In Sarasota, Ivanka Trump says more ‘greatness’ to come if president is re-elected

With just a week to go before the Nov. 3 election, Ivanka Trump made a stop in Sarasota on Tuesday to rally supporters with promises of more greatness to come if President Donald Trump is re-elected.

Dressed in red, white and blue and “Make America Great Again” attire, hundreds of the president’s supporters flocked into Nathan Benderson Park.

Voters who attended the event painted a picture of chaos and anarchy in the U.S. if President Trump loses the election to Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

“He’s the only man,” said, Bradenton resident Martha Angelides, 70, of President Trump. “We can’t afford to have Biden in our country because he’s going to blow it up to smithereens. We’re going to have riots. We’re going to have a police state.”

Hers was a sentiment shared by the politicians who spoke before Ivanka Trump’s arrival.

“If we want to see real chaos in this country, real chaos in the White House, we sit back and allow Joe Biden to become president and destroy this country,” said former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “A vote for Joe Biden is a vote for chaos in our communities. A vote for Trump is a vote for safety, for security, for economic prosperity for all Americans.”

Pam Bondi, former Florida attorney general and co-chair of the national “Women for Trump” organization, credited the president for the nation’s economic success.

“He built up the greatest economy I believe we have ever had, and he’s already doing it again,” Bondi said.

Ivanka Trump’s message to voters also touted the president’s supposed success with the economy, and she said there was more to come.

“He’s going to cut taxes again and create 10 million jobs in 10 months,”said Ivanka Trump, who holds a senior adviser position in her father’s administration. “2021 will be our best year ever.”

The national and statewide unemployment rates were already in a steady decline under the Obama administration. That trend continued under the Trump administration until the coronavirus pandemic impacted the economy earlier this year. Florida’s unemployment rate rose to nearly 14% in May before beginning to decline again. The lowest it got was 7.3% in August, but it rose again to 7.6% in September.

On the subject of the coronavirus, Ivanka promised that the Trump administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” would produce a successful vaccine before the end of the year.

“He will defeat the virus, bring back your jobs and end this pandemic once and for all,” Trump said to cheers from the crowd.

Trump also stoked fears that Biden and the Democratic Party would turn the U.S. into a “socialist country.”

“President Trump will never let it happen,” Trump said.

Trump claimed that part of Biden’s plan for the U.S. would raise taxes on “working families.” While Biden has repeatedly promised that he would raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations, he also promised that anyone who makes less than $400,000 would not see a tax increase.

Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court on Monday, which many Democrats claimed was a rushed process, was praised by several of the speakers at the rally.

Trump noted it as a “historic day,” and said that if re-elected, her father would continue to appoint judges “who faithfully uphold ... liberties enshrined in the Constitution, including the right to bear arms, the right to free speech and religious liberty.”

Government representatives in attendance, several of whom spoke before Trump, included U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, state senators Bill Galvano of Bradenton and Joe Gruters of Sarasota and State Attorney Ed Brodsky.

Use of face coverings was not required at the event, and few guests or volunteers wore them. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the use of masks for those in public who are at “events and gatherings, and anywhere they will be around other people” to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Brodsky, Galvano, Gruters and Steube were among those not wearing masks in the crowd, which contained many senior citizens. The CDC’s guidelines for social distancing, which recommend at least six feet of space between people from separate households, were also not observed at the rally. Guests were required to assume liability for catching COVID-19 in order to attend the event.

Cases of COVID-19 have been on the rise in many parts of the U.S. Locally, 91 new cases and three new deaths were confirmed in Manatee County on Tuesday, and 88 new cases and three new deaths were confirmed in Sarasota.

The U.S. has had the most deaths of any country in the world from the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University, and the 11th most fatalities per 100,000 people.

Chaz Davis, an 86-year-old Sarasota resident who attended Tuesday’s rally, praised the president’s response to the coronavirus.

‘He is a great guy and he has done a great job,” Davis said. “Everything is great.”

“I think he did a great job according to whom he had as advisors,” Angelides said, and cited the president’s move to shut down international travel from certain countries when the virus arrived.

He has accomplished a lot in 47 months despite all the opposition from the left,” said Astrid Engerman, 60, of Venice. “He’s working very hard for the people.”

Shannon Tison, 34, said that voters should do their own research about the president’s accomplishments, which she said include the border wall, low unemployment, efforts to curb human trafficking and “care for minorities.”

Trump’s visit was just one of many political events targeting Florida, which is again predicted to be a swing state, in the final days before the election.

President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and former President Barack Obama have all made appearances at rallies in the state over the last week.

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg will appear in Tampa and St. Petersburg on Wednesday to stump for Biden in events geared towards attracting veteran and LGBTQ+ voters. And Biden will visit Tampa himself on Thursday to rally his supporters.

Bondi told the crowd in Sarasota on Tuesday that they may soon be getting a visit from President Trump.

This story was originally published October 27, 2020 at 4:24 PM.