Donald Trump held his final campaign rally of 2015 the same way he staged his first of the year: a hodgepodge of boasts, bluster and brawn that delighted another huge crowd of supporters.
If the front-runner’s fans have made anything clear over the past year, it’s that he’s in the race for the long term. He’s endured in the polls despite one controversial comment after another, from vows to force Mexico to pay for a massive wall along the border to a call to ban Muslims from immigrating to the U.S.
He’s charted his own course with little help from his party, few big-name endorsements and scant advertising. And, by year’s end, polls showed him well ahead in national contests, though rivals were showing signs of strength in some of the early-voting states.
"You can't let people push you around," he said of his recent attacks on former President Bill Clinton after the former president's wife, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, accused Trump of having a "penchant for sexism." He called the reporters in the back of the room "crooked" and "dishonest." As for his "low-energy" establishment Republican opponents, he said, they were hardly worth mentioning by name.
If anything, the taunts that stoked outrage from his opponents and the media have only galvanized his supporters, many of whom said they will stick with him no matter what.
“Could any other candidate garner this much attention? Certainly not on Hilton Head,” Rich Hodsdon said as he surveyed the crowd of thousands awaiting the candidate. “Trump, he just keeps bouncing back. He’s not afraid of the press or anything. They’ve tried and tried to destroy him. And he seems to be bulletproof.”
And Trump, who lobbed attacks at Bill Clinton, Republicans and the media during his event at the luxurious Westin resort, seemed to relish his support in the South.
“This is a movement, folks,” he said to a crowd of more than 2,000 people — with an additional 3,000 waiting outside. “No matter where we go, it’s packed.”
The campaign, which he launched in June, is facing fresh assaults. Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s steady rise in the polls in Iowa has raised questions about Trump’s organization in the caucus state and divided some conservatives who lean toward both contenders.
A showdown with Cruz seems inevitable in the South ahead of the Feb. 27 South Carolina vote and the regional SEC primary in Georgia and other Southern states on March 1.
“You can’t lose with either candidate,” said Brian Holland, a Guyton, Ga., resident who drove in with his wife, Wanda, to hear Trump. “But I’m just not 100 percent sure Trump is for me yet.”
And establishment candidates, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, are trying to ratchet up the pressure against Trump in New Hampshire, where the publisher of the influential Manchester Union-Leader published an editorial comparing the billionaire to the dimwitted villain in “Back to the Future.”
Losses in either Iowa or New Hampshire — after months of leads — could threaten Trump’s front-runner status. Trump seems to acknowledge the risk. Campaign finance records show he’s spent about $217,000 in advertising so far, but he promises a new wave of millions in spending in the early-voting states.
“I’ve spent no money, and I’m No. 1. And others have spent hundreds of millions of dollars and they’re not in the race,” Trump said.
“I have to ask you to go out and vote,” he told the crowd. “We have four weeks to go. No matter what’s going on in your life, you have to vote. Don’t sit back and say Trump’s going to do well. The more we win, the more we have a mandate.”
Trump's rally, with its resort setting, was a different kind of venue for the billionaire, whose two events in Georgia were held at a Norcross convention center and Macon's graying coliseum.
Even the undecided gravitated toward the spectacle, lining up early Wednesday for hours before the event.
“I’ve been telling people the circus is in town,” said Bruce Tuttle, a Hilton Head real estate broker who was at the rally.
He’s split between Trump, Cruz and Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. But he said it would come down to one factor when he casts a ballot in less than two months.
“There’s a tidal wave of frustration right now,” Tuttle said. “And for me, that means anybody but Hillary.”
Trump, for his part, said he’ll accept nothing short of a victory in 2016.
“If I don’t win,” he said, “I’ll consider this a total and complete waste of time.”
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