Posted: Tuesday, December 1, 2015 9:00 am
By Jill Nolin CNHI State Reporter

MACON — Thousands of people were expected to come hear Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump speak tonight in Macon.

Supporters started showing up outside the Macon Centreplex Coliseum and Auditorium hours before Trump was set to take the stage.

About that same time, Trump tweeted that he was “off to Georgia for big speech!” after meeting with a group of black pastors at Trump Tower in New York.

Thomas McBride and his wife Sharon were among those waiting for his arrival.

McBride, who lives in Macon, said he hoped Trump would talk about immigration and specifically how to handle the refugees fleeing war-torn Syria.

McBride noted concerns, aired by governors and Republican presidential candidates following the ISIS attacks in Paris, that terrorists could take advantage of a flow of refugees to slip into the United States.

“I don’t want it to become like Belfast, where you have to worry about eating at a restaurant and – boom – you’re blown up,” he said as he waited outside the coliseum.

Immigration was on the mind of many who came to show their support for the billionaire real estate developer turned politician, whose brand of candor has won fans while attracting scrutiny from the media and criticism from opponents.

“It’s ‘Kumbaya’ in D.C.,” said Ed Edwards, of Fayetteville, just south of Atlanta. “Go along and get along, and we’ll get rich off the taxpayers’ back.”

Trump, he said, will be different.

“He’s bold, he’s fresh,” Edwards said. “I think he’ll do what he says he’ll do.”

Edwards – who was wearing a button that said “Each time America needs him, God sends a man” – mingled among the crowd, encouraging people to stay involved.

“It starts with you and grows,” he said, adding that Trump is the “only one that is hardcore.”

Like its rejection of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas, the establishment doesn’t care for Trump, and that’s part of the appeal, says Gary Bradley.

Bradley and his wife, Susan, traveled more than 100 miles from Gainesville, just north of Atlanta, for the rally.

They took a similar trip to hear Cruz speak earlier this month in Greenville, S.C. The couple said they missed an important Bible study to see Trump.

“We’re heading toward socialism, and I’m not going,” Susan Bradley said.

At 6 p.m. Monday, a band entertained supporters as they filed into the coliseum. Many were wearing Trump buttons, hats and T–shirts.

The rally was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

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