Comment: US national media either ignored or bashed this event, while even local media pooh-poohed it, but the 4-year-old trend of Trump speaking to sell-out crowds at large venues demonstrates that he is far and away the most popular leader the US has had for decades...
© Anna Moneymaker/The New York TimesPresident Trump rocks the house, again
Comment: Indeed, in addition to the capacity crowd of 22,000 inside the arena, an overflow crowd of several thousand more watched the event on a big screen outside.
But when the doors opened for supporters to start filing into the arena, they ditched their chairs in piles throughout the parking lot — or, in some cases, returned them to a rental table — and headed into the center en masse for the campaign rally.
It's the first of three South Florida Trump events over the next two weeks. On Dec. 7, he'll be the special guest at the Republican Party of Florida's Statesman Dinner in Miami. He will also be the keynote speaker at the Israeli-American Council's annual summit at the Diplomat Resort & Hotel in Hollywood that day.
Many of the rally attendees — most of them longtime Trump supporters — were coming for their first-ever rally, which was billed by Trump's campaign as a welcome to his newly adopted home state of Florida. They hoped to hear the president talk about topics they cared about, like jobs and the economy, and shut down talk swirling around the impeachment hearings that have engulfed much of the news coverage in recent weeks.
© Anna Moneymaker/The New York TimesThe crowd frequently bellowed “four more years.”
Garcia, 51, said he came to hear Trump speak on these issues and also to address the impeachment inquiry.
"I want to hear it firsthand from him, not from the mainstream media," he added.
© Michele Eve SandbergHead screwed on, see?
Soricelli, who wore a blue "Trump 2020" T-shirt and a red "Keep America Great Again" cap, had never been to a rally but said he's wanted to go for months. A native New Yorker, Soricelli relates to Trump, he said. He moved to South Florida from New York in 1998, and mentioned the high taxes New Yorkers face.
"I'm not sure what New Yorkers get for the money up there," said Soricelli, who now lives in Pembroke Pines.
© Michele Eve Sandberg'MAGA hat for you, MAGA hat for you...'
"They are ridiculous," Dixon said. "He didn't do anything wrong. ... I think it's all starting to fall apart."
Across the street, Florida Democrats held their own protest gathering, watching as the famous Baby Trump balloon inflated, and listening to speeches by state Sens. Gary Farmer and Perry Thurston, state Democratic Party Chair Terry Rizzo and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
"This is another scam. .. There are a lot of people who pretend Florida is their actual residence," Wasserman Schultz said. "It's not surprising that he would try to fake this. He wants to get a few more rounds of golf in, because that's what he seems to spend most of his personal time doing. ... Donald Trump has done nothing to call this place home."
© Michele Eve Sandberg
Some faced off verbally with Trump supporters walking toward the BB&T Center, but most were focused on the giant orange balloon being inflated at the center of the event.
Trump rally attendees said they didn't care much about what Democrats said and continue to feel secure that Trump will beat any candidate who wins the nomination.
© Michele Eve Sandberg
"I can't believe any of them even try," Bovasso said. "So many of them are out of touch with reality. Plastic straws aren't that important."
© Michele Eve Sandberg
Comment: That was yesterday. Today, Trump tweeted this: