Donald Trump campaigned Wisconsin Saturday afternoon with a town hall rally in Racine, making a play for that state’s primary Tuesday even as polls show his rival Ted Cruz building a lead in the Badger State.
In an hour-plus speech, the Republican candidate and former real estate magnate touched on several of the controversies that have accompanied him in the past few weeks, highlighting his troubled, love-hate relationship with the media.
Early in his remarks, Trump bragged about his success in winning free press converage, while many of his rivals have struggled to gain traction with paid ads.
“The media has given me so much,” he said, adding that such exposure is called “earned media — earned.”
Yet he also complained bitterly about what he considers his unfair treatment by the press, comments more in keeping with the frequent invective he aims at members of the press corps.
“It’s very, very unfair,” he said of the media’s treatment of his campaign.
Turning to controversial comments set to air this Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation” in which he voices support for leaving in place laws allowing aborition, Trump defended himself. The press made his comments seem like an abrupt change in his stance on legal abortion by excising words from his quotes, he argued.
“What I said was perfect,” Trump said.
In comparison, he argued, the press ignored abortion comments from his Republican rival, John Kasich, that he thought were poorly phrased.
Later in his speech, he spoke at length about the media’s treatment this week of his claim that NATO is “obselete.”
Noting that in his career he has rarely been asked about foreign policy issues, he tried to justify his argument that U.S. allies should pay more in defense funding or else exit the alliance. “That’s my instinct,” he said. “That’s just my instinct.”
Trump was scheduled to continue campaigning in Wisconsin throughout the day. Both Cruz and John Kasich had events in the state Saturday as well.
