[ad_1]
LITITZ, Pennsylvania (AP) – They began arriving more than 40 hours before President Donald Trump took the stage in this stretch of rural Pennsylvania, where horse-drawn carts remain a common sight. By 10 p.m., a small group had set up an overnight camp on lawn chairs when a cold drizzle fell.
“I’m crazy Trumper,” stated Kyle Terry, 33. He had been the first to arrive at the IMAX parking lot, at 8 p.m. Saturday for a rally on Monday afternoon, the fifth of the fall. “I love it. I’ve been having the most fun of my life. And I really don’t want this to stop.”
As President Donald Trump faces an uncertain future, so has an element of the American political scene for the past five years: Trump’s campaign rally, a phenomenon that has generated friendships, businesses, and a way of life for Americans. most dedicated Trump supporters. His fans have traveled across the country to be a part of what they describe as a movement that could outlive his time in office.
Some have attended so many rallies that they have lost count, traveling from sand to sand like rock groupies. They come for the energy, the validation of being around like-minded people, the feeling of being a part of something bigger than them. Sociologists and historians see elements of religious followers.
They are people like Cynthia Reidler, 55, who has been a Trump supporter since she announced her candidacy. He has been to nearly 20 Trump events, from rallies to 4th of July celebrations on the National Mall.
“The feeling, like it’s catching you,” she said as she waited near the front of the line Monday morning, dressed in a red poncho and a tinsel headband and lights that were no longer on due to the rain. it’s better than a rock concert. And it’s free “.
Reidler, who lives in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, arrived at the Lancaster airport around 2:30 p.m. the day before the rally and camped overnight so he could find his favorite spot up front. The waiting game, for her, is part of the fun.
“It’s a lot of emotion that I don’t think you can explain. It reminds us of a time when our country was so happy and so positive, “she said, comparing the sentiment to the moment she marched in a bicentennial parade as a Girl Scout when she was 11 years old.
And what about the threat of the coronavirus pandemic?
“I know the statistics. It’s a risk, ”said Reidler, who works in healthcare. But “the idea of not having him as president scares me more than the alternative.”
Tears welled up in her eyes as she contemplated the prospect.
It was a similar story for Terry, the first Trump fan from Northeast Philadelphia. He had never been in politics until this year, when he first registered to vote. Now he’s fully engaged: He spent three nights camping outside Walter Reed Military Hospital after Trump was admitted with the coronavirus.
Terry, who is unemployed, said he got hooked after attending his first rally. “It was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced in my life,” he said. “What you see on television and when you see him in person are two different things. It’s almost inexplicable. “
For him, it’s all about camaraderie: “We’re all together, we’re all smiling, we’re all laughing.” The community: “There are three or four people sitting in my car that I know from other rallies.” And the common purpose: “Simply defending my country.”
Bob Wardrop, 55, echoed that rhetoric, arriving from Long Island around 9pm to be “part of the movement.” In his account, he and other Trump supporters continued the struggle of their “ancestors who fought the British hundreds of years ago.”
“We are still fighting that now because they are trying to overthrow us and take over our country,” he said.
By morning, the crowd had increased. Thousands snaked around a waiting area, with trucks selling funnel cakes and cotton candy. A parking lot several blocks away had been transformed into a Trump bazaar where street vendors sold shirts and buttons.
The morning arrivals included Celeste March, 58, from Elverson, Pennsylvania, who had seen Trump once in 2016 and was determined to see him again before November 3.
“There is nothing like that. It’s on my wish list, ”he said.
And while some dismiss the rallies as a selfish project for a president who revels in the adoration of his crowds, campaign spokeswoman Samantha Zager said the events are tools to energize volunteers, boost media coverage, and collect voter data.
In fact, the Trump campaign estimates that the events have generated tens of millions of dollars a week in free television coverage. While many rally attendees are loyal Trump supporters who do not need motivation, the campaign said 22% of those who attended Lititz’s rally were not Republicans and 21% had not voted in 2016.
George Gigicos, who led Trump’s breakthrough operation in 2016, said the rallies “were very important” to Trump’s campaigns and presidency.
Like his Twitter account, “it allows you to connect directly with people without the media filter,” Gigicos said. “It is him with the people. And it was extraordinary to watch and see how it resonated. “
“There is a kind of populist sentiment,” added Douglas Brinkley, presidential historian at Rice University. “It’s about being part of a show, which is different from a campaign rally, which generally has a slightly more intellectual presentation.”
The phenomenon, he said, is not unique in American history.
He pointed to the 1840 election when William Henry Harrison doled out free alcohol at events dubbed “booze rallies” during a “last-minute insane physical urge like the one Trump sees recurring.”
Brinkley linked the events to a long religious tradition dating back to the second great Protestant revival of the early 1800s, when ministers traveled from city to city, to the crusades of evangelist Billy Graham.
“A religious fervor develops and it becomes a kind of cult atmosphere,” he said.
Sociologist Arlie Hochschild, who has been studying Trump supporters, agreed that he had taken advantage of religious imagery that secular liberals often don’t see.
Trump “is saying, ‘Oh, I’m surrounded by enemies and look how I’m suffering. And I suffer for you. ‘ So he has a religious metaphor that he’s taking advantage of, “he said, combined with elements of a love story.
“He needs us. It is feeding on us. So we must be quite powerful, “he said, describing his followers.
Trump, who is notoriously superstitious, has refrained from weighing his future if he loses. But some have speculated that he could continue touring the country regardless of the outcome.
“Do I see him coming out and rallying the Americans behind his country? Absolutely. I think it should, “said Gigicos, who believes Trump will win re-election.” He loves America and he is the Republican Party right now, so why not? “
Those who have been part of the movement agree.
“I think it will last. I think there are going to be people who have gotten into the political fray, “said James Epley, who worked for the Trump campaign in 2016 and now sells merchandise at Trump rallies and online under the trademark” Silent Majority. “
Reidler, who volunteered for the campaign this summer, said that if Trump loses, he plans to “see what I can do to get involved.”
“It’s like filling that void that I haven’t had (filled) for a long time,” he said. “And it just seems important.”
