Warm up for Trump focuses attacks on Clinton

CEDAR RAPIDS - Filling time for a late-arriving Donald Trump, his staff and GOP candidates Friday night sang his praises and warned about the consequences if the Republican presidential nominee doesn't win the 2016 election.

'It's now or never. It's Nov. 8 or never,” 1st District Rep. Rod Blum told fellow 'deplorables” as he fired up Trump's crowd of thousands nearly an hour after Trump's scheduled appearance Friday in Cedar Rapids.

He followed on stage Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, who joked that the crowd was much bigger than Hillary Clinton's audience at a Cedar Rapids rally earlier in the day.

'She sent the invitations by email,” Kaufmann said before launching into an attack on the Democratic nominee.

A college history professor, Kaufmann called it unprecedented that the FBI would be conducting a review involving a major party nominee 11 days before Election Day.

'The FBI has found something because there's no way 11 days out from election they're going to open that back up,” he said.

Kaufmann said he wanted to send a message from Iowa to the rest of the nation: 'Hillary Clinton, you are not above the law.”

The crowd responded with chants of 'lock her up.”

It wasn't all attack rhetoric, however. Tana Goerts of the Trump campaign praised the nominee for his 'heart of gold.”

'I know this man's heart and it is good,” she told the lively crowd stretched along the bank of the Cedar River at the McGrath Amphitheatre. 'He genuinely loves people. You can't live in NYC and not love people.”

Trump is running for president out of love for his country, Goerts said. 'He doesn't need this job.”

The real estate developer and entertainment mogul is putting his 'billion dollar empire on hold for you and for me and for your kids and my kids,” she said. 'He's doing it because he loves his country and he loves you and he loves Iowa.”

The election is bigger than Iowa, bigger than Trump versus Clinton, Kaufmann said.

'This is not about us tonight. This election is not about who is who is president of the United States,” he said. 'This election is about our children and our grandchildren. I don't know about you, but I'm putting my faith in Donald Trump.”

Supporters were still waiting for Trump to arrive after 8 p.m.

So were protesters.

Though they stood with their signs on the south side of First Street before the rally began, protesters said they understood it may be too late to sway opinions.

More than two dozen protesters held signs and chanted outside the McGrath Amphitheatre.

For Mike and Terri Finley of Iowa City, it was the first time they had ever protested a political candidate.

'This was the first time I felt compelled to come speak out,” said Terri, 57. 'It's the hate-speech and the anger and the disenfranchisement of people.”

Though she said voters have probably made up their minds by now, she still wanted to share her views.

'It's important people know we're passionate supporters of tolerance,” she said.

Mike, 64, wanted to talk about how Trump 'has made America hate again.”

'We are here for those who have a voice. We are here for those incapable of standing up, and we are here for the people who need our help,” he said. 'I've never felt the compulsion to go out before. Even, to a degree, (Trump) has brought out the worst in me.”