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The energy of American politics is extraordinary.
At an intersection of two back roads in a place called Dallas, Pennsylvania, hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump are gathering.
It is loud, boisterous, but largely good-natured.
Trump supporters at a Biden rally in Pennsylvania
“Four more years!” they sing. Car horns waving flags representing Trump as the Terminator.
Hotdogs sizzle alongside a hastily arranged DJ booth blasting at full volume at The Village People’s YMCA.
The lyrics have been changed: YMCA replaced by MAGA – Make America Great Again.
They are gathered not for the arrival of their man, but for the other, Joe Biden.
This is Biden’s childhood backyard, he grew up 30 miles away, but his message to him when he comes to his last rally: “Give it up, this is Trump’s country now.”
The Biden team had only announced the event, with the endorsement of a Jon Bon Jovi celebrity, the night before.
But that was plenty of time for the rally to mobilize.
Throughout the morning, Trump supporters had gathered a sizeable crowd for this small town.
Greg Brannan would have voted for Donald Trump last time if he could have
Among them, in the back of a truck with an oversized Trump flag is Greg Brannan.
At age 21, this is his first election, but he would have voted for Trump last time if he could.
“I was with him in 2016, with reservations, because I was a little afraid of his personality type … I am past that point, but about the problems and the direction that the country will take with Trump against Biden,” I am with Trump until the end “.
Nearby, Susan Gillespie and Joyce Gebhardt are convinced that Trump will win again.
“Landslide, it’s going to be a landslide!” Joyce insists.
Susan agrees: “He’s the only one who has true American values and traditions, he’s a wonderful man, and he loves our country.”
The posters detail the central themes of the fault line here: ‘abortion is murder’, ‘don’t ban fracking’, ‘let’s save our jobs’.
They are pushed against the windshields of Biden supporters’ cars as they slowly climb the hill toward their car rally.
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There is no doubt that Biden’s rally on the hill, beyond the police cordon, was a quieter affair. Social distancing limited attendance; supporters sat in their cars to warm up the presidential candidate: Jon Bon Jovi.
“Something as important as casting your vote next Tuesday is about the future of this United States that I believe so much in,” the singer told the crowd.
He played acoustic versions of his hits Who Says You Can’t Go Home ?, Livin ‘On A Prayer and Do What You Can, a new song dedicated to those on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Then Biden thanked Bon Jovi for his support before launching his now familiar lines: “Our campaign is a broad coalition. It welcomes Democrats, Republicans and independents. If elected president, there will be no red states or blue states. Just United States States “.
“Ten days left!” he told the crowd. “It’s ‘time to go’ now. I may make it to Pennsylvania and I want to let you know that I believe in you.”
“I understand why some people voted for Donald Trump. They believed they were not seen or respected or listened to. Trump ran around saying he represents the forgotten man and woman in this county. I understand.
“Then he was chosen and immediately forgot about the forgotten man … This has to change. It will change with me. You will be seen, heard and respected by me.”
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Biden is comfortable here framing himself as the working-class street kid in Scranton; a million miles from Trump, the so-called Park Avenue insider in Manhattan.
“Home is where your character is etched, your values are established, where your views of the world and your place in it begin to form,” Biden told the crowd as car horns honked.
“Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. We are going to show him who we are. We choose hope over fear, unity over division, science over fiction and truth over lies. Friends, it’s time to take back our democracy.” .
But remember, it was pure local democracy in this very place that was critical in bringing Donald Trump to the White House in 2016.
In this suburban working class, blue-collar county, the kind of place as contemptuously derogatory as “uncomplicated,” Donald Trump won in 2016 by 26,000 votes. That represented a staggering 60% of his margin of victory for the entire state of Pennsylvania.
A county that had voted twice for Barack Obama crossed the political spectrum in a totally remarkable shift and opted for something very different.
Four years later, will Joe Biden be able to attract enough of them again? It doesn’t seem likely.
Of course, here at ground level it’s hard to see the big picture. For that we can only trust the pollsters and they say Trump lost it.
But that’s the point – they said that last time because they didn’t understand places like this.
