Donald Trump visited Sacramento; unsuccessfully tried to make facts great again

Donald Trump’s entry music asked one simple question: “Y’all ready for this?” The Trump plane moved into position on the tarmac behind the podium as 2 Unlimited’s 1991 hit “Get Ready For This” blasted out of the hangar’s sound system. An entrance fit for a presidential candidate who has also appeared at WrestleMania.

Trump said he supports the veterans. The message “Veterans For Trump” was printed on one of two signs available immediately beyond the metal detectors at the entrance. Veteran lives matter was the message to a half-packed airplane hangar at the Sacramento International Airport on a hot Wednesday evening.

“I raised almost $6 million,” he announced early in his speech. “I raised all that money and the press is killing me. They are bad, bad people.”

Trump addressed the veterans donation scandal immediately, putting out fires at the podium in his red “Make America Great Again” trucker hat. He started a few fires as well, like announcing attendance at 11,000 when the hangar actually only reportedly holds 2,500. He also laid into the Clintons and Obamacare, and generally touted “facts” that would be quickly disproven in the hours post-rally.

His media beef is extensive, but lately it’s been an exposé in the Washington Post on Trump’s poor record of follow-through that’s irked him. Post reporter David A. Farenthold found that Trump did raise nearly $6 million in an hour, but the distribution lacked the same immediacy. A month later, less than half the money was funneled to charities. Millions more in checks that were post-dated May 24 (the day after the Post article) arrived in mailboxes at 11 charities.

It looks bad, but one supporter named Kyle Harris, a 23-year-old member of the National Guard, suggested Trump’s opposition can’t operate on his level.

“All the other candidates use us veterans as pawns,” Harris said. “You can’t use veterans as pawns and make as much as he did.”

Outside the rally, veteran Jeff Peck, age 70, from Elk Grove, thought Trump was all money talk. He stood with protesters, chanting “shame” and demanded those in line look him in the eye. Peck thinks it took the Post article to inspire Trump’s check-writing hand.

“After 150 days, he happens to pay out the money on the day he was called on it. To me, that’s just what he does. He’s all about the money,” he said.

Still, Trump closed in Sacramento after 35 minutes at the podium with words of assurance. “We are gonna win like we never won before,” he said. The crowd roared.

Disturbances to his rally mostly remained outside. The protesters numbered around 30. Inside, one protester briefly interrupted the speech. Turned out Trump was a softy in Sacramento. “Be very gentle, don’t hurt him,” he said.