Trump overflows stadium at Liberty convocation
Photo by Brooke Marsh, the Commonwealth Times
Donald Trump, the leading Republican presidential candidate, spoke to an audience of more than 8,000 Liberty University students at their tri-weekly convocation ceremony on Jan. 18.
Trump spoke on a range of topics including the economy, national security and his goals as president. The event filled LU’s Vines Center past its capacity of 8,085 people.
“We need the second amendment, don’t let anyone take it away,” Trump said to the event attendees, “If i get elected it’s totally protected.”
In December, Liberty president Jerry Falwell Jr. made headlines for urging students to conceal-carry firearms to prevent incidents similar to the November shooting in San Bernardino, Calif.
Trump also shared his personal experience growing up in a religious household and promised to bring his Christian values to the White House if elected.
“I went to Sunday school,” Trump told the crowd at the Evangelical university, “If I am president you are going to see ‘merry Christmas again.’”
Trump, who has made headlines recently for attacking Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton on her record of political controversies, continued to attack the former Secretary of State during his appearance at Liberty.
“By the way, I want to see a woman president, but not her — she is a disaster,” Trump said.
For Liberty Freshman Madison Elmore, Trump’s speech was enough to win over her vote.
“It ended up being a really interesting experience,” Elmore said, “I ended up really liking what he had to say.”
Trump’s speech comes weeks before the Iowa caucus primary.
Staff Writer, Andrew Crider
Andrew is a junior economics major who has written for student newspapers since he was in high school. Andrew is interested in political history, aviation, photography and running. He has a tendency to refer to his peers, coworkers and bosses as “ma’am” or “sir,” but is getting better about referring to his friends at the CT by their first names instead. // Facebook