POLITICS

Trump enthralls his handpicked audience

Zach Despart
Free Press Staff Writer
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump looks on as protesters are removed during his speech at the Flynn Theater in Burlington on Thursday.

Someone in Donald Trump's camp, or perhaps the candidate himself, must have worried about how friendly an audience Trump would find in Burlington, the liberal bastion where rival Bernie Sanders began his political career.

The campaign's solution was crude yet simple: as attendees filed into the Flynn Center for a Trump rally Thursday evening, his staff barred people who refused to pledge allegiance to the candidate.

For 70 minutes Thursday evening, Trump, the leading Republican presidential candidate, enthralled a capacity crowd. Although he was unable to prevent all protesters from entering the theater, Trump stifled any large demonstrations that would have given the impression the candidate was unwelcome in Burlington.

Rally attendees said they were surprised to be confronted with a loyalty test at the theater's entrance.

"There was a man in a suit who asked us if we were Trump supporters,” said Jennifer Vincent of South Burlington. “A couple ahead of us said they weren’t, and they were escorted out."

Burlington City Councilor Joan Shannon refused to declare herself a Trump supporter and also was barred. Shannon, the former council president, said she was flabbergasted Trump would weed out people who simply wanted to hear the candidate speak.

“What was the point of tickets exactly?” Shannon said. “It was incredibly dishonest.”

Trump defended the tactic.

"We have more than 20,000 people that showed up for 1,400 spots,” the billionaire New York businessman said in a statement to the Burlington Free Press. “I'm taking care of my people, not people who don't want to vote for me or are undecided. They are loyal to me, and I am loyal to them."

The Trump campaign was within its rights to refuse admittance to anyone, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said.

“They have the right to say who’s trespassing in violation of their lease agreement, so when people are asked to leave, police escort them out,” the chief told the Free Press. He said that campaigns remove people from events “all the time” whom they do not wish to have attend.

A supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds up signs before Trump's speech at the Flynn Theater in Burlington on Thursday.

From the stump

Trump, in a dark suit with red tie, spoke without the aid of a Teleprompter. In front of a backdrop bearing his campaign slogan, "Make America great again," Trump meandered between topics without warning and occasionally without context. Some topics, such as a long aside about the Iran nuclear deal, left listeners scratching their heads.

Others, such as a staunch defense of gun rights and a proposal to build a wall along the United States-Mexico border, brought the crowd to its feet. Among the ideas: Eliminate all gun-free zones.

He attacked Republicans and Democrats alike — including Republican rivals former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Democrats President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is the leading candidate for her party's presidential nomination.

Trump’s thesis was simple: the United States is failing under poor leadership, and he will right the ship. He eschewed policy proposals in favor of sentimental references to America’s past.

“We need Douglas MacArthur, we need General Patton,” Trump said, referencing the 20th-century military leaders. “We need great people. These were people who won.”

Trump made few references to Vermont, other than a few jabs at Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is vying for the presidential nomination in the Democratic Party.

As hard as his campaign tried, a few dozen protesters evaded detection and slipped into the theater. At least six times, groups interrupted Trump.

"Get 'em out!," Trump barked, as his supporters shouted down protesters with an almost religious fervor. Trump egged them on, and criticized Burlington police for not removing dissenters more quickly. Once, he suggested police should throw a man out into the January evening without his coat.

Each time he would continue, with the same topic or by launching into another. Trump was blunt and unapologetic. His supporters loved him.

"He's going to be a great president," Lynn Doney of Northfield said after the speech.

Victoria Carter of Burlington agreed.

"It's a night I will take to my grave," Carter said. "Just about everything he said was something I had thought a long time ago."

Other Burlington residents were unimpressed. Sanders said Thursday night that Trump would be a poor candidate.

“There are people who disagree with me who I respect. There are conservatives I regard as friends,” Sanders said. “But this guy is a pathological liar.”

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Flynn Theater in Burlington on Jan. 7.

City leaders angered

An hour before the rally began, Flynn Center Executive Director John Killacky was incensed with Trump campaign staff who distributed hundreds of placards to the audience. Killacky said in leasing the theater, the campaign had agreed to a prohibition on signs.

"Now there's a box of Trump things being distributed, so I stopped them," said Killacky, his voice wavering with anger.

Moments earlier, when Killacky and another Flynn employee confronted campaign staff about the signs, a Trump staff member accused the theater of being Sanders supporters.

The ugly confrontation, in which the young man shouted and shook his finger at a theater employee, was one of many incidents where the campaign had managed to offend well-meaning Burlington officials who had tried to accommodate Trump.

Although Trump spent mere hours in Vermont, his deputies managed to upset several city officials.

Tuesday, Trump's camp flummoxed Burlington police with the admission the campaign had distributed more than 20,000 tickets for the 1,400-seat theater. Chief Brandon del Pozo said the prospect of thousands rejected ticket holders placed an unreasonable burden on his officers.

After the rally, Trump declared 25,000 had lined up to see him speak. Del Pozo pegged that figure at 2,000 people, with another 700 demonstrating outside.

Mayor Miro Weinberger, angry Trump's campaign refused to take measures to accommodate ticket supporters unable to enter the Flynn, pledged Wednesday to send the campaign a bill for extra expenses incurred by city public-safety employees who corralled the throngs of people.

Weinberger, who watched the crowds from his City Hall office across the street from the theater, took Trump to task for forcing city police to handle the overflow crowds.

Trump: Protesters make night more exciting

“Seeing Mr. Trump himself apparently tweeting that they’re going to take care of their own tonight, that doesn’t sound like the words of a president to me,” Weinberger said. “If he were elected president I’d hope he would understand that he’s got a responsibility to all Americans, whether they agree with him or not.”

Weinberger said he found it “pretty distasteful” for the Trump campaign to overbook the event, to encourage as large a crowd as possible, and then not communicate “in any way” how people would be treated at the door.

As Trump's entourage retreated to the airport after the rally, the usually reticent mayor couldn't resist a dig at the brash businessman.

"Donald Trump didn't bring much game," Weinberger tweeted. He appended the hashtag "Emperor Has No Clothes."

1st in line to see Trump in Burlington

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated that Trump spoke without notes. Trump did bring a prepared text to the lectern.

This story was first posted on Jan. 7, 2016. Contributing: Jess Aloe, Dan D'Ambrosio, Elizabeth Murray and Adam Silverman of the Free Press. Contact Zach Despart at 651-4826 or zdespart@burlingtonfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ZachDespart.