GALLATIN — Donald Trump Jr., visiting Gallatin Tuesday, said Tennessee residents can expect to see a lot of his family this year as they campaign for U.S. Republican Senate candidate Bill Hagerty.
Also, Trump didn’t say no when asked if he might one day relocate to the Volunteer State.
Trump spoke at a fundraiser Tuesday for Hagerty at Gallatin’s EPIC Event Centre. Afterwards, Trump granted an exclusive interview to The Tennessee Star.
As reported, another Republican, Manny Sethi, also wants to replace the retiring U.S. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander.
We asked Trump why he believes Hagerty will do a better job supporting U.S. Republican President Donald Trump’s agenda better than anyone else in the race.
“He worked within our administration. More importantly, he was on Team Trump before it was politically expedient. He was on there before my father had won. He worked with us on the campaign and in 16. He then went on to fulfill my father’s objectives abroad as ambassador to Japan,” Trump said.
“He understands how to work with my father. He understands how my father works, and for my father to endorse him means that my father trusts him to get that done. I don’t think there could be a stronger endorsement.”
Suppose a majority of Tennessee voters elect Hagerty or another Republican to replace Alexander. And suppose the president gets a second term. How, The Star asked, can that new Republican U.S. senator help President Trump carry out a second-term agenda?
“A lot has been accomplished, but I think my father wants to do a lot more. I think he has probably done more than most in the three-and-a-half years he’s been in there already,” said the president’s son.
“Obviously he wants to tackle infrastructure. He wants to continue to make the improvements that he needs to the military, continue to build the wall, shore up other trade deals, and all these things that have been unprecedented accomplishments of this president. One who has had the guts to take on some of that nonsense where politicians prior wouldn’t even think about trying to tackle terrible trade deficits and bad deals.”
Toward that end, Trump said he and members of his family, 100 percent, will return to Tennessee this year to campaign.
“Obviously Tennessee is a very conservative state. A big part of that will be the primary and, that said, what was spent in the last cycle around here in these senate races, it will definitely be a target for the Democrats. So, we will be spending a lot of time here. It’s never hard to get me to go around the country to support our friends.”
The president recently changed his primary residence from high tax New York state to Florida, which has no income tax. The Star asked Trump Jr. if he would consider moving his primary residence from New York state to zero state income tax Tennessee.
“You never know. Honestly when I see the policies being enacted in some of these states like New York, or any of these high tax areas, they just don’t align with my values,” Trump said.
“There is no fiscal responsibility. I don’t see myself being there all that much longer. Tennessee is one of those places I think we have done quite well.”
The Star also asked Trump to comment on CNN host Don Lemon and his on-air guests recently mocking his father’s supporters as members of a “credulous boomer rube demo.”
“It is truly disgusting, actually. I am the son of a billionaire from New York City and I can understand what they say about the average hardworking American who really just wants to have the American dream,” Trump said.
“But I get it. Despite the craziness of my life growing up. These people who are supposed to just report the news continue to insult them even after those same insults probably cost them the election four years ago. They have not figured it out. They truly believe those things. I have had the good blessing to go around all over the country to meet these people and talk to them and, honestly, they get it. They get it much more than anyone can possibly understand.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Donald Trump Jr.” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
