Protestors can’t stop Trump’s run through SC
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, trying to solidify his lead in South Carolina, gave a crowd of more than 4,000 what they wanted on Saturday – promises to protect gun rights, better aid military veterans and overturn President Barack Obama’s executive orders on immigration.
The hour-long event – part of a series of presidential forums on legal issues hosted by Republican S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson – was interrupted several times by protesters who think Trump’s views divide the country along lines of race, religion and national origin.
But Trump kept to his message that difficult times under the Obama administration – from overreaching regulation to weak foreign policy – leave little room for political correctness.
After police escorted the first set of protesters out of the University of South Carolina-Aiken Convocation Center, Trump replied: “For the last seven years, we should have been doing more of that.”
Trump, who has led S.C. polls since July, was making his fourth stop in three weeks in the state with the South’s first 2016 presidential primary. The New York real estate mogul has created headlines during his past two past stops in South Carolina.
In Myrtle Beach last month, he stood behind often-refuted claims that thousands of Muslims were seen cheering in New Jersey in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. On Monday in Mt. Pleasant, Trump defended his newly released plan to ban temporarily Muslims from entering the United States in the wake of mass shootings in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif.
Despite recent controversies, Trump’s supporters who lined up outside the Aiken arena hours before the forum said they like the political-election newcomer’s no-restraints campaign style and real-world experience that made him a billionaire.
“He works with world leaders in his businesses,” said Cal Dempsey, an Army retiree from Barnwell. “He can achieve his goals. He has the money and the knowledge that he can get people to serve on his staff and take care of the world’s problems and advise him in a proper way.”
But his large following has not stopped fellow Republicans from criticizing his latest proposal. Republican S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley called Trump’s Muslim travel ban proposal “un-American” and damaging to the GOP.
Some Trump supporters who came to the forum on Saturday think Haley should rethink her opinion.
“She needs to the read the Constitution. There is no constitutional right to come into this country,” said John Hart, an Aiken salesman wearing Trump’s iconic red “Make America Great Again” trucker hat. “The Constitution applies to Americans. If you’re in ISIS, you’ve got no (expletive) rights at all in America.”
Wilson, the state’s top legal official, did not ask Trump about his proposed Muslim travel ban during the forum Saturday.
The state’s attorney general has not shared his opinion publicly about the proposal. Efforts to speak with Wilson last week were unsuccessful. The attorney general’s office referred questions to the sponsor of his forums, which did not return calls.
The proposed ban has split some Trump backers.
Ryan Nimmer, a high school junior from Bluffton who will vote for the first time next year, likes Trump’s get-tough stance on undocumented immigrants but opposes a ban on Muslim travelers.
“I think it’s outrageous,” Nimmer said wearing a “Trump 2016” sticker. “I don’t think it would do anything. I think it would hurt our economy because there would less people to participate in it.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Protestors can’t stop Trump’s run through SC."