President Donald Trump held a re-election rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, Monday, a day before residents of the Granite State head to the polls to vote in the first-in-the-nation primary.
With just hours to go until the primary, President Trump was focused on looking ahead to November.
“We are going to defeat the radical socialist Democrats,” Trump said to thousands in the crowd. “We are going to win New Hampshire in a landslide.”
The rally comes as Democrats vying for their party's nomination battle to win over Granite State voters, whose choice carries added weight in this election cycle after confusion reigned in the party's Iowa caucuses, and Trump didn't shy away from the topic.
He referred to a kind of tactical voting that sometimes goes on in New Hampshire, in which primary voters of one party decide to vote in the other party to nudge the results toward a favorable match-up.
"My only problem is, I'm trying to figure out who is their weakest candidate," Trump added.
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The president did not go after most of the Democratic contenders by name, but he did speak out about the health care plan of Bernie Sanders.
“Washington Democrats have never been more extreme,” Trump said. “Taking their cues from Crazy Bernie.”
Trump also decided to break out a staple of his rallies from the 2016 election, a recitation of the poem, "The Snake," about a woman who takes in a snake only for it to bite her. Trump reads it as a parable about undocumented immigration, and said he was reading it because of the Democratic candidates' policies on the border.
The rally began with Trump taking in a long ovation, then insisting that far more people wanted to get into the rally at Southern New Hampshire University than all the Democratic candidates for president have been pulling for their events.
Taking aim at Democrats was definitely on Trump's mind going into the rally — he tweeted about it Monday morning.
Vice President Mike Pence and Donald Trump Jr. were among the speakers introducing the president in front of a crowd of loyal fans.
In an exclusive interview, Donald Trump Jr. told NBC10 Boston he’s not concerned about who his father will face in the fall.
“Not really,” said Trump, Jr. “We run on our accomplishments. Each one of them has plenty of liabilities...we’re running on success.”
Many loyal fans waited hours in the cold to see President Trump on Monday.
"It’s damp, it’s freezing, my toes are freezing, my nose is cold," said Julia Duchaine, of West Baldwin, Maine, in line before the event. "I don’t care, he just gets here a few times a year, so it’s worth it."
Manchester Chief of Police Carlo Capano tweeted that lines were already forming at the SNHU Arena at 6 a.m.
Elm Street was closed from Auburn Street to Lake Avenue, according to Manchester police, but traffic north on Elm Street will still be able to access West Auburn Street. Willow Street from Auburn Street to Green Street is closed too, as well as Auburn Street from Chestnut Street to Elm Street.
Earlier Monday, Pence and Ivanka Trump spoke at a Cops for Trump rally that was briefly interrupted by protesters. The Trump advisers also stopped into a diner for a quick bite.
