While seven other GOP candidates were present at the Fox News debate, Donald Trump had his own “show”, with veterans’ hard situation as the main topic, says CNN.
Donald Trump kept his promise and didn’t attend the GOP debate on Thursday night. Instead, he took the stage in an auditorium at Drake University about 20 minutes after the debate began a few miles away. Hundreds of enthusiastic supporters cheered for the mogul as he announced the raise of more than $6 million for veterans in one day, $1 million from his own pocket.
Trump believes in his decisions
“We love our vets. You know, my whole theme is make America great again and that’s what we’re going to do — and we wouldn’t have even been here if it weren’t for our vets”, said Donald Trump, according to the same source. Although his personal war with Fox News showed us a grown man willing to take his toys and leave if you hurt his feelings, Trump’s attitude proved us a good thing too: that the businessman is not afraid to take harsh decision if he believes in them. And that’s how a true leader should be. If those decisions are correct or not, well, that’s another question.
“Look at all the cameras. This is like the Academy Awards. We’re actually told that we have more cameras than they do by quite a bit, and you know what that’s really in honor of our vets.”, said Donald Trump, looking surprised that he actually drew more attention towards him.
He does have a soft side, you know
With no rivals on stage, Donald Trump pulled out his softer side and spoke almost fully about the problems veterans have faced when returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, inadequate healthcare and housing, drug abuse, mental health issues and homelessness, claims CNN.
“Our vets are being mistreated. Illegal immigrants are treated better in many cases than our vets and it’s not going to happen any more. It’s not going to happen any more.”, said the mogul. Donald Trump accustomed us with firm statements towards his Republican rivals, but his speech on Thursday was concentrated mainly on the veterans’ problems.
Though this attitude is surprising for a man like Donald Trump, we do have to take into consideration the fact that bailing the debate could have repercussions on Monday, when Iowans express their votes. So it’s only logical for Trump to counteract his absence with a good motive: helping the veterans.
Trump wasn’t alone at the debate
And to make sure that he’s still the favorite in Iowans’ eyes, he invited Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, two candidates who had been relegated to an earlier undercard debate, to join him on stage to speak about veterans issues, says CNN. They might not be in front in the Repubican nomination race, but Huckabee and Santorum are two names very respected by core GOP voters in Iowa. Santorum defeated Mitt Romney here in 2012 and although he’s supporting another candidate, he stood by Trump on stage.
We’re all accustomed with Donald Trump, a strange candidate, but this strategy with him missing the GOP debate is something new. For his rivals, it looked like the businessman is acting childish, but if we look carefully, Trump messed up with his opponents and drew more attention towards him. His supporters view him now as a strongman, bullet proof. But what will the Iowans say on Monday?
