‘He’s not a quitter’: faithful out in force as
Trump gets back to the campaign trail
Thousands of adoring fans turned out in Ohio to remind
America that Trump’s cult of personality never went away
David Smith
David Smith
in Wellington, Ohio
@smithinamerica
Sun 27 Jun
2021 05.02 BST
There were
raucous cheers and boos. There were Secret Service agents and metal detectors,
food trailers in long grass and loudspeakers booming songs by Elton John and
Dolly Parton. There were flags, hats, and T-shirts proclaiming Donald Trump the
true winner of the 2020 election – or the man to beat in 2024.
And flying
overhead was a small plane trailing a banner that proclaimed: “Ohio is Trump
country.”
This
strange carnival, unfolding on Saturday under the slogan Save America!, was the
setting for Trump’s first post-presidential campaign rally and a noisy warning
to Democrats – and democracy – that his cult of personality never went away. It
was merely sleeping and, in hibernation, becoming ever more extreme.
Although
Trump has lost his hi-tech mouthpiece on social media, he still has the
low-tech medium of standing in a field and ranting dangerous falsehoods to
thousands of fans whose adulation and sense of grievance knows no bounds.
“Each Trump
rally is different and each one is beautiful,” said Deborah Wagner, 55, a
retired court clerk wearing a “Count all the legal votes” T-shirt, who had
driven four hours from New York to reach the fairgrounds in Wellington, Ohio.
“We just want happiness and love for all people. Trump is not a quitter.”
For all the
high spirits, attendees’ T-shirts held an inverted mirror up to reality: “Trump
won, deal with it”; “Re-elect Trump. Make liberals cry again”; “Don’t blame me,
I voted for Trump”; “Trump 2024. Make votes count again”; “Fuck Biden. Trump
2024”; “Biden is not my president”; “Unmasked, unmuzzled, unvaccinated,
unafraid”.
Everyone
interviewed by the Guardian took it for granted that last year’s election was
stolen from Trump, and some even clung to the belief that he will somehow be
reinstated. As for the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol, the only
disagreement was whether it was true patriots fighting for a just cause or an
infiltration by Antifa and Black Lives Matter (there is zero evidence of this).
In soft
evening sunshine, with freight trains rumbling by, Trump walked out to
rapturous chants of “USA! USA!” and tossed caps into the crowd. “After five
months,” he declared, wearing his customary dark suit, white shirt and red tie,
“the Biden administration is already complete and total catastrophe.”
In a
94-minute speech, the former president complained of surging crime, weakened
police, “illegal aliens” overwhelming the southern border, drug cartels back in
business, schools turned into “leftwing indoctrination camps” and critical race
theory – the mention prompted hearty boos – being “forced on the military”. He
added: “Joe Biden is destroying our nation right before our very own eyes.”
Trump,
whose business could face criminal charges from the Manhattan district
attorney, spoke of the urgency for Republicans of winning back the House of
Representatives and Senate in next year’s midterm elections. He endorsed Max
Miller, a former White House aide challenging Anthony Gonzalez – a congressman
who voted to impeach Trump – in a local Republican primary.
There were
moments of time warp and throwback to his first wildly improvised campaign five
years ago. When Trump pointed to “the fake news media”, supporters turned to
boo and show the middle finger. “Do you miss me? They miss me. They look at
their terrible ratings and they say, ‘We miss this guy’.” Later, the crowd
chanted: “CNN sucks!” and a mention of Hillary Clinton prompted cries of, “Lock
her up!”
Trump has
pushed “the Big Lie” in TV interviews and emailed statements but now it was
made flesh. “What happened in the election, it’s a disgrace,” he said,
embarking on long meandering riffs about it being “rigged”, insisting “We
didn’t lose,” and delving into supposed irregularities state by state.
“This was
the scam of the century and this was the crime of the century,” he said. “We’re
never going to stop fight for the true results of this election ... Remember
I’m not the one trying to undermine American democracy. I’m trying to save
American democracy.” His false claim of voter fraud has been debunked by his
own attorney general, state election officials and judges.
But in this
corner of Ohio, a bellwether state he won, it was an article of faith. The
crowd shouted: “Trump won! Trump won!”
When
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Republican congresswoman from Georgia,
asked them, “Who’s your president?”, they roared back, “Trump!”, punching the
air. Greene said bitterly that he should still be the president but “the dirty
rotten Democrats stole the election”.
An heir to
the 45th president’s politics of outrage, Greene also said she wanted to fire
Anthony Fauci, a top infectious disease expert and coronavirus pandemic
adviser, prompting shouts of “Lock him up!” The congresswoman asked gleefully:
“Did you hear that Tony? They want you locked up.”
She echoed
a similar comment about Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of
New York before making the nakedly racist statement: “She’s not an American.
She doesn’t embrace our American ways.”
Indeed, the
rally was a vivid demonstration how distortions of the rightwing political and
media ecosystem seep down into the grassroots with real world consequences.
Wagner, the
retired court clerk, argued that last year’s poll was “criminally stolen” and
cited a fringe website as evidence. If Trump does not run in 2024, she would
like to see his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, an arch
conspiracy theorist, become the Republican nominee; she was not alone in
floating his name.
Wagner looks
after her 12-year-old grandson and said she considering withdrawing him from
school if coronavirus vaccinations become mandatory and critical race theory is
taught. “The people that are calling people racist are actually being racist,”
she said. “I treat everybody the same across the board.”
Critical
race theory examines systemic racism in law and institutions but has been
caricatured and demonised by Republicans. Trump used the rally to call for it
to be banned from schools, the military and other walks of life.
Gary
Bartlett, 65, who declines to be vaccinated, condemned critical race theory.
“It’s teaching little five-, six-, seven-year-olds you’re supposed to be the
oppressed and the white kids are supposed to be oppressors,” he said. “I don’t
think critical race theory has any place in schools. There isn’t as much racism
as Democrats want us to think there is.”
Bartlett,
from Lexington, Ohio, a retired manual worker at General Motors, was attending
his first Trump rally, having always voted for Democrats until he switched to
Trump in 2016. He, too, believes the 2020 election was stolen. “There were too
many things on TV showing polling places and too many rumours. When I drive
around Ohio and other states I see Trump signs everywhere; there’s no way Biden
could have got that many votes.”
Randy Weld,
53, a self-employed carpenter, was wearing a black T-shirt that proclaimed “If
you don’t like Trump then you probably don’t like me ... and I’m OK with that”.
He said he “most definitely” wants to see Trump run for president again in
2024. “The best president we ever had. He’s a man of America.”
And if
Trump opts out? “I’d like to see his son run. I’d like to see some younger
blood.”
Asked if
Trump should run in 2024, David Snell, 55, a logistics specialist who was at
the US Capitol on 6 January but did not enter the building, said: “Earlier than
that. I feel like he’s coming back real soon. He might be reinstated as
president. God is exposing what’s going on. There was fraud, 100%.”
Gary
Sherrill, 65, a concrete mixer driver wearing a “Make America great again” cap,
added: “There’s no doubt in my mind Biden stole it.” But asked for evidence, he
replied: “I just know it in my heart. And I trust Trump when he says it’s
true.”
Trump’s
rallies thrived in 2016 as presenting an insurgent campaign against the status
quo. He has not yet committed to run in 2024, but once again he is the
Washington outsider, striking a chord in restive crowds with invective against
a Democratic president.
Rose Kidd,
63, a retired nurse who watches the conservative Newsmax and One America News
Network channels, said of Biden: “We have wide open borders because of that
idiot. He can’t put a sentence together; he’s not there cognitively. He’s not
much older than Trump but Trump is still very sharp. Their agenda is to destroy
America; president Trump’s agenda is to save America.”
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