‘We will fill that seat’: Court vacancy fuels enthusiasm for Trump at rally

Home News ‘We will fill that seat’: Court vacancy fuels enthusiasm for Trump at rally
‘We will fill that seat’: Court vacancy fuels enthusiasm for Trump at rally
Hillsdale students joined Pulliam Fellow Chris Bedford for a field trip to the Trump rally in Toledo this week. Elizabeth Troutman | Collegian

President Trump promised thousands of supporters at a rally on Monday that he would “fill that seat” on the Supreme Court with a female nominee. 

Speaking at the Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport, he pledged to make an announcement this Friday or Saturday on his candidate to replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the liberal justice who died last Friday.  

 “We’re looking at five incredible jurists, five incredible people, women that are extraordinary in every way,” Trump said.

Abortion and the future of Roe v. Wade was on the minds of many at the rally. 

“The amount of unborn children that have died in this year, this is an atrocity,” said Susy Henry of Ottawa Lake, Michigan. “Any time that we are sacrificing the blood of our innocent children, things in this country won’t get better. Things need to change.” 

Trump raised shouts of support as he talked about the 300 federal judges and two Supreme Court justices he has seen confirmed. Trump said he looks forward to nominating a third. 

Trump, who announced a list of potential judges on September 9, bashed Biden’s refusal to publish his list of potential Supreme Court nominees.

“If Joe Biden and the Democrats take power, they will pack the Supreme Court with far left radicals who will unilaterally transform American society far beyond recognition,” Trump said.

“They want to ban all prayer in public schools and require taxpayers to fund extreme late term abortion,” Trump said. “Biden’s justices will erase national borders, they don’t want borders, protect sanctuary cities, and compel the unlimited entry of foreign nationals.”

The president also mocked renewed threats by congressional Democrats to impeach him. 

“Now they want to impeach me again if I nominate somebody as I’m constitutionally obligated to do, to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States,” Trump said.

Trump also criticized Democratic responses to urban riots and the coronavirus pandemic and denounced Biden’s position on many social issues.

Trump concluded the rally by recapping his accomplishments since he was sworn in less than four years ago. He discussed ending the North American Free Trade Agreement, building a wall along the border with Mexico, boosting natural gas production, investing $1.5 trillion in the United States military, and demolishing the Islamic State terrorist group. 

The president promised his Midwestern audience he would boost manufacturing in the next four years. 

Ohio is a major battleground state in the 2020 election. A Civiqs poll places the president three points ahead of Biden in Ohio. In 2016, Trump won all 18 of Ohio’s electoral votes, though he lost to Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton in Lucas County, which includes Toledo. 

This year, however, eyes will be on Wood County, a swing county that is a good signal for how the state of Ohio will vote. With its traditional labor and rural roots, the Trump campaign has set its sights on this city of more than 270,000 residents. Supporters at the rally resonated with the key issues of the campaign: trade treaties, law and order, and abortion. 

“I’ve never voted Republican until Trump, and I never want to vote Democrat again,” said WIlliam Sellards, a military veteran from Ohio.  

Supporters from across the region came to see the president at the rally, where Trump mentioned his fondness for Ohio several times.

“I love you, you love me, and that’s the way it is,” Trump said.