Pool Reports of October 16, 2020

Travel pool report #1: Miami

?Good morning from Doral, Florida. Pool has been tested for Covid-19.

We are holding at hotel awaiting results. We are due this morning to join up with POTUS at the Trump National Doral before flying to Fort Myers for an event on "protecting America's seniors", before a MAGA rally in Ocala and another MAGA rally in Macon, Georgia, before arriving back at JBA tonight.

Travel pool report #2: Trump National Doral

?Motorcade rolling from Trump National Doral for airport at 12:09.

Pool did not see POTUS get into the Beast.

Ric Grenell was spotted earlier in Trump National parking lot in jeans and shirt sleeves, blazer over his arm.

Travel pool report #3: Miami airport

Motorcade pulled up to Air Force One at 12:21

Pool saw POTUS board briskly from a distance.

We passed small gaggle of supporters outside gates of the Trump National Doral with a Trump-Pence flag.

Reminder that we are travelling on the small plane which means awkward communications on board. We will be wheels up for Fort Myers shortly.

Travel pool report #4: Protecting seniors excerpts

White House passes along the following:

Excerpts from President Donald J. Trump's remarks on Protecting America's Seniors (as prepared)
…
I am honored to be here in Fort Myers to reaffirm my solemn pledge to America's Seniors: I will protect you, I will defend you, and I will fight for you with every ounce of energy and conviction that I have.
…
As President, I am deeply aware that America's 54 million seniors have borne the heaviest burden of the China Virus.
…
My message to America's seniors today is one of optimism, confidence, and hope.
…
I am moving heaven and earth to safeguard our Seniors from the China Virus, to deliver life-saving therapies in record time, and to distribute a SAFE and EFFECTIVE vaccine BEFORE the end of the year. Seniors will be the FIRST in Line for the vaccine and we will soon END the pandemic.
…
When the China Virus arrived, we launched the largest mobilization since World War II.
…
Since the beginning, our nation's seniors have been my TOP PRIORITY.
...
We sent billions of dollars in funding and Personal Protective Equipment, and distributed rapid testing systems to all 15,400 nursing homes in the country to screen all residents and staff.
…
Because of advances in treatment we pioneered, we have reduced the fatality rate by 85 percent since April.
...
I am also working with the FDA and HHS to make the anti-body treatment I received available to everyone who needs it for FREE.
...
As we shelter high-risk Americans with extreme vigilance, we must also allow lower-risk Americans to return to work and school.
...
We cannot allow unscientific, panic-driven, fear-based policies to deny our children and grandchildren their future and their dreams.
...
Left-wing lockdowns will crush America – my plan will crush the virus.
...
As we gather today, seniors are under threat from a Radical Left movement that seeks to destroy the American Way of Life.
...
Their plan to delay the vaccine, delay therapies, and prolong the pandemic will cost thousands of lives.
...
Their plan for higher taxes and crippling regulations will crater the economy.
...
Their insane energy policies will ban fracking, abolish millions of jobs, and cost seniors thousands of dollars per year in higher energy bills.
...
Their anti-police agenda will empower violent mobs and put every community at risk.
...
The plan by Washington Democrats to give amnesty and free healthcare to illegal border-crossers will obliterate Medicare and bankrupt Social Security – robbing you of the benefits you have paid into your entire lives.
...
They care more about illegal aliens than Senior Citizens.
...
As long as I am President, NO ONE will lay a hand on your Medicare or Social Security.
...
As a candidate, I made a sacred promise that I would strengthen, protect, and defend your Medicare benefits– and that is exactly what I have done.
...
Under eight years of the previous administration, premiums for Medicare health plans went up – including a 25 percent increase right here in Florida. Under my administration, we have lowered Medicare Advantage Premiums by a remarkable 34 percent nationwide – to the lowest level in 14 years.
...
Thanks to our efforts, there are 2,000 more Medicare Advantage plans today than there were 3 years ago.
...
Yet all of this progress is now in grave danger.
...
Over 130 Democrats in Congress, including far-left Senator Kamala Harris, are sponsoring a socialist healthcare plan that would annihilate Medicare.
...
Socialist healthcare plans ALWAYS end up denying care and coverage to the sick and elderly in order to control costs.
...
Democrat healthcare proposals would abolish private insurance for 180 million Americans – and abolish the Medicare Advantage program that benefits 24 million seniors.
...
Under my administration, your Medicare Advantage is safe, your benefits are protected – and I will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions.
...
We have lowered Part D prescription drug premiums by 12 percent, saving seniors nearly $1.9 billion.
...
I capped out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 a month or less for seniors in many Medicare drug plans – saving them an average of nearly $450 a year.
...
Day after day, I am fighting to defend our seniors from the virus, from the Big Pharma special interests, and from the radical socialist left.
...
America's seniors remind us that we have inherited an extraordinary legacy. You are the generation that defeated fascism, triumphed over communism, sent American astronauts to the moon, and built our country into the greatest and most powerful nation the world has ever known.
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You have protected us – and now I am protecting you.
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For our nation, for our great seniors, and for our beloved children and grandchildren, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

Travel pool report #5: Southwest Florida International Airport

?Air Force One was wheels down at 12:58.

POTUS emerged a few minutes later, raising a fist at top of steps. None of the greeters or POTUS wore a mask, although they were socially distanced.

POTUS mouthed "thank you" in direction of pool and raised fist before boarding the Beast.

>From the WH —

The President is met by:
Governor Ron DeSantis
Governor of Florida

Mayor Randy Henderson
Mayor of Fort Myers, Florida

David Urban
Supporter
Kellie Urban
Supporter

Motorcade rolling at 13:16 for Caloosa Sound Convention Center & Amphitheater.

Apologies for misnumbering last pool report (speech excerpts) as #3. That should have been #4. We will resume now at #5 and continue in conventional fashion.pOTUS wore a mask

Travel pool report #6: Caloosa Sound Convention Center

?Motorcade arrived Caloosa Sound Convention Center & Amphitheater at 13:38.

We passed several dozen supporters as we exited airport, some holding Trump-Pence 2020 banners. And a couple more big groups of supporters along way, one with a "Florida for Trump" flag. There was also a "F*** Trump" sign on edge of one clump of fans.

Distance between clumps dropped as we got into Fort Myers and closer to venue. Mostly supporters - "Lee county loves you" read one homemade poster featuring the Stars and Stripes - although a "vote Biden" sign was also spotted plus a couple of Biden-Harris yard signs. Once in the city proper the streets were lined with supporters for several hundred yards.

Speech excerpts were sent earlier and you can follow speech live at Whitehouse.gov/live.

As ever, pool will bring additional detail and colour.

Travel pool report #6a: crowd pic

Image of street outside convention center attached

Travel pool report #7: Venue

As per report #6, event will be livestreamed by White House.

The event on protecting seniors is in an indoor conference hall. Seats are generally socially distanced with some groups of one, two, three sitting closer together. The audience is several hundred strong. Majority of audience is wearing masks but a significant minority is not, or has masks around neck, elbow etc.

Although a seniors event. there is a range of ages. Majority are probably younger.

Pic of setup is attached.

Two big screens carry the event title: "Protecting America's seniors."

A lectern is set up on a podium decked with flags.

David Bowie's Space Oddity was playing as pool entered. Now, House of the Rising Sun.

Travel pool report #8: Speech

POTUS arrived to God Bless the USA.at 13:58 and was greeted by chants of "Four More Years"

POTUS wrapped af 14:46. Cue YMCA.

Some details below.

Big response came after Trump claimed administration had reduced Covid-19 fatality rate by 85 percent.
"Well I'm here, I tell you." Audience stood and cheered.

Namechecked officials in audience
Alex Azar
Seema Verma
Ron DeSantis ("I thought Elvis had entered the room," says POTUS on the governor's reception, who got a standing ovation a minute or two before POTUS took the stage.)
Randy Henderson, Ft Myers mayor
Among others

Crowd broke into a chant of "lock her up" when Trump mentioned "Crooked Hillary".

Before the program began, the crowd was treated to a campaign-style playlist including:
Space Oddity House of the Rising Sun Eye of the Tiger We are the Champions

Audience estimated at about 50 percent seniors.

Travel pool report #9: air force one

Motorcade arrived back at airport at 15:13.

POTUS boarded Air Force One as pool van pulled up.

Wheels up imminently.

Motorcade details:
Crowd outside convention center had thinned a little by time of departure after speech, making it easier to see some of the remaining signs. Handmade ones included:
"Hunter Biden smokes crack."
"Proud Boys stand back and stand by."
"Veterans, Latinos for Trump."

A "Trump Train" flag with picture of a locomotive hung from a crane outside the city.

Travel pool report #10: Ocala International Airport

?Air Force One wheels down Ocala at 16:01.

Pool disembarked and hustled to pool area for rally before POTUS disembarked. Another big rally with several thousand people crammed together in hot Florida sun.

As ever, speech will be available via your favourite streaming services. Pool will bring additional detail and colour where possible.

Travel pool report #11: POTUS appears

?POTUS emerged from AF 1 at 16:28 to the strains of God Bless the USA.

Crowd stretches back for a good 300yards from stage. Front 20 or so rows are seated. Behind them people are standing shoulder to shoulder. Easier to count masks than those not wearing them. Maybe two or three percent of crowd is wearing masks.

Image attached

Some held signs in the air saying "This is a peaceful.protest."

Gov DeSantis spoke a few minutes before POTUS emerged from AF1. He left stage to Eye of the Tiger.

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Travel pool report #12: Ocala speech

POTUS began speaking at 16:29. YMCA kicks in at 17:57.

POTUS shimmied to the music and left stage slowly, waving to supporters. Then headed directly up steps, YMCA still blaring. He stopped and waved to supporters before entering.

We will be wheels up imminently.

Weather here is a hot and sunny 87F (31C).

Speech hit a number of the same points as last night. A few details to follow:

Crowd erupted into "Four more years" chants early on.

"18 days from now we are going to win the state of Florida. We are going to win four more years in the Whitee House.
"And early voting starts on Monday. We are going to have a red wave."

On last night's town hall
"If you can't handle Savannah you can't handle Putin and President Xi."

Says Biden is from a "political class that enriched itself while draining the economic life from the country."

"He's a servant of the wealthy donors and globalists... You go sold out big. I know this state. This whole state."

INTERRUPTED by "Drain the swamp chants"

HUNTER BIDEN
Says he was cautious about the story initially.
"How about Kayleigh? Her site got shut down because she put out a story from the New York. Post."
"So they talked about freedom of the press. Freedom of the press. There is no freedom of the press

ON BIDEN TOWN HALL
"I just want to see how's he doing? Not well. He's just a vehicle. Let's not kid ourselves. Joe is shot. He's got his vice president who is further left than crazy Kamala. Kamala."
CROWD BOOS

PROMISED TO CLEAR OUT THE SWAMP
"I never knew it was this deep."

VENEZUELA - he links to US left
"look at what's happened to Venezuela, and don't kid yourself . I used to say well that could never happen... when you look at the ideology we are talking about now it's the exact same ideology, but it's never going to happen to us because we're gonna have a big, big victory.

ILHAN OMAR
"Who came in here, married her brother or something, and came in illegally."
Then seems to suggest she be investigated by Dept of Justice.
Says he's going to win Minnesota for Republicans for first time since 1972

ATTACKS BIDENS ON SENIORS
For years Biden tried to cut your social security you know that and your Medicale. Now Biden's pledging mass amnesty and free health care foor illegal..." immigrants

"While I'm president no one will touch your Medicare or your social security."

"Nobody has done what I have done for seniors, that I can tell you."

ON ENERGY AND MIDDLE EAST
"We're there to protect Israel we there to help others. We used to need it, but we don't need it anymore because of what we've done."

HOPE HICKS
When Trump called Hicks on stage, Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino could be seen urging a reluctant Hicks to go up. They had been standing in a row on Tarmac towards Air Force One watching the speech. Meadows was laughing heartily as she made her way on stage.

ON WINNING FLORIDA
"Hey Ron, are we going to win the state, please?
"You know, if we don't win it, I'm blaming the governor. I'll fire him somehow. I'm going to fire him. I will find a way."

Travel pool report #13: Macon arrival

?Air Force One wheels down Middle Georgia Regional Airport at 18:53.

We are here for second MAGA rally of the day.

Pool deplaned and hopped in motorcade for short spin across airport without seeing POTUS disembark. He will be making his big entry shortly.

Set up here is different with AF1 parked up a little away from rally site.

Again, please do follow along live on your favourite streaming service

Travel pool report #14: POTUS arrives

?POTUS announced on stage at 19:20. Begins speech at 19:22

Crowd greeted POTUS with chants of "USA, USA, USA."

Pool arrived to Piano Man and then Space Oddity playing. A giant Stars and Stripes flag hangs from two cranes providing towering backdrop to podium. Image of set up is attached.

There are two smaller flags flanking stage. The one stage right is a Blue Lives Matter flag, picked out in black and white with a blue stripe.

Crowd looks smaller than Ocala. Podium is ringed by supporters in seats, with people standing behind them. Probably still a good couple of thousand in attendance (v rough estimate). There are a few people at the back wearing masks but crowd is largely maskless

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Travel pool report #15: Color Macon rally

POTUS still speaking after 82 minutes.

It was dark by the time POTUS took the stage on a chilly evening in Macon < Georgia. App tells me it's 67F (19C) which then dropped to 63F as evening progressed, perhaps explaining why a few handfuls of people — in T-shirts, shorts or with kids — then a stream, drifted away as speech continued.

Even so the crowd was in a feisty mood from the off. Started with "USA, USA, USA" as POTUS arrived. Then an early rendition of "CNN sucks" before getting fully into the role with a "Lock him up" chant as he started describing how he believed the Bidens constituted a criminal enterprise. When Trump started listing his achievements the crowd took its cue with a "Four more years". Pretty much anything made of three syllables is now being taken up by crowd, including "Move them back," as president mulls idea of moving media riser further away from stage.

Local material added to stump speech included praise of Herschel Walker at about 20 minutes.

Travel pool report #16: Cue Village People

?POTUS wraps at 21:04. Cue the Village People.

He spoke for 102 minutes. Longest speech of the comeback so far by my reckoning.

Short motorcade to AF1.

Travel pool report #17: Homeward bound

?POTUS had already boarded by time pool got back to AF1

Wheels up shortly for JBA.

In all, POTUS spoke for 238 minutes at three events by my timing - just shy of 4 hours.

Travel pool report #18: JBA

?Wheels up 21:25 from Macon. Wheels down JBA 22:30 after uneventful flight. No visitors to rear cabin.

POTUS deplaned a few minutes later walking directly down steps, offering a hand to pool before heading to Marine One.

Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino followed him down steps.

Marine One wheels up 22:50.

Handing off to in town pool. Almost 17 days.

WH pool report 1 – Marine 1 arrival

?Marine 1 flew in from across the National Mall, past the Washington Monument and set down on the South Lawn at 2301. President Trump stepped out of the helicopter two minutes later, walked across the grass to the South Portico entrance of the residence and stepped inside at 2304.

He did not acknowledge a shouted question about whether he was why he was spreading Russian disinformation.

WH pool report 2 -- lid

?The White House press office announced a travel/photo lid at 2314.

Have a good weekend, all.