Donald Trump arrived in Southern California Tuesday evening for a campaign rally hosted by Veterans for a Strong America, just one day ahead of the second Republican presidential debate, and won the group’s endorsement.
The billionaire’s “Make America’s Military Great Again” rally, held aboard the retired USS Iowa battleship, comes just 24 hours after a crowd of 20,000 turned out to hear him speak in Dallas, Texas.
“It was a lovefest,” Trump said Tuesday night. “There wasn’t a single heckler.”
Trump spent most of his speech Monday identifying and dismissing his critics one-by-one. But on Tuesday, he shifted his focus to national security and veterans issues, the latter being a frequent subject of his campaign rhetoric.
“Right now, we have illegal immigrants that are being treated better by far than our veterans and that’s not going to happen anymore,” he said. “It’s not going to happen.”
Speaking about his goals to reform the broken Department of Veterans Affairs, the GOP front-runner said he would “take the system apart,” as president.
“We’re going to reimburse those doctors and those hospitals who treat our veterans and you’re going to get the greatest service of any veterans in any country because you deserve it,” Trump told the crowd.
Prior to the event, Joel Arends, who heads Veterans for a Strong America, announced the group’s endorsement of Trump’s candidacy, despite refraining from endorsing a candidate until well into the primary season in the 2012 presidential cycle.
The New York businessman thanked the group at the beginning of his speech and went on to say his care for veterans is unrivaled by the 15 other Republican hopefuls.
“It’s an instinct,” Trump said. “It’s something that’s special [and] believe me they don’t have it, they just don’t have it.”
While the event was free for U.S. veterans and active military personnel, tickets went for as much as $1,000. Earlier reports indicated that Trump’s campaign plans to donate all proceeds, minus the cost of the event, to the host organization. Last week, Trump penned a letter to CNN President Jeff Zucker requesting that he contribute all profits from the network’s upcoming GOP debate to veteran groups.
Trump will square off with 10 other GOP candidates Wednesday night in Simi Valley, Calif., in the debate hosted by CNN. Candidates are likely to field questions on both national security and the scandal-plagued VA from moderators Jake Tapper and Hugh Hewitt.
