BANGOR, Maine — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s son Eric and daughter-in-law Lara made a swing through Maine on Thursday to reinforce the businessman’s message before the Nov. 8 election.
“It’s very simple. It’s called America first. Our politicians in Washington have left us behind. We have 20 trillion dollars worth of debt. We have an educational system that’s totally failing,” said Eric Trump during a visit to his father’s Bangor campaign headquarters on Stillwater Avenue.
Other problems he said the nation is facing include high unemployment, the Obamacare “disaster,” which he said has increased insurance costs and reduced patients’ ability to keep their own doctors, and a Veterans Administration system he said is wasteful and abusive.
“We need to bring our country back to prosperity. We need to put America first again,” he said, drawing applause and chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” from those gathered.
At least 100 Trump supporters packed his campaign headquarters at 849 Stillwater Ave. Some turned out in their “Make America Great Again” gear. The crowd was about evenly divided between men and women and younger and older voters.
Among those who turned out were Maine Army Guard Staff Sgt. Timothy Robinson and his wife, Danette, of Levant.
“Donald Trump is not a typical politician. He’s a businessman. He’s a down-to-earth, common-sense businessman and I would not think poorly of him for the way he speaks at times.
“A good example of that would be [Maine Gov.] Paul LePage. He’s not the best with words but has been a fiscal governor and has helped this state greatly,” said the soldier, a co-founder of Wilderness Walk for Warriors.
Danette Robinson said she was a Trump supporter before her husband, who initially favored U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who lost his bid to be the Republican presidential candidate.
“I talked him into it,” she said. She said she is backing Trump because “he isn’t your common politician and because what he stands for is everything to help American people and I don’t want four more years of the Clinton-Obama [style government] that we have had and Obamacare and all that, and Trump can do that for us.
“Plus we need someone who is going to help the military, big time,” including the Veterans Administration, she said.
Despite remarks Trump has made disparaging women, daughter-in-law Lara Trump noted that many of Trump’s business executives are women who are paid as much as their male counterparts.
Eric and Lara Trump’s visits to three 2nd Congressional District locations, which included stops at Ricker Hill Orchard in Turner and campaign headquarters in Auburn, come as Trump has a solid polling lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the northern part of the state and is within striking distance of her statewide.
At stake are Maine’s four electoral votes, which could split between the candidates 3-1 if each wins one of Maine’s two congressional districts.
Trump’s campaign signaled last week that he would visit Maine on Thursday, but that event later was postponed.
On Thursday, the campaign announced that Trump plans to make an appearance in Bangor at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at the Cross Insurance Center.
The visit will mark Trump’s second campaign stop in Bangor this year. He also has appeared twice in Portland.