Who could possibly give a more heartfelt, unvarnished testimonial to Donald Trump’s greatness than someone who relies on him for food and shelter?
At a televised event in Florida Tuesday morning, the Republican presidential nominee invited some of his employees from Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami to the microphone to speak about him. It took some prodding at first.
“If you want, anybody would like to say a few words about working for Trump?” their boss asked the crowd of employees assembled behind him, many of them minorities. “Anybody? Anybody back here? Come on, come on.
“You wanna come up? Come up. No, come on up,” Trump went on. “Anybody over here? Come on up!”
As the first employee, a Latino man, came up to the stage, Trump jokingly warned him against saying negative things about him.
“This guy better say good ― or I’ll say, ‘You’re fired!’” the former reality TV personality said to laughter.
Ha, ha.
The man, who did not offer his name, spoke earnestly of his admiration for Trump. He said that he was an unapologetic supporter of his candidacy. Trump polls abysmally among Latino voters, and the employee noted his love for the brash businessman has created friction at home.
“I want to say that even though I have many issues with my family because I’ve been supporting this man here, I love it and I’ve been so proud to be working in this property,” he said. “When he decided to run for president, I supported him from the very first day.”
The second employee who came to the stage identified herself as Maria Nino, who manages international travel for the club. Nino didn’t attest to her boss in her brief remarks, but she did give high marks to the Trump Doral.
“I love this place. I’m very proud to work here,” Nino said. “Thank you.”
After the event, David Feder, the club’s general manager, insisted that the testimonials had been “impromptu” and unforced.
“I didn’t even know Mr. Trump was going to ask them to speak,” he said.
The Trump team had billed it as a campaign event ahead of time, but Feder said he didn’t consider it one.
“I don’t know what it was but I can tell you I don’t think it was a campaign event,” he said. “This was where the employees get recognized.”
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
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