Spirit of American rally, supporters celebrate their president

Republican+presidential+candidate+Donald+Trump+gives+the+thumbs+up+before+a+speech+at+the+second+annual+Roast+and+Ride+at+the+Iowa+State+Fairgrounds+Aug.+27%2C+2016.%C2%A0

Max Goldberg/Iowa State Daily

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives the thumbs up before a speech at the second annual Roast and Ride at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Aug. 27, 2016. 

Danielle Gehr

The Iowa State Capitol building saw a crowd of red Make America Great hats Saturday morning as people rallied to show their support for the their president.

Emeline Hanscel, former vice president of ISU 4 Trump and current treasurer of ISU College Republicans, was one of the estimated 150 people in attendance at the Trump rally. Organizers dubbed it the Spirit of America rally.

To Hanscel, this name signifies how Trump’s first actions in office put America.

“It’s about his America-first agenda where he’s trying to put America first and he’s not really worrying about other countries and trying to help them out because we do have our own issues and problems going on in America,” Hanscel said.

The rally lasted about an hour, featuring several speakers who supported Trump and contributed throughout his campaign.

One of these speakers was the senior adviser to Trump, Tana Goertz, who was one of the last to speak, leaving the stage as the audience started repetitively chanting Trump.

“I am humbled and so proud that I’m able to say that I worked on the Trump campaign. We did it,” Goertz said.

She told the story of how she met Trump when she was an aspiring entrepreneur who applied to be on “The Apprentice.”

“A man by the name of Donald Trump took a chance on me, a mother, an entrepreneur and a go-getter, and he said let’s bring her and cast her on the show. I think she ought to be good,” Goertz said.

She went on to finish runner-up on the show, and Trump eventually asked her to be a part of his campaign when he decided to run for president.

Since Trump’s inauguration, protests emerged worldwide, two of which were held in support of women and immigrants, run by Trump’s opposition.

Saturday’s celebration of Trump motivates a hidden minority, Hanscel said, that is afraid to say that they support Trump because of a possible backlash.

“When there is something like this where it’s positive and we’re just trying to show our support for Trump and show him that there are people that do support him, it’s great,” Hanscel said.

This event gave supporters like Hanscel the opportunity to meet Trump supporters of all different walks of life.

“I had talked with a couple of older people who were really happy to see a lot of the younger folks getting out and showing their support,” Hanscel said.

Another Iowa State student who attended was Taylor Collins, sophomore in business management. He did not initially support Trump, initially wanting to see Sen. Ted Cruz, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, in the Oval Office.

It wasn’t until after Trump’s inauguration that he shed the initial weariness he had toward Trump.

“I’m skeptical of all politicians, but what made me change my mind was when he nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court,” Collins said.

Collins believes in minimal government involvement and interpreting the Constitution as it was intended at the time it was written.  

With Trump choosing an originalist to fill the empty Supreme Court seat, Collins found that he could trust the new president and believes Trump will not abuse his power.

Collins is also impressed with Trump’s cabinet picks, and after watching on of his recent speeches, Collins believes that Trump turned out to be more conservative than he initially thought.