Donald Trump and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence during an appearance in Cleveland on Oct. 22, 2016.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Donald Trump kept his focus on Hillary Clinton, as well as his forboding vision of an America besieged by corrupt and foreign influences, on Saturday night during a late election-season campaign rally in Cleveland.
In a 45-minute speech at the I-X Center, Trump vowed to end illegal immigration, build a wall on the southern border and renegotiate trade deals, saying the United States has been "outsmarted" by leaders in Mexico and other countries.
He encouraged the enthusiastic crowd numbering in the thousands to go out and vote so he could upend the status quo and "drain the swamp" in Washington, D.C. by winning the Nov. 8 election.
"We're going to look back at this election and say, this is by far the most important vote you've ever cast for anyone in any election at any time of your life," Trump said.
Teleprompter Trump
Trump has hurt himself throughout his campaign by being unable to stay on script, instead saying outrageous things that create headlines crowding out his preferred topics.
Even earlier Saturday, Trump, during a speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, vowed to file lawsuits once the election is over against the various women who have come forward recently and accused him of sexual misconduct.
But in Cleveland, Trump reserved his criticism for Clinton, President Barack Obama and the media. He stuck to the topics that will help him win the election, including discussing the struggles of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
And so, Trump offered a glimpse of the potentially potent "change candidate" message he has failed to consistently leverage. Even with his missteps, Trump's anti-trade, pro-police and culturally conservative tone has resonated in Ohio to the point that he remains a viable candidate here, even as other swing states appear to be slipping from his grasp.
"We are about change, and she is about keeping things the same," Trump said. "And we don't want four more years of Obama, that I can tell you."
'The ultimate outsider'
As he often does, Trump depicted himself as someone who knows how special interests play the game, because he used to do it himself.
"I didn't have to do this," Trump said. "I built a great company. It has many of the greatest assets in the world. And if I win, I may never see them again. But it's all so unimportant compared to this."
Trump described the conversion that took place the second he declared his candidacy in June 2015.
"In one day, I went from the ultimate outsider to man, have I become the ultimate outsider, right? We have created a movement like none other we've ever seen in this country."
Trump mixes his message on 'rigged' election
Trump recently has alarmed elections officials by suggesting the only way he might lose the election is through widespread fraud.
Near the beginning of his speech though, Trump seemed pretty confident in his prospects of winning.
"I don't think there's a chance they can take it away from us," he said. "We're going to win November 8."
So, it seemed like Trump may have left the "rigged election" talk -- which could backfire by suggesting to his supporters that their votes may not count -- out of his material.
But Trump later referred to a study by the 2012 Pew Center on the States that found 24 million voter registrations are inaccurate, and that 1.8 million dead people are listed as voters. The study does not suggest people are casting votes in those people's names, but says the figures reflect the need for voter rolls to be updated.
"Oh, there's no voter fraud," Trump said, sarcastically. "The system is rigged. Believe me."
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, has said that voter fraud does exist, but is rare, and occurs nowhere near the scale needed to tip a state or national election.
Trump's return to Cleveland
Saturday marked Trump's first large-scale rally in Cleveland since March 12, when he again appeared at the I-X Center shortly before the Ohio primary.
Both Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, on Saturday referenced Cleveland as the host of this year's Republican National Convention, where both men accepted the GOP nomination in July.
"Ohio is a special place, and Cleveland is a special place," Trump said.
Trump made a few references to the I-X Center's former use as a General Motors plant, and the nearby presence of a Ford Engine Plant, where he said jobs were at risk of being outsourced.
He also said his policies would put coal miners back to work and that his promised investments in the military would result in the Wright Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton in getting some new planes.
From the Clinton camp
Before Trump's rally, Democrats and organized labor figures held a rebuttal event in which they criticized Trump for not using American-manufactured products in his business endeavors.
"We've all heard Trump's attempted appeal to working people as the candidate that 'has our back,'' said Michael Kilbane, a Structural Ironworkers Local 47 member and president of Fairview Park City Council. "It's a ruse. A smokescreen. It's faux populism. A sad attempt to divide the working-class vote of this country' Instead of investing in jobs and steel here in Cleveland, Lorain, and Youngstown, Trump opted to buy steel from China. I'm backing Secretary Clinton because she has vowed to invest in American jobs. Her plan calls for the largest investments in good-paying American jobs since World War II."
Coyne warms up the crowd
Brook Park Mayor Tom Coyne served as one of Trump's introductory speakers. He addressed the "women of America" during one part of his remarks, and said the policies Clinton advocated for as Secretary of State were responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
Coyne, whose political career was disrupted by problems with alcohol, also said he was speaking as someone who was "foolish during another part of my life" before he was offered forgiveness.
"Bad behavior by men can be corrected," Coyne said. "We get old, and we get harmless."