donald trump holds a rally sunday, nov. 7, 2016, in leesburg, va. supporters hold anti-clinton signs that read "lock her up" amid a flurry of pro-trump "make america great again" signs.  | m. scott mahaskey/politico trump may lack momentum, but his rallies still have what trump calls 'spirit.' by ben schreckinger 11/07/16 06:17 am est leesburg, va. <u+2014> donald trump took the stage in a livestock barn on a county fairground here well after midnight, remarking on his <u+201c>marathon day<u+201d> and the presumed whereabouts of hillary clinton. <u+201c>she<u+2019>s sleeping beautifully,<u+201d> he said, to roars of approval from his supporters. while trump<u+2019>s fortunes have ebbed and flowed, his crowds have been a constant. and on sunday, his prospects again fading in the twilight of his campaign, trump drank in every last drop of their frenzy, hitting six states and five rallies in a delirious blitz that ended in the wee hours of monday in northern virginia. story continued below by that time, almost three hours after the rally<u+2019>s scheduled start, trump said even the television cameras were <u+201c>sagging.<u+201d> but the candidate<u+2019>s spirits were soaring. <u+201c>we<u+2019>ve got about 8,000 people outside,<u+201d> he said. he didn<u+2019>t. but he did have a full house inside and a clutch of supporters waiting beyond the open doors at the back of the barn. <u+201c>it may be almost 1 o'clock in the morning but i guarantee we're going to build that wall," trump promised them, after billing his speech, <u+201c>the midnight special.<u+201d> his prediction earlier sunday that election day would turn out to be <u+201c>brexit plus, plus, plus<u+201d> had grown by virginia to <u+201c>brexit times 50<u+201d> <u+2013> far greater than the <u+201c>brexit times 10<u+201d> he predicted last week. early voting trends in nevada and florida have democrats feeling bullish. clinton held on to a modest lead in national polls out sunday. and fbi director james comey disclosed that the discovery of emails that caused him to revisit his investigation of the former secretary of state had been a false alarm. it was a finding that trump rejected as illegitimate. <u+201c>you can<u+2019>t review 650,000 emails in eight days,<u+201d> he said in michigan and pennsylvania. <u+201c>you can<u+2019>t do it folks.<u+201d> in 2012, even as the polls showed romney trailing in the final days, his campaign famously mistook large, raucous crowds as a sign that they had the momentum to win. trump has long taken solace the size of his crowds and their intangible enthusiasm. as the campaign draws to a close, he may lack momentum, but his rallies still have what trump calls <u+201c>spirit.<u+201d> in virginia, state sen. dick black, warming up the crowd, accused clinton of being <u+2014> of all things <u+2014> an alcoholic. "she's probably sobering up right now," he mused. after waking up in denver and holding a rally in iowa, trump flew to minneapolis, where thousands of supporters showed up at an airport hangar on a day<u+2019>s notice on sunday afternoon. one man wore a shirt that urged the lynching of journalists. outside of pittsburgh on sunday night, as spotlights projected red and blue stars across the hangar<u+2019>s walls, trump added a new flourish to the spectacle of his airport rallies: sliding back the hangar<u+2019>s door to reveal his plane and send fits of excitement through his supporters gathered inside. in between, in michigan on sunday evening, trump invited a gaggle of children on stage <u+2014> some with shirts that spelled out t-r-u-m-p <u+2014> and marveled at their wisdom. <u+201c>they understand even better than the adults,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>they know. they know what<u+2019>s going happen.<u+201d> fortunately, this came well after ted nugent grabbed his crotch during a warm-up act. for any other candidate, nugent<u+2019>s appearance at the rally in sterling heights, michigan, would have been a campaign-defining blunder. in february, nugent went on an anti-semitic rant on facebook that called jewish gun control advocates <u+201c>punks<u+201d> who <u+201c>hate freedom<u+201d> and featured israeli flags superimposed over their photos along with disparaging captions like <u+201c>gave russian jew immigrants your tax money.<u+201d> but with the anti-defamation league once again condemning trump <u+2013> this time for posting an ad that pits a globalist elite against american workers while portraying pictures of prominent jews like fed chairwoman janet yellen <u+2013> the nugent debacle was just another day in his campaign. at sunday<u+2019>s rally, nugent <u+2014> who has described president obama as a <u+201c>subhuman mongrel<u+201d> and invited him to <u+201c>suck on my machine gun<u+201d> <u+2014>grabbed his crotch and said, <u+201c>i got your blue state right here, baby. black and blue." neither trump<u+2019>s daughter, ivanka, who is a convert to judaism, nor representatives of his campaign responded to an email about the decision to campaign with nugent. trump, who continued fume about the pro-clinton campaigning of music<u+2019>s first couple, went on to say after nugent<u+2019>s appearance in michigan, <u+201c>my language is much, much cleaner than jay-z and beyonce.<u+201d> the pair were not his only targets. in michigan, pennsylvania and minnesota, he decried local influxes of refugees. <u+201c>here, in minnesota, you<u+2019>ve seen firsthand the problems caused with faulty refugee vetting <u+2013> with large numbers of somali refugees coming into your state without your knowledge, support or approval and with some then joining isis and spreading their extremist views,<u+201d> he said in minneapolis, adding, <u+201c>a trump administration will not admit any refugees without the support of the local community where they are being placed.<u+201d> and in virginia, he hit gov. terry mcauliffe, a close clinton ally, for enfranchising tens of thousands of convicts ahead of the election. <u+201c>he<u+2019>s letting criminals cancel out the votes of law-abiding citizens,<u+201d> trump said. then, pulling away from the rally around 1 a.m., trump briefly halted his motorcade and emerged from his suv to wave at the crowd gathered out in the cold before continuing on his way to florida for another day filled with another five rallies. or as trump suggested onstage here, maybe six. by bill scher by joshua zeitz by thomas wright by jack shafer
in campaign<u+2019>s twilight, trump basks in the glow of his rallies - politico
ben schreckinger jack shafer