Donald Trump returns to Wisconsin for town hall event that hit on major campaign themes
LA CROSSE – Former President Donald Trump's first visit to Wisconsin since last month's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee took the form of a town hall event where he fielded questions from selected attendees and turned the answers into wide-ranging campaign talking points.
Former Democratic congresswoman and 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard emceed the Thursday night event.
The former president, who has frequently espoused conspiracy theories about the 2020 election — which he lost in Wisconsin by about 20,000 votes to Democratic President Joe Biden — declared "we're not going to have a country" if he does not win in November.
Despite the town hall format — a departure from Trump's usual rallies — the event took on a similar tone to the former president's previous visits to this battleground state, largely following the candidate's usual themes, though the event was much shorter, clocking in at about 35 minutes. Campaign staffers said the event ended early because of an incoming storm.
Gabbard and attendees asked Trump questions on subjects ranging from in vitro fertilization to immigration to national security.
Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022, noted that she and former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., both recently endorsed Trump. She began the event with a conversation about IVF, sharing her own story about the "difficult process."
Trump pledged that under his administration, either the federal government would pay for the expensive process or it would mandate insurance companies to do so, a pledge he announced earlier in the day.
"We want to produce babies in this country," he said.
Trump in his introductory speech called Vice President Kamala Harris a Marxist and attacked her for not talking with the news outlets. A prerecorded, unscripted interview with Harris aired on CNN Thursday evening.
"She's not the brightest light in the city," he said, to cheers from the crowd.
Thousands of people gathered at the La Crosse Center Thursday evening, with more people turned away at the doors. Attendees were raucous ahead of Trump's arrival, yelling and chanting "USA" while doing the wave around the small arena. Organizers passed out Trump-Vance campaign signs, which supporters eagerly waved.
The loudest cheers and shouts were often in response to insults against Harris.
At one point, Trump blamed Harris for the growing number of immigrants entering the United States.
"That's Kamala, allowing it to happen, and they actually want to give them papers," he said. "They want to make them citizens and they want to give them your Social Security."
The former president also took aim at Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, calling him "weird" to ear-splitting cheers, and said his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, is doing a good job for the campaign despite first being called "weird" by Walz.
"He's not weird, and I'm not weird. I mean, we're a lot of things. We're not weird," Trump said of himself and his running mate.
He also alleged that Walz has sought to add tampons to boys' school bathrooms and would allow abortions at nine months, a claim that has previously been debunked. The state measure on access to tampons guarantees access to the products for “all menstruating students.” According to the New York Times, schools in Minnesota typically responded to the law by supplying the products in girls' and gender-neutral restrooms and school nurse offices.
At a news conference Thursday morning in La Crosse, Democrats aimed to contrast Trump and Harris' economic agendas. Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez said Harris is the "only one in this race to put forward a plan that would actually lower costs for working families."
Harris unveiled parts of her economic plan earlier this month, including up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, a $6,000 tax credit for families with newborns, and a federal ban on price gouging of food and groceries.
"As Trump comes into our home area, preaching falsehoods while promising to push our communities backwards, it's time to face the facts and ask: Why are Donald Trump and JD Vance still trying to slash taxes for billionaires and large corporations at the expense of working families?" state Rep. Jill Billings, who represents the La Crosse area, said.
Democrats on Thursday said Trump's economic plans would cost middle-class families an extra $4,000 per year. PolitiFact found that estimate is higher than other projections for how Trump's proposal for a 10% tariff on nondomestic goods would affect consumers.
"The contrast this November could not be more clear. Only Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz are championing the opportunity economy for all Americans. Whether you live in small towns or rural places or big cities, all Americans have a chance to compete and to succeed," Minnesota U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said at the press conference.
In a release before the event, a number of La Crosse medical providers asked questions of Trump in a press release.
“My question for former president Trump is how he could brag about killing Roe v. Wade and then turn around and say his administration would be great for women,” said Dr. Bob Freedland, an ophthalmologist. “That Supreme Court decision, which happened due to Trump hand-selecting three of the Supreme Court justices, allowed Wisconsin’s abortion ban to go back into effect, putting women’s health, future fertility, and very lives on the line. You don’t have to be a doctor to see that Trump’s actions haven’t just been not great for women, but disastrous.”
(Abortions were unavailable in Wisconsin for about 15 months under an 1849 law reinstated after the Roe decision. A Dane County judge reversed the ban in a ruling that is being appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.)
More: The word you seldom hear during Republican National Convention speeches: abortion
Trump attempts to raise Republican enthusiasm to match Democrats
Trump's visit follows a dramatic shift in enthusiasm among Wisconsin voters following Democratic President Joe Biden's withdrawal from the race and Harris’ ascendance to the top of the ticket, with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
For months ahead of the shift, Marquette University Law School polls showed only about 40% of Wisconsin Democrats describing themselves as "very enthusiastic" about voting in November — a massive deficit compared to nearly 60% of Republicans who felt that way.
Following the ticket shakeup, a Marquette poll released earlier this month saw that gap effectively close, with 62% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents very enthusiastic about voting, compared to 64% of Republicans and Republican “leaners.”
Billings, the state lawmaker from La Crosse, said "we have never seen so much visiting from candidates" on the federal level. Harris and Walz stopped in nearby Eau Claire for a rally shortly after he was named her running mate, and Walz plans visit Milwaukee on Labor Day.
"That was a fatal mistake in the past, and that hasn't happened this year. Our cities have gotten a lot of face time with Democratic candidates, and we appreciate that," she said.
Mark Hoffman of the Journal Sentinel contributed.
Laura Schulte can be reached at [email protected] and on X at @SchulteLaura.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump returns to Wisconsin for town hall event in La Crosse