President Trump Visits Louisville for First Time Since Inauguration

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President Donald Trump visited Louisville this evening for a rally in Freedom Hall.  The arena was filled to capacity with supporters holding “Women For Trump,” “Promises Made, Promises Kept,” and “Buy American, Hire American” signs as well as the omnipresent “Make America Great Again” caps while a long line of people stood outside hoping to be let in.

Not everyone in attendance was a supporter, however, as there was a scattering of several protesters outside of the event.

During the event, President Trump hit on all of his usual talking points including terrorism, imigration, tax reform, crime and drugs, trade agreements, and the Second Amendment.

He covered the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in depth, while making multiple references to US Congressmen Andy Barr and James Comer (both from Kentucky) for their help and a reference to the efforts of US Senator Rand Paul in making sure the replacement is not just “Obamacare lite”.  He pointed out that as many one third of the counties in the entire US are limited to only one health insurance provider because of the regulations that the ACA put into place, causing health insurance companies to pull out of many markets.

He went on to outline that the real issue is not just the cost of health insurance, but the cost of health care and medicines.  Trump tied in tax reform with this repeal and replacement, stating that the administration cannot accomplish tax reform until they know how the new health law will be structured. The President was very optimistic with the replacement plan that is coming forth and is confident that a plan that will make everyone happy will be on his desk at the end of the day.

Near and dear to many Kentucky workers, Trump also specifically mentioned the automobile manufacturing and coal industries.  He recently signed a bill that eliminated a piece of regulation that many supporters of the repeal believe was put into place to shrink the coal industry by requiring coal mines to spend millions on compliance costs.  More than 600 coal mines have closed since the 2009 regulation went into effect.  Since the rule has been revoked, many coal mines have slightly increased their labor force, but POTUS Trump promised that this is just the beginning.

No Trump event would be complete without Trump’s trademark jabs at the “fake news” and former political rival Hilary Clinton.  The President even made light of the Louisville Cardinals men’s basketball team’s second-round elimination from the 2017 NCAA basketball tournament.  He did continue on to say, “They are a great team, great coach.”