll be voting for the first time in November, and I’m researching each candidate. I have two questions for you. First, as I’ve been living on my own and buying my own gas and groceries, I’ve noticed that everything has become more expensive.
For me, personally, I try to eat healthy and stay lean. A pound of meat has gone from $4 to almost $7. I also would like to buy a home someday, but that seems just impossible now. What’s your plan to make life more affordable and bring down inflation for someone like me?
Trump: It’s probably the question I get most. They say you’re going to vote with your stomach. I don’t know if you’ve heard it, but it’s a little bit true. And groceries, food, have gone up at levels that nobody’s ever seen before. We’ve never seen anything like it, 50%, 60%, 70%.
You take a look at bacon and some of these products, and some people don’t eat bacon anymore. We are going to get the energy prices down. When we get energy down… This was caused by their horrible energy, wind. They want wind all over the place. But when it doesn’t blow, we have a little problem. This was caused by energy. This was really caused by energy and also their unbelievable spending. T
They’re spending us out of wealth, actually. They’re taking our wealth away. But it was caused by energy. And what they’ve done is they started cutting way back. We were in third place. When I left, we were by far in first place, beating Russia, beating Saudi Arabia. And we were going to dominate to a level that we’ve never seen before.
[…]
We’re going to become the energy capital of the world. We’re going to pay down our debt, and we’re going to reduce your taxes still further. And your groceries [Pulaski] are going to come tumbling down, and your interest rates are going to come tumbling down, and then you’re going to go out, you’re going to buy a beautiful house. Okay? You’re going to buy a beautiful house. That’s called the American dream. The American dream.
As the event drew to a close, the conversation turned to national security and the upcoming anniversary of September 11th. An audience member named Bernardo expressed concerns about the threat of radical Islamic terrorism and questioned how the country could protect itself from another attack.
Trump responded by highlighting his administration’s record of keeping radical Islamists out of the country and criticized the current administration for its lax border policies.
Bernardo: I’m also a father of eight. I have seven here with me. The anniversary of 9/11 is coming up. I’m concerned that we’re more vulnerable now than ever. We have a Democrat nominee who doesn’t even want to say the words, says we shouldn’t say the words “radical Islamic terror.” How are we going to protect America from a terrorist attack?
Trump: We have radical Islamists pouring into our country along with everybody else right now. They’re coming in at levels that nobody’s ever seen before. We kept them out. We had one year where Border Patrol put down… It was, I believe, 2019, and I don’t believe this. I don’t believe it’s right, but I’ll take it. They said zero came in in 2019. That was my term—zero. Now we have thousands. I’d like to say that was true. It’s probably not because I can’t imagine that, but we were very tough on that.
Now they have thousands and thousands coming in, along with the prisoners and along with the crime. Remember, a lot of these countries like Venezuela, their crime is way down because they moved their criminals into our country. It’s not even believable. But your question on Islamists and all of the jihad and all of the things that they talk about, they have to respect your country. They have to respect your leader. I had no radical Islamist crime for four years, and I didn’t want to talk about it…
I didn’t want to say, “I had absolutely,” and the next day, you get hit. But we had none—four years of it—because they respected your President, they respected your country, and we have to bring back that level of respect, and we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it. We’re not letting the wrong people into our country.
You can watch the full 38-minute town hall below:
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