▲ With a garbage truck that said “deplorables,” Trump supporters remembered the sayings of Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.Photo The Day

Jim Cason and David Brooks

Correspondents

La Jornada Newspaper
Monday, November 4, 2024, p. 25

Salem and New York, Jesus is my savior, Trump is my presidentsaid many t-shirts of supporters who began arriving in this Virginia town over the weekend, more than 12 hours before their candidate appeared on stage to reiterate his message about the dangers that millions of undocumented migrants represent for the country. , those who promote transgender rights and the declining economy.

Are they better off now than they were four years ago?Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump asked his followers, who responded Nooooooo! And he promised them end inflation, stop the invasion of criminals into our country and return the American dreamto the vocal approval of his audience.

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has many stars at her events, from Beyonce to Bruce Springsteen, among many others, but for this audience (and for the candidate himself), the only superstar is Trump.

This is the greatest political movement in the history of our country, probably in the history of the world.Trump declared from the podium. At another moment, he began to say: if I winand he interrupted himself, and corrected: It’s not about me, it’s if we win. Much of the attention in this race is on Trump’s character, but he is not wrong that the movement he leads is something extraordinary in the country’s political history.

One of the speakers at Saturday’s rally was Stephen Miller, the Trump adviser who was the architect of his anti-immigrant policies in his administration and who is now drawing up plans to deport a million undocumented immigrants each year if he wins. Do not come to this country if you are not willing to obey American laws or American culture.he said, although he did not clarify what it means obey to this culture. His accusation that illegal aliens They are raping and killing Americans drew applause, but neither Miller nor the governor of Virginia and other politicians who gave speeches here raised the energy of this audience. They had come to listen to Trump and not them.

So many people arrived that when the doors to the arena where the campaign event would be held were opened to begin security checks, the 6,200 seats at the Salem Civic Center were sold out in 90 minutes, and three times as many were left out in the attempt. to see their president (who surely won the 2020 election that was stolen from him, according to them) and then to hear him on the big screens outside.

Six hours before the arrival of the Republican candidate, there was already a sea of ​​red caps with the acronym MAGA (Make America Great Again) – the slogan of this movement – ​​on the field around the arena, with a row of others for more than half a mile. kilometer. People commented to The Day that they had heard about the event in their churches, in their firearms clubs, on Facebook, from their neighbors and they repeated that they felt they had to be present here I know we may not make it into the arena, but this is historic, it had to be herecommented one woman with others nodding around her.

Stoicism Competition

The overwhelmingly white audience included many young people, teenagers with crucifixes hanging from their necklaces and several families with babies in their arms, as well as elderly people; They all endured standing for more than five hours in the sun, a type of test that is not easy even for this reporter. Many men had a physique and appearance that showed they were manual workers. Almost everyone had a hat or t-shirt that said something about what they consider a rebel cause.

I’m voting for the criminalsaid one of the most popular, referring to what they consider a politically motivated trial where Trump was found guilty of illegally handling payments to silence a star. porn before the 2016 presidential election. Another was “only you can prevent socialism… vote Trump.”

A garbage truck was parked with a sign that said Garbage, deplorablesin reference to a statement by President Joe Biden calling out Trump supporters trash a few days ago, as well as Hillary Clinton’s famous phrase calling Trump’s bases the deplorables in the 2016 campaign. For many here, the attacks against their candidate only prove that he is a rebeland that he is the only one who is on his side against the system. “impeached”, accused, convicted, shot… still standing,” said another T-shirt of a woman standing next to another that simply said Trump against everyone.

Their rallies often seem like religious events, congregations, but the music is not religious. While they waited in the huge line trying to enter the arena, the sound system delighted the believers with a song by Jimmy Buffett (It’s five o’clock somewhere) celebrating the art of the drink, and Sweet Caroline, by Neil Diamond, or It’s a man’s worldby James Brown sung by Pavarotti and, as always, one of Trump’s favorites, YMCA by The village people.

Although their candidate is a self-proclaimed billionaire, the sound route in this event celebrates working people, such as Nine to five, by Dolly Parton, and another that says I’ve been selling my soul, working all day/overtime for shitty paywhich has become a success. For a large part of that public, the economy does not benefit them, the culture in which they were raised is changing, their neighbors are dying of drug overdoses and the political system in this country is not solving any of that, rather, they perceive it getting worse and worse.

Before the speeches, the large screen outside offered multiple messages: Trump was right about everything, Dream big and of course Vote. When Trump finally arrived at the podium, late as always, there was less crowd and the sun was setting, but the attendees were standing. He offered a few words about his policy proposals and then veered into a long story about how his new friend Elon Musk was launching rockets into space, of a very important donor that he kept Trump waiting for 45 minutes and the endorsement that the Border Patrol employees’ union gave him last week.

He raved about how he doesn’t follow his own script and was again interrupted when he turned around and saw his image projected on a big screen. Oh shit, I’m looking behind my head, it’s a bad day for my hairto the laughter of his followers. About 75 minutes after arriving at the microphone, he left the stage to go to his third rally.

If the 78-year-old former president manages to win on Tuesday, it will be largely because of this energy, enthusiasm and love that these people have for their savior. Many commented, after spending almost an entire day waiting, that they were happy to be part of this historic moment.