As veteran readers of The American Spectator know I have lived for many years with Olympic and world-class swimmers from my team at Indiana, with great writers here at AmSpec and elsewhere, and even with some great pols, Ronald Reagan comes to mind. Now I have been campaigning this week with Donald Trump and with the greatest pleasure. Though only a pol for a little over a year, he is the greatest campaigner of our time. Before that there was the 1968 campaign of Bob Kennedy. I witnessed Kennedy first-hand too. He was a whirlwind, but Donald is the master of the art.
In the plane at 37,000 feet he never stops. He tweets. He asks questions. He is pensive. He jokes. He reads newspapers. He is demanding. But he is always polite…as is the staff on this plane. It is amazing. He is in constant motion from 7:00 a.m. until late at night. Then he goes out and wows the crowd several times a day. He sticks to the teleprompter, but, of a sudden, when an insight strikes him or a combative line fetches him, he adlibs, He reaches out to the crowd. He relishes the cheers.
As he leaves thousands of people on the airport runway whom he has just addressed in Lakeland, Florida, the doors on the plane close. All is quiet. Quickly he shouts to the captain, “We want to give these people a show, not sit here like idiots,” and the plane roars off magisterially. Donald does not miss a trick and he creates a few new ones along the way.
At the Lakeland stop one of the thousands of Floridians who came to hear him did something quite astonishing. I viewed it from the steps above. He and his wife showed some sort of plaque to Donald. Donald slowed down. He took the plaque reverently in his hands. The man was a vet and he was giving Donald his Purple Heart. Back in the plane Donald was still moved. He said that is the third Purple Heart he has been given during this campaign. There are also dozens of Medal of Honor winners who have endorsed him.
This campaign has touched a chord across America.