At a town hall Thursday night in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Donald Trump and former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who is now a Trump campaign deputy, tried to present themselves as supporters of reproductive rights.
Gabbard, who moderated the event after endorsing the former president earlier this week, opened the town hall with emotional remarks about her in vitro fertilization. The comments came shortly after Trump said in an NBC interview that he would force the government or insurance companies to pay for IVF if elected, though it’s unclear how he would accomplish that or whether he is serious about the proposal given his central role in the repeal . Roe v Wade.
“We were unsuccessful in trying to get pregnant. For us, IVF seemed like the only option and a last resort,” Gabbard told the hushed crowd of the expensive and sometimes painful fertility treatment process she said she underwent a decade ago.
After Gabbard’s IVF comments, Trump repeated a promise he made earlier in the day.
“We want to make babies in this country, don’t we?” he said.
By voicing his support for IVF and insisting he would leave abortion laws up to the states if elected, Trump hopes to retain support for women who see reproductive rights as the most important issue — but risks alienating his supporters from the religious right.
Trump also repeated his usual speeches about immigration and the economy. In response to a question about job opportunities for young people, Trump blamed immigrants, saying Joe Biden had not created jobs and falsely claimed that all new jobs were “filled by illegal immigrants.”
During the event, Gabbard denounced “warmongers” and challenged Trump to debate foreign policy issues. As he often does, Trump praised Hungary’s authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, telling the crowd that Orbán “said Trump has to be brought back as president of the United States.” Later in the evening, Trump promised to “bring back the level of respect” from foreign adversaries that he claimed he enjoyed during his first term.
La Crosse, a city in western Wisconsin, leans blue. In 2020, about 55% of voters in La Crosse County voted for Biden, compared to 42% for Trump. If the Trump campaign can narrow Harris’ margins here, it could improve his chances in a critical swing state.
The campaign is likely hoping that Gabbard, who ran for president in 2020 before breaking away from the Democratic Party and ultimately endorsing Trump, will serve as a bridge to independent voters. Gabbard also appeared with Trump on Tuesday at the National Guard Association’s 146th General Conference on the third anniversary of the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
He is the second former Democrat to endorse Trump in the past week. Robert F Kennedy Jr, who suspended his third-party presidential campaign on Friday, has also endorsed Trump. Kennedy, whose candidacy is likely to receive a small share of the votes of both Trump and Kamala Harris, remains on the ballot in key states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina.
Trump reportedly plans to bring Gabbard and Kennedy to his transition team if he wins the November general election.
Melissa Nelson, a voter who attended Thursday’s town hall, said without Gabbard’s support, she probably wouldn’t have supported Trump this year. In 2016, Nelson, who describes himself as disabled, endorsed Bernie Sanders, citing health care and Supplemental Security Income as important issues for him.
“The Democratic Party is going downhill,” said Nelson. “They didn’t give anyone a chance to vote in Kamala’s primary.” Now, for the first time in his life, Nelson is throwing his support behind the Republicans.
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Michelle Thiessen, a 57-year-old nurse from the La Crosse area, said she was concerned that overturning Roe v Wade could draw support from Trump. While Thiessen said she supports abortion rights, that’s not her main issue. He does not want the US to get involved in another war and likes the support of Trump – who has claimed to end Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and has suggested the US give Israel its “finishing job” in Gaza. policy of isolation.
“I’m with Trump, let’s just try to get along with them — let’s just try to get along with them,” Thiessen said. “And if not, you have a strong hand and he will count the challenge.”
For some attendees, Trump’s appeal has less to do with politics and more to do with his way of speaking about a changing culture.
“He knows how to appeal to our demographic,” said Trevor Lahey, who is 21 and attended the event with his brother and a friend from the University of Wisconsin campus in La Crosse. “People laugh at it, but [men] They have been kind of discriminated against with the idea of toxic masculinity. It’s hard to talk about.”
As audience members filed in after the event, Village People’s “macho man” blasted over the speakers.
