▲ Attendees at Republican Donald Trump’s campaign event on Saturday in Pennsylvania. Photo Jim Cason
Jim Cason y David Brooks
Correspondents
La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, February 13, 2024, p. 23
Harrisburg and New York. Thousands of participants began lining up more than six hours before former President Donald Trump appeared, with broad smiles, taking selfies, wearing red caps with the slogan Make America Great Again (Make America Great Again, or MAGA), t-shirts and hats advertising Hunters for Trump, Trump Girl, Sheriffs for Trump, and more than others, Trump 2024.
It’s a happy crowd in a festive atmosphere, moving to music and children running around. The only problem is that the Secret Service has ordered a ban on weapons in the arena, and this rally is part of the big annual fair of the National Rifle Association, along with extensive exhibitions of all kinds of artifacts, and lots of of these people have been carrying their own weapons here all week. Although there is a place for them to store their knives outside the arena, those who have firearms must return to their cars or hotels to leave them.
Attending a Trump campaign rally last Saturday leaves the impression that even if the former president were not a candidate, this community of his supporters would be supporting someone else who looks like him, that is, this is not exclusively a Trump phenomenon. , but a segment of the population that existed before his appearance on the political scene, and that will be here after he disappears.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) claims to have 5 million members, but there is evidence that that number has plummeted by one million as a result of internal scandals among the leadership of this still-powerful civil organization. Some 70 million voted for Trump in the last election, and tens of thousands of them continue to arrive at his campaign rallies across the country.
After three hours of waiting, the doors to the arena open and there the fans will wait another three hours before their leader arrives. They find their seats and proceed to look for hot dogs while listening to recorded music that includes Pinball Wizard, de The Who; Ring of Fire, by Johnny Cash, but it is surprising that just before Trump enters the arena, Pavarotti can be heard singing No one sleeps, about Puccini
The crowd is overwhelmingly white, generally dressed in jeans, T-shirts and work boots or sneakers, and of course – even though President Joe Biden and others have sought to characterize it as something negative – many are wearing items that proudly define them. like MAGA; one woman even wears diamond jewelry with that logo.
“This is the real America. If you look to your left, to your right, behind you, you will see Americans NRA, and you will see the people who make America great. America” declares NRA spokesperson Billy McLaughlin to the audience, prompting a loud applause. We will never give up our weapons, he proclaims. He asks the crowd to look towards the middle of the arena, where the media section is, and its cameras and reporters, and declares: they will see the established media while everyone starts booing, something that continues when he mentions to CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times and more (The Conference appreciates that the NRA press office has placed its envoy elsewhere, away from the media section).
Shortly after 6 p.m., a spot light points to a corner of the arena and Trump appears walking to the rhythm of the country song Proud to be an American Hero (Proud to be an American hero). But Trump usually advances slowly, pausing every couple of meters and waiting until the crowd is on its feet chanting USA and Trump, Trump, Trump.
It takes 5 minutes before starting his speech with the audience standing, a man dressed in a huge American flag parades from one side to the other under the stage, a couple of meters from the Secret Service agents. A sheriff on one side of this reporter is worried that his cell phone won’t have enough battery to capture everything… and on the other side a taxidermist, with an animal tail dangling from his belt, is trying to take video of the crowd.
For four incredible years it was my honor to be the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House, Trump begins. When he returns to the White House, no one will lay a finger on his firearms, that won’t happen. The audience raises their arms toward the speaker and a woman shouts we love you. The former president proceeds: four years ago I told you what was going to happen if Joe Biden took office: I told you he would open our borders, destroy our middle class, crush energy… we were independent in energy three years ago, today we ask to Venezuela if we can please have some of its oil, and receives the desired reaction, the boos. Madness and chaos at home and abroad.
A main focus of the speech is open borders. We built 561 miles of border wall. We managed to get Mexico to send 28 thousand soldiers to our border for free, and he spends more than 10 minutes explaining how it was that, despite everyone saying that it would not be possible to convince him, he managed to get the president of Mexico to send those soldiers. “I told them that they would have to give us 28 thousand soldiers. And a thing called ‘stay in Mexico’. Isn’t that a good idea?” and the crowd applauds.
I like the president of Mexico
“I like the president of Mexico, the former president I suppose will soon be, someone else will be taking his place, and I’m sure I’ll like the person who will take his place,” he says. He then repeats what has become a permanent part of his speeches, stating that he threatened Mexico with 25 percent tariffs if it did not agree to deploy the 28,000 troops to the border and establish the Remain in Mexico program, among other measures.
Although the main thread of the speech was about protecting gun rights and border control, many rose to applaud Trump when he promised to reduce funding for schools that dare to teach the history of racism in the United States or that support transgender rights. I will not allow men in women’s sports, he clarified.
Trump offered his list of evils since Biden came to the White House: illegals continue to invade, 300,000 people die from fentanyl (he insisted that the official figures are lies), unions and workers are being left behind and, he ominously stressed, that there is a high probability that a third world war will break out if Biden is re-elected.
Trump’s ability and talent to fuel collective anger is visible, and how dangerous that is, especially if combined with firearms. An hour and a half later, Trump concludes his performance.
The audience stands up and lets out shouts of support as Trump slowly, without haste, leaves the stage. The celebration continues, some dance, and people go towards the exits of the arena to the rhythm of the famous Village People song, YMCAapparently without knowing that that song is some kind of gay anthem.
2024-02-13 22:40:46
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