WILDWOOD, N.J. _ President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that while he was "creating jobs and killing terrorists," congressional Democrats were "obsessed with demented hoaxes," appearing at a campaign rally down the Jersey Shore here just hours after his defense lawyers wrapped up their arguments in his impeachment trial.
"Which is worse," Trump queried thousands of supporters crowded inside the Wildwoods Convention Center, "the impeachment hoax or the witch hunt from Russia?"
The rally offered Trump a respite from trial drama and damning reports that his former national security adviser, John Bolton, believed the president had conditioned hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine on that country's willingness to investigate Democrats. The revelation has raised the prospect that enough Senate Republicans will join with Democrats to subpoena Bolton and other witnesses for testimony.
Just days before Iowa kicks off the Democratic presidential nominating contest, Trump made his case for reelection, boasting of the lowest unemployment rate in decades, his new trade deal with Mexico and Canada, and the drone strike he ordered on the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
As he often does, the president bashed the news media and railed against so-called sanctuary cities that protect undocumented immigrants. He mocked the "Green New Deal" energy plan favored by liberals like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "You don't have too many cows in Wildwood, but if you do, they're gone," he said.
He also tried to make headway on an issue that helped Democrats take control of the House in 2018: healthcare. Trump blasted Sen. Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All plan, noting it would abolish private insurance and warning it would crush the economy.
"We're making healthcare better and much, much cheaper. We are protecting people with pre-existing conditions, and we always will," Trump said. The president unsuccessfully tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act _ which protects people from being charged higher prices because of pre-existing medical conditions _ and his administration has since declined to defend the law in court against a lawsuit that could gut it.
He shared a stage with Rep. Jeff Van Drew, the local congressman who shocked Washington last month when he split with the Democratic Party over impeachment, announcing he would seek reelection as a Republican and pledging his "undying support" to Trump at a White House meeting.
"Jeff had the guts to defy the left-wing fanatics in his own party," Trump told the crowd, adding that the Democrats had become "the socialist party, and maybe worse." Police said earlier Tuesday that they expected to let in about 8,500 people, many of whom had camped out overnight.
If the dominant mood for much of the day was that of a tailgate, the nation's divisions also were on full display. "This is what Democracy looks like!" shouted anti-Trump protesters, gathered in a parking lot under the banner of Cape May County Indivisible.
Above them, from the Boardwalk, Trump fans heckled them.
"Where's Hunter?!" they yelled, reprising a favorite Trump attack on Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump's interest in Hunter Biden's seat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company during the Obama administration helped lead the president down the road to impeachment.
Air Force One landed a little after 6 p.m. at Atlantic City International Airport, according to the White House, with Van Drew and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie aboard. The president boarded Marine One for the trip to the Cape May County Airport landing zone and his motorcade swept to the convention center, where thousands unable to get in had gathered to watch on an oversize television.
Some local Republicans have been skeptical of Van Drew, who represented parts of South Jersey as a Democratic state lawmaker from 2002 until he was elected to the U.S. House in 2018. But another candidate in the GOP primary endorsed Van Drew on Monday and said he'd run in another district.
"Are we going to allow ourselves just to be like any nation in the world, or are we going to keep America great?" Van Drew said to cheers Tuesday.
Local officials welcomed the campaign rally as a jolt to the economy, which relies heavily on summer tourism. By Tuesday afternoon, the boardwalk area had turned into a pop-up Make America Great Again festival, with Trump merchandise available on just about every street.
Rocky Granata said he has traveled the country in an RV decked out in pro-Trump flags, banners, and pro-Second Amendment signs for nearly four years. "For the last 42 months," he said, "all I do is Trump every day." The Brooklyn native returned to New Jersey, where he lived for 40 years, for Trump's rally on Tuesday. He sold merchandise like T-shirts, hats, and flags.
Motels reported being fully booked, and bars and restaurants near the boardwalk filled up during the afternoon with Trump diehards. Blocks from the boardwalk, the Bolero Resort cued up Fox News' coverage of the impeachment hearing on a projector. Drink specials included a "Russian Collusion" and "Moscow Mueller."
More than 1,000 Trump supporters camped outside the Wildwoods Convention Center overnight for a chance to see him. By midday, the line to enter the Trump rally in Wildwood filled the chutes in the parking lot of the Convention Center and snaked out and around several blocks into the center of Wildwood. Southern Rock played on a loop.
Thousands lined up along the streets, chanting, "Trump! Trump!" And "USA! USA!" as the president's motorcade appeared to pull up to the convention center slightly before 7 p.m.
Not everyone was happy.
Newly elected Wildwood Mayor Pete Byron, a Democrat, said in an interview that Van Drew informed him he was not welcome at the rally. Former Mayor Ernie Troiano, a Trump acolyte, was given a VIP ticket.
"I've been informed that Congressmen Van Drew and the president are upset with the fact that I said I think the city should be reimbursed" for rally expenses, Byron said.
Byron said he told Van Drew he had shown respect for the rally, and that "you should show the same respect to me as the mayor of the City of Wildwood. It shouldn't be about 'I'm a Democrat or Republican.'"
Throngs of protesters were present, as the president's appearance unified some 30 different anti-Trump groups and four Democratic candidates running in the primary for a chance to run against Van Drew. One event featured Martin Luther King III, eldest son of the late civil rights leader.
New Jersey may seem like an unlikely destination for a Trump rally _ the blue-leaning state voted for Hillary Clinton by 14 percentage points in 2016 _ but the president owns multiple properties in the state. Wildwood is about an hour's drive south of Atlantic City, where Trump owned four casinos that ended up in bankruptcy.
Trump's visit marked the first time a sitting president has campaigned in New Jersey's 2nd Congressional District since George H.W. Bush made a stop in Vineland in 1992.
(Philadelphia Inquirer staff writers Ellie Rushing and Craig R. McCoy contributed to this article.)
