Donald Trump, the front-runner in the race for the Republican presidential campaign, held a rally in Syracuse on Saturday afternoon before Tuesday’s New York primary. Here are some of the most memorable things he said to the crowd of about 5,000 people.

The wall, Mexico and the next president

Before Trump came on stage at the OnCenter, a few speakers took to the podium to warm up the crowd. One engaged in a back and forth with the audience, asking them questions and getting enthusiastic responses in return.

“Who’s going to build that wall?”

“Trump!”

“Who’s the next president of the United States?”
“Trump!”

“Who’s going to pay for the wall?”

“Mexico!”

 

The polls 

Trump encouraged attendees to ignore the polls in an effort to get them out and vote. 

“Don’t believe the polls. Pretend we’re losing.” He later added that rally-goers should, “Just go out and vote and you leave the rest to me.”

He later commented on how he was defying the odds to be doing so well in the polls.

“Who knew this was going to happen?” Trump said of his popularity. “All these pundits think they’re smart, but aren’t.”

 

The rigged system

Trump repeatedly referred to politicians as corrupt and incompetent. He also commented on the delegate process and his belief that he’s being cheated out of delegates that he earned.

“It’s a bad system. It’s a dirty system. And we’re going to do something about it.”

 

Unification

“People don’t think of me when they think of unification. I’m a unifier.”

Trump later talked about his success with a broad voter base.

“Men, women, young, old, African-American, white, Hispanics. We love Hispanics.”

 

Winning 

Trump closed his speech by listing off all the ways in which the country would win under his leadership.

“We are going to win at the border… We’re going to win with trade. We’re going to win with jobs. We’re going to win with the economy. We’re going to win with our military. We’re going to win with vets. We’re going to win with health care. You’re going to say, ‘Mr. President, please, we can’t stand it, the winning is too much.’”

 

On Heroin
In listing reasons to build a wall along the Mexican border, Trump mentioned that the wall would help eliminate drug trafficking.

“New Hampshire has a tremendous heroin problem. And so do you, by the way.”

Published on April 16, 2016 at 3:15 pm

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27