EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Donald Trump promised a big announcement Thursday in Evansville, Indiana, but he delivered a repetition of Wednesday’s show: a rally about winning, featuring former IU basketball coach Bobby Knight.
Knight and Trump recycled their talking points. Knight compared Trump to President Harry Truman and thanked Indiana for his years of basketball coaching. He placed emphasis on Trump’s knowing what it takes to win.
And win he has. Trump gave a breakdown of the 21 states’ primaries he has won.
“If we win in Indiana, it’s over,” Trump said.
Trump and Knight addressed the Hoosier crowd with fervor.
“We need to start winning again,” Trump said. “Bobby knows about winning.”
Fellow Republican candidate Ted Cruz announced in Indianapolis on Wednesday that he would run for president with Carly Fiorina as his running mate.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich suspended his Indiana campaign to give Cruz a chance at stopping Trump from reaching the delegate count.
Trump said the Fiorina choice was futile because Fiorina’s only successful political experience was at the “children’s debate” that occured before she debated Trump.
“She’s a nice woman,” Trump said. “But she’s not going to help him.”
Trump called the Kasich-Cruz pact “pathetic” and an example of the “evil” in the political world.
“Lyin’ Ted is gonna get clobbered,” he said.
Harrison High School senior Justin Lewis and his stepbrother lined up at 8 a.m. to get into the rally. Lewis said he was excited to see Trump and Knight speak, even though he’s a North Carolina basketball fan.
Lewis said he hoped Trump would specifically address how he would improve Evansville employment and veteran benefits. Some of his friends’ parents lost their jobs during Whirlpool’s 2009 move from Evansville to Mexico, he said.
Lewis and his friends also wanted to hear about the wall.
Trump didn’t get too into the specifics of jobs, but he did deliver on immigration.
“We will build a wall, believe me,” he said. “If we don’t have borders, we’re not a country.”
Cruz discussed his vision for bringing jobs back to Indiana on Wednesday.
But Trump said “Lyin’ Cruz” stole the Carrier talking point from him. Carrier, the former Indiana-based company that laid off 1,400 Hoosiers after moving to Mexico, has become a political focal point this week.
Former President Bill Clinton used Carrier’s $2.9 million income to demonstrate his wife, Hillary’s, plan to incentivize an even distribution of profits.
Trump said in his America, companies such as Carrier would have to pay a 35-percent import tax if they want their product in the United States.
In general, the attacks on the competition were swift, vicious and met with loud cheering. Trump threw around his signature nicknames, “Lyin’ Ted” and “Crooked Hillary Clinton.”
He said Kasich needs to stop “stuffing his face” and learn to eat with his mouth closed. He addressed the media as “big, big, big liars.”
Knight seemed confident Trump would get the nomination, even though he doesn’t care about the party association.
“I don’t give a damn about the Republican Party,” Knight said. “I don’t give a damn about the Democrats either.”
Both Trump and Knight harped on Trump’s ability to win if elected president.
“I like people who are in charge,” Knight said. “This man is in charge.”
