Kaila White, and Angelica Cabral

The Republic | azcentral.com

Donald Trump Jr., the son of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, gave a short speech at Arizona State University to a small but vocal crowd Thursday afternoon in Tempe.

After speakers led the Pledge of Allegiance and a Christian prayer, Trump Jr. took the stage in the Sun Devil Recreation Center Green Gym about 2:15 p.m. to chants of "U-S-A!"

"It’s great to be able to see this many people show up on a campus to talk about conservative values, talk about government that’s failed them and be here to really rebel against that because it is time to drain the swamp," Trump Jr. said to cheers.

At the end of his speech, he announced his father will return to Phoenix on Saturday for a campaign event.

It was the second big political event at ASU in just over a week — Chelsea Clinton campaigned for her mother, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, at a campus rally last week.

What Trump Jr. said that got the most cheers

The gymnasium, which had a capacity of about 900 for the event, was about half-full. Trump Jr., who is a 38-year-old executive vice president with the Trump Organization, spoke quickly and for about 10 minutes.

"You turn on the TV and we’re more concerned about people in countries in far-off lands that hate our guts, they hate values, they could push a button and wipe us off the face of the Earth and we’re more concerned about their feelings than we are about the safety and well-being of our own citizens, of our children, our grandchildren, and that too has got to stop,” he said to tremendous applause.

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He said that an 83-year-old person told him they had never voted before but registered to vote for the first time for Trump, which Trump Jr. said at first baffled him but then he understood.

“When I look at the system, now that I’ve seen it a little bit from the inside … I say, you know what? They’re actually probably smarter than all of us because they realize that all of these typical politicians were going to fail them anyway. What was the point?

"Now we have the opportunity to change all of that. We have the opportunity to get in there and actually have someone who’s gonna deliver on a promise, someone talking about job creation who’s actually created a job!"

Clinton has “made a lot of money peddling American values, she’s made a lot of money selling influence” but “she’s never signed the front of a real paycheck," he said, after which the crowd chanted, "Lock her up!"

Sparse crowds before the rally

The first people in line for the rally, about 11 a.m., were Angie Yeargers and Mary Boettcher, close friends and both in their 50s and from Scottsdale. They talked about Trump's support for small business and said they didn't believe women's allegations against Trump.

"I think it was all staged," Boettcher said. "Well, he obviously made a comment on the bus but that’s locker-room talk. I mean I work around a lot of professional men and they do talk like that. But I think that for women, there’s some responsibility in standing up for yourself. I think a lot of them have already been established as lying and I think they all are."

Shortly after doors opened about 1 p.m., crowds began chanting, “Lock her up,” “Trump,” and “Joe” for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who arrived about 1:20 p.m.

The campaign handed out free Trump shirts — made in the U.S. — to attendees.

Students supporting Trump

Before the rally, Arizona State University College Republicans President Kevin Calabrese said he was looking forward to hearing about issues that affect Millennials and that the speech "will have a positive impact, since he's a millennial as well."

Matthew Miller, a 20-year-old sophomore studying finance said he has been a Trump supporter from the beginning.

He said that although he personally feels comfortable expressing his thoughts, "I feel like the judgment towards people who speak freely in support of Trump is a lot more negative than people who speak freely in support of Hillary Clinton or the establishment, the status quo."

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Although Trump has made offensive comments, Miller said that should not matter as much as the national debt and trade deals including NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

"I feel like there have been things he said that have come off the wrong way, but I feel like when you actually sit down and you think what’s actually at stake in this election and you take a look at the situation of what’s going on in Libya, in Syria, in the Middle East, there’s things out there that actually matter, that will change lives.

Small protest outside the venue

A small group of protesters stood outside the venue, drawing a crowd of onlookers and passers-by. ProgressNow brought a large papier-mache Trump bust and speakers of their own.

Muhammad Alkaholout, a member of the ASU Young Democrats, gave an emotional speech to the people gathered. He is the son of Muslim asylum seekers and knows refugees, and said they're not trying to hurt anyone and that this is an emotional topic for him since his parents have been harassed.

Tereza Carlos, 20, was burning sage near the protesters, which she said is an indigenous tradition meant to clear the space of negativity. She said she had considered voting for a third-party candidate, but changed to supporting Clinton because she doesn't think enough people will vote third party to make a difference.

After the rally, the anti-Trump protesters were still outside, but they were joined by a group of pro-Trump counterprotesters challenging them.

Trump Jr.'s fast campaigning across Arizona

Trump Jr. tweeted at 8:32 a.m. that he was in Arizona, retweeting Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu's criticism of "Obamacare" and saying Arizona is "One of the hardest hit states, and that's before the insane deductibles."

He also shared a photo of himself with Jim Sharpe, host of "Arizona’s Morning News" on KTAR. The radio station was Trump Jr.'s first stop after landing in Arizona on Thursday morning, according to Sharpe.

After the rally, Trump Jr. helped push a person's broken-down car to the side of the road, and tweeted that he had a "Great afternoon at @arizonastateuniversity talking to a really enthusiastic group of college students."

Trump Jr.'s father was in Ohio Thursday, visiting Springfield, Toledo and Geneva. The whole Trump family appeared in a segment on ABC's "Good Morning America" Thursday morning.