Aides emailed Global Positioning System co-ordinates to reporters in Laredo to direct them to the border spot he intended to visit.
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An unfazed Trump claimed the union had been silenced by bosses in Washington.
Border patrol agents canceled plans to accompany him.
The billionaire businessman landed in Laredo Thursday afternoon.
Trump remained unbowed. “I’m called a jackass”, he said Wednesday on CNN.
“You look at the crowds outside, the crowds are all screaming in favour of Trump“.
Earlier Thursday, the Trump campaign released a statement saying it would proceed with the visit “despite the great danger”. “I love this country”.
“Don’t take the Donald Trump bait”, he added. “They say there’s great danger”, he repeated, “but I have to do this”.
Ralph Nader, who has run for president multiple times as a third-party candidate and may have cost Democrat Al Gore the 2000 election by running to his left, said Republicans mishandle Trump at their own peril. “But he’s not going to get it because of his words”, Castillo said in Spanish as he walked through a downtown park.
The spectacle reached its apex when he held court with a crush of media at the border following a roughly half-hour closed-door meeting with law enforcement officials.
Saenz spokeswoman Xochitl Mora Garcia said before the visit the mayor’s office was trying to coordinate a tour that would give Trump “a different perspective of life on the border”.
He confirmed his support for building a wall along some parts of the border, but did not respond to a question about how he would handle the millions of undocumented people already.
Trump shows no signs of pulling back.
Buffoon or patriotic apostle, Mr Trump knows how to make a presidential arrival.
“Donald Trump took advantage of an opportunity that was lying there, and that is that the other Republican candidates were not really addressing concerns about our feckless immigration system”, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. Trump’s rivals face his tactics of calling out his critics by name, vilifying the GOP establishment and injecting inflammatory rhetoric into the immigration debate.
Luis Villegas, a 28-year-old Border Patrol agent who said he has been on the force for eight years, cheered Trump loudly.
But here we are in the House of Representatives passing a bill to jump on the Trump bandwagon, cynically exploiting a family’s tragedy in San Francisco to score political points.
Trump, said Gilchrist, is the movement’s de facto leader now, even if the campaign and the movement are not coordinating. “Absolutely, if they’re not fair, that would be a factor”.
Dozens of people were on hand, a mix of protesters and supporters.
Other Texans were less diplomatic. And the pro-Perry Opportunity and Freedom PAC has dropped $500,000 in ads on Fox News and Fox Business from July 16 to July 27 touting the former Texas governor’s experience with border control.
“Well, he better not be kidding because we have American snipers here”, Gonzalez said. “So you get my flow?” “Go back to New York”. “What they adore about Trump is that he is a pugilist who has emerged at a time when someone needs to start throwing punches”. “They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists”.
For many Republicans, Trump seemed to cross the line last weekend with his critique of McCain. The houses and shacks where I lived are abandoned and occupied by criminals and drug dealers. “Trump’s hair is illegal”, said a banner.
Ollvervides’ daughter was not the only person to mob Trump’s SUV, looking for an autograph, selfie or simply a high-five.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Donald Trump’s candidacy for Presidency and figured that I wouldn’t be writing about him again soon.
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(The comparable numbers for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton are in the low-40s.).
