AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
President Donald Trump hosted a "Make America Great Again" rally at Olentangy Orange High School in Lewis Center, Ohio on Aug. 4, 2018.
- President Donald Trump held a campaign-style rally in Ohio on Saturday night.
- He was there supporting the Republican he endorsed for a special election to fill a House seat on Tuesday.
- Trump revived many of his famous tropes from the 2016 campaign, and the crowd loved it.
In the lively style typical of his campaign, President Donald Trump held a rally with a cheering crowd of supporters in Lewis Center, Ohio on Saturday night.
Trump was there supporting state Sen. Troy Balderson, who's running in a special election on Tuesday against Democrat Danny O'Connor for a vacant House seat.
Roughly 3,000 people packed the main event space at Olentangy Orange High School, with more in an overflow room, according to Fox News.
It was apparently quite warm in the room, as Trump took a moment to say it felt like it was "110 degrees in this crazy room."
"So much for my brand new, beautiful suit!" he joked as he picked up his suit coat for emphasis.
Between erupting in loud applause and fanning themselves with "Women for Trump" signs, the lively crowd shouted some of the popular chants from Trump's 2016 campaign, including "Build that wall!"
Trump used his visit to Ohio as an opportunity to relive election night, recalling multiple times how he won the state and clinched the presidency.
Taking aim at his favorite opponents
REUTERS/Leah Millis
Olentangy Orange High School in Lewis Center, Ohio was packed on August 4, 2018.
Like most of his rallies, Trump also took the opportunity to complain about critical media coverage, to which the crowd started chanting, "CNN sucks!" multiple times.
He praised Fox News but attacked MSNBC, calling them elites.
"They're more elite than me? I have better everything than they have, including this," Trump said, pointing to his head.
Trump also took aim at another favorite target, Rep. Maxine Waters of Florida, disparaging her looks and calling her "a seriously low-IQ person."
In a litany of attacks on the special counsel Robert Mueller's and Congressional committees' Russia investigations, Trump said he didn't like that Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California didn't know she had a Chinese spy working as her driver for almost 20 years.
Touting his goals, accomplishments
REUTERS/Leah Millis
Former White House communications director Hope Hicks, who resigned in February, was spotted traveling to Ohio with Trump on Air Force One.
Trump ran through a list of things he wants to get done, from building his proposed wall on the US-Mexico border to confirming his Supreme Court nominee.
He touted his nominee Brett Kavanaugh's and confirmed Justice Neil Gorsuch's Ivy League credentials, saying he wanted Supreme Court justices "with the highest test scores."
Outlining how he needs "100%" of the Republicans in the Senate plus Vice President Mike Pence to vote for Kavanaugh if there's a tie, Trump said some Democrats say nicer things about him than Republican lawmakers do.
"A couple of them compare me to some of the greats," he said. "They talk about Abe Lincoln, Honest Abe. I tell the people, it's wonderful that they're saying nice things, but they are never going to give us the vote. Say bad things about me, but give us the vote!"
Trump also touted his economic accomplishments, at one point saying there were more Americans employed today than at any other time in history.
A fact-checker for the Washington Post analyzed this claim when Pence made it in November, and rated it three out of four Pinocchio's, because there are more Americans today than ever before, making the number of jobs the highest, but the labor force participation rate is lower than it was in the 1990s.
As Trump and many in the crowd behind him grew slick with perspiration, the president ended the roughly hour-long speech the way he ends most, with the crowd joining in on the final phrase:
"Together, as a nation, we will make America wealthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America safe again, and we will make America great again."