Thousands of people Wednesday gathered at the State Fairgrounds to cheer Donald Trump, the first of the three remaining Republican presidential candidates to visit Indiana, who focused his speech primarily on trade and the economy.
Trump made sure to repeatedly mention Carrier, which recently announced it was shutting down its Indianapolis facility to move production to Mexico, a move that will cost Indiana around 1,400 jobs. Trump says, as president, he wouldn’t allow a company to leave the country without consequences.
“You’re gonna pay a damn tax when you leave this country and you think you’re gonna sell product because we’re all so stupid,” he said.
Trump also railed against what he calls the “broken” and “rigged” Republican nomination process.
“The only way we can beat the dishonest, rigged system is by you continuing to come out and vote,” he said. “You’re gonna get your chance in a few weeks.”
There were small groups of protesters who occasionally interrupted the rally. They were promptly removed without any serious confrontations.
When dealing with protesters, Trump mostly shouted at them to ‘get out,” though at one point had a sort of dialogue with his supporters about the protesters.
“He’s screaming, ‘Put him in jail.’ Would you want to go to jail? I don’t think so, no. I don’t want to ruin his life,” he said. “He was told to do it by somebody.”
In a statement, the Indiana Democratic Party slammed the Trump visit, calling him “dangerous” and “dishonest.”