Trump Tells Crowd How He Went From Being Insider To Outsider Like Them

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016, in Golden, Colo. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
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While criticizing the “political and media elite” during a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, on Sunday, Donald Trump acknowledged his wealth and suggested that he had had some kind of epiphany about the plight of the working class.

“The political and media elite have no idea what it’s like to be living on a paycheck, paycheck to paycheck basis, not knowing whether or not the owners and leaders of their company are negotiating to move their plant or factory to Mexico or some other country and fire them sometimes with virtually no notice — happening all over the country, not going to happen with us, folks. It’s not going to happen with us,” he said.

Trump talking about living paycheck to paycheck may strain credulity, but Trump assured the crowd that he understood and is on their side now.

“Politicians don’t understand what that’s like. The media and the political elite don’t know the pain and the suffering these people are living under, but I figured it out a long time ago, and that’s why I’m here. I’m with you rather than where I was. I was on the other side,” he continued. “I was on the other side. I understand it well. I understand the other side well. I was enjoying my life for many years on the other side, but I also love our country, and I will tell you, our country was going bad.”

Trump said that when he announced his presidential campaign in June 2015, he “went from being a true insider to perhaps the ultimate outsider ever.”

“These people that I have known all my life, they’re saying, ‘Donald, what happened?’ We are going to make America great again, that’s what happened,” he said. “You are the people that built our country, and we are going to give you the respect that you deserve. Hillary’s an insider fighting only for herself and her special interests. I’m an outsider. I’ve become an outsider fighting for you. I’m not a politician.”

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