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10 11 24 KOA Host Jimmy Sengenberger discusses getting to the Trump Rally In Aurora
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Or play iHeart Country, or hip-hop beats. Your choice, all for free. Stream easy with zoomo play. Get live and on-demand entertainment with no log-ins, no sign-ups, no accounts, no hassle. This November, get cozy and stay in for movie night with Air Force One, starring Harrison Ford and Glenn Close, and The Art of War starring Wesley Snipes, all streaming free on zoomo play. Go to play.zumo.com now. Life is hard. Zumo is easy. Marty Lenz, Gina Ganda, good morning. It is Colorado's morning news, lines forming at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center in Aurora. They continued to expand as legions of mega supporters vie for their spot to see the former president speak at one this afternoon. We're talking about the rally coming about as sort of a make good on Trump's promise to visit Aurora following the viral story of Venezuelan gangs operating in an apartment complex there, which has become a major talking point of his campaign. Joining us now on the KOA common spirit health hotline, he'll be covering this for us here on KOA. It's Jimmy Sengenberger. Jimmy, thank you so much for your time. As always, now you have covered and been to a number of Trump rallies in the past. Paint a picture of what do you think we can expect at the Gaylord Rockies today? Yeah, it's interesting. I have watched a number of them on TV and been to the one in 2020 that was down in Colorado Springs in person. And I have to tell you that one of the fascinating things about a Trump rally that I think makes it unique, guys, is that he isn't just giving a speech and saying, "Hey, this is why you should vote for me. Let's go get out there and be motivated to make a difference." He is really trying to put what I call the greatest show on Earth. Because remember, this guy is a showman. He's been an entertainer. So he wants the people coming there to have a great time, and that's why you can see him go off in any number of directions on any number of topics. And you might watch on TV going, "Why is he talking about that or like that?" He is playing to the crowd, and that kind of energy, I believe, he hopes from going to what he wants them to think is the greatest show on Earth. We'll motivate them to get out for turnout. At least that's what they usually do. In this case, though, this Trump rally, I think, is more about highlighting the issue of immigration than it is turning out the vote in the state that he's unlikely to win. Jimmy, how substantive, though, are these rallies when he talks about, "You're right. He kind of goes and spins and weaves as he says into subjects." And I've never attended a rally. I'm sure it's different in person than watching it on TV. Something I see is, regardless of the location, it seems like it's the same message speech, the patterns that the former president gets into, same issues that he does. So the speech seems to say the same, at least from my vantage point, is it does it to you, and the location really is irrelevant? Generally speaking, I would say the fundamental pre-written speech tends to be the same, and then he'll ad-lib. Who knows how long he will ad-lib based on the guests that are also speaking, the state that he's in, the environment, what have you, the ad-lib will always be different and spur of the moment. But one thing I think that's going to be interesting about this particular speech is that it's an issue-oriented rally. That is to say, he's here specifically to highlight the Venezuelan gang issue and what's been happening at the southern border, a critical subject for Trump. Since he went down that escalator back in 2015, running in that first of his three times vying for office. And so what I think you'll see in this speech is going to be a little bit different because he is more focused on the issue because Colorado is not really in play for Trump. This is a state that dramatically went for Biden in 2020 as well as 2016, but it's an opportunity for him to highlight one of his critical campaign subjects. And I think you'll see that in the speech. Jimmy, I've also covered a couple of Trump rallies when he was president, and I could say that was definitely the first time we've ever been led by with Secret Service to the restroom. I mean, security is going to be intense, especially when we're talking to assassination attempts later. What do you think we can expect there at the Gaylord Rockies? Yeah, I think it's going to be very tight. I'll be there shortly and I'll find out myself, but very tight in terms of that security, Secret Service having a very close eye. I mean, I remember being at a rally. I think it was in golden in 2016, just before that election. And then, of course, I mentioned 2020 down in Colorado Springs. And at that time, he was the president. So there was probably, you know, there's a lot more security for the president. But this time, what you have in the wake of two attempted assassinations of the former president, you have to have that kind of security button down. But keep in mind, unlike his original speech in Butler, Pennsylvania, for example, and I think it's follow up, this will be indoors as I understand it inside the Gaylord Hotel, which I think provides better opportunity for that security as well. But things will definitely be buttoned down. You mentioned that he's here to highlight the Venezuelan gangs, but that seems to be in dispute with even Aurora's own leadership of whether it's the police themselves kind of hinting that that's not necessarily the case. And Mayor Mike Kauffman, who is conspicuously, I guess, going to be absent from this rally. What do you make of that, Jimmy? Yeah, I think I'm not surprised that Mayor Kauffman wouldn't be attending a Trump rally. It just seems to fit with how he's approached a president Trump going back years, including when he was in Congress himself and Trump was president. I would say that in terms of the issue, to me, there's two things going on. One, there's what we do know, which is that several apartment complexes had essentially been taken over, and there were so many issues of concern that we're instilling fear in folks, and I've done a lot of reportage on this and columns I write for the Denver Gazette. I think that it's very clear that there are significant issues, really a crisis in some parts of the city, but then there's the other piece, some of the exaggerations that have said, this means Aurora is being taken over and is utterly overrun. You might hear that from Trump because he is prone to hyperbolic speech, and that wouldn't be accurate. My thing that I'm looking for from Trump is, what does he say from the substance? Does he get to actually some of the facts where there is truth in the matter that maybe he's exaggerating at some of the terminology. There is a real serious issue going on in the Denver metro area with Trende Aragua in the Venezuelan gangs and the illegal immigration flow that has come in with 44,000 migrants. But the question is, how does that get presented out in the public? And that's where you have those disagreements, I think. We'll see you at the former president chairs later today, 1 p.m. at the Gaylord Rockies. Phil and host for KOA. It's Jimmy Sengenberger. Jimmy, thank you so much for your time. As always, check back in. Let us know what it looks like when you arrive and what you see throughout the coverage throughout the day. You bet. Thanks, Marty and Gina. Finding the right news podcast can feel like dating. It seems promising until you start listening. When you hit play on post reports, you'll get fascinating conversations and sometimes a little fun, too. I'm Martine Powers. And I'm Alahay Azadi. Martine and I are the hosts of post reports. The show comes out every weekday from the Washington Post. You can follow and listen to post reports wherever you get your podcasts. It'll be a match, I promise. It's beginning to sound a lot like the holidays. The Roku channel, your home for free and premium TV, is giving you access to holiday music and genre-based stations from iHeart all for free. Find the soundtrack of the season with channels like iHeartChristmas and North Pole Radio. The Roku channel is available on all Roku devices, web, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Samsung TVs, and the Roku mobile app on iOS and Android devices. So stream what you love and turn up the cheer with iHeartRadio on the Roku channel. Happy streaming! Deciding on what to listen to is hard. Using Zoomo to stream music from iHeart90's radio is easy, or play iHeart Country or hip-hop beats. Your choice, all for free. Stream easy with Zoomo Play. Get live and on-demand entertainment with no logins, no sign-ups, no accounts, no hassle. This November, get cozy and stay in from movie night with Air Force One starting Harrison Ford and Glenn Close and the Art of War starring Wesley Snipes, all streaming free on Zoomo Play. Go to play.zumo.com now. Life is hard. Zumo is easy.