Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made a stop at the Fayette County Airport Monday to give a speech in support of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
About 200 hundred people from Fayette County and surrounding areas came to the event to see Palin speak in a hangar on the airport tarmac.
Introducing Palin was Ohio Sen. Bob Peterson, who took time to explain to the crowd the two reasons he will be voting for Trump. The first was due to the decision making power to appoint a Supreme Court Justice, saying that Trump would have the power to fill the vacant seat and may possibly have the potential to appoint up to three others, as three of the justices are over 78 years-old. The second reason was the possible enactment regulatory reform.
“Donald Trump is running for you. Running for the families that are here and the business owners who are here, and the children who are here. Those who love this country so much and aren’t asking much for their government, just asking everybody to get off their backs and back on their side so that they can thrive and they can grow and they can fulfill destiny that God has planned for them,” Palin said. She said that cannot be accomplished with government shackling people to their rules.
“We have the right candidate who understands that, especially, finally, a candidate coming from the private sector, who understands what it takes to create jobs and understands an inherent link between developing our natural resources and the economy, and what developing our natural resources, what that can do for security. Someone from the private sector who is willing to serve and understands all that. As opposed to, for instance, I was reading those quotes of the other candidate….Hillary’s position, she says, quote, ‘Don’t let anyone tell you that corporations or businesses create jobs.’ Now that is a person out of touch. That’s a person who—she must have hit her head, right?”
Palin said she wants a first woman president who has at least driven her own vehicle in the last few decades and that statement was met by applause from the audience.
“It’s going to be wonderful to have Trump in there and what we need to do of course in these next hours is not be distracted by what the media keeps throwing at us,” Palin said.
She said the media has defined double-standard and injustice.
“What Trump started was an awakening for people to realize we can make the lame-stream, liberal lap-dog media irrelevant…we, amongst one another, can figure out what the candidates stand for and their records are and what they intend to do for or to our communities and our country. We don’t have to rely on the mainstream media anymore. There is really this wave across the country saying, ‘Enough is enough of the bias.’ So Trump has gone through everything that he has gone through with the media and he’s still standing,” Palin said.
Many Fayette Republicans and officials were in attendance Monday afternoon. Tony Anderson, Fayette County Commissioner, was among the supporters to the rally, and he voiced his opinion on the current election.
“Every election is a big deal for someone,” Anderson said. “I don’t understand why we complain about standing in line to vote. People will gladly stand in line at Disney World and pay a lot of money to get in there. They will pay a lot of money to get in and stand in line at an Ohio State football game. This is an opportunity to set the course, right now in this election, for our country over the next four years, if not for a considerably longer period. I am pretty satisfied that I will stay in a Republican vein. The thing that I am struggling with the most out of this election is why do I see it so much one way, and, apparently, close to 50 or 51 percent of the country sees it so much the other way. I reach out and try to figure out what it is that the voters are after, what the people need or what the other candidates have to offer before I make my decision.”
Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth assisted in coordinating security for Palin. He spoke about Election Day and how his deputies will be on hand to make sure it runs as smoothly as it always has.
“I think we are going to see a large turnout which is great,” Stanforth said. “Regardless of the direction, the people will have spoken by the end of the day. That is the most important part, you take part in a true republican process. We are a republic. And even though we have the electoral college, the vote of the people is important, and a part of that process. We are going to do what we usually do. I think the board of elections is more than capable to handle the voters that turn out. If they need our help, we are a phone call away. We will be at the board of elections (on election night) like we normally are and we have a deputy assigned 24 hours a day towards the board of elections’ needs. They travel to the various precincts and do security checks.”
Palin’s schedule Monday included stops in Cincinnati, Kettering, Fayette County and Zanesville, according to the GOP presidential nominee’s campaign.
Palin’s campaign swing came as Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton remained in a close contest for the swing state’s 18 electoral votes on Tuesday. Ohio voters supported Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 over the Republican ticket of Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain and Palin.
Staff writer Martin Graham contributed to this report.
