A calendar week ago, Thomas Crooks had missed killing the former president, Donald Trump, by millimetres.
Days later, Mr Trump appeared with a white square bandage on his ear at the Republican National Convention to formally accept his party’s nomination for President of The United States. During a record-breaking 90 plus minutes he recounted his near-death experience in Pennsylvania to the party faithful and credited God as his saviour.
Yesterday evening at a hastily organised event in Grand Rapids, Michigan at an indoor arena, it was showtime once again. A small band of superfans known by Trump as “Front row Joes” (a pre-Biden moniker) had appeared a day early to bag a place in the coveted seats. One gentleman has been to 80 rallies and another has been to more than 100 – all across a land mass twice the size of Europe.
A typical arena holds 12-15,000 people and most campaigns would be fretting over the appalling and likely visual of empty seats and how to make the venue appear full. Weeks of preparation go into cajoling the crowds. Reminder texts and emails and calls devour hours of volunteers’ time. It’s a rare candidate that can fill an arena, and almost unheard of, is doing it at the drop of a hat.
And before sunrise on Saturday, the crowds were rolling in, for an event starting at 5pm. The queues stretched 10 city blocks. Many had driven several hours and thought nothing of it.
Security was tight. City streets were closed off, blocked with dustcarts. Pavement access was limited by high metal barriers, there were mountain bike patrols, horses, sniffer dogs, snipers on rooftops, helicopters above, flashing lights everywhere. There is an undoubted element of showmanship to US law enforcement and by any metric, this was an awesome show of force. And I’m told behind the scenes there would have been covert surveillance, profiling, drone activity, and plain clothes operatives blending into the crowd. No stone was left unturned.
Wherever Trump goes, he is followed by an armada of vendors. Thousands of dollars exchange hands for merchandise. There are stalls on every block. Others roll carts plying their wares. They take cash, credit cards, and Paypal. $20 for a hat. $25 for a t-shirt. I would estimate that 90% of the crowd are wearing some form of ‘merch’. A lady works the queue from 10X, an organisation that encourages every person to source 10 voters and insist that they vote. “Think of your work friends, folks in your church group, other parents at school” she repeats on loop.
A winning campaign drives voter turnout as a core activity, and nowhere more crucial than Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. These are the three critical so-called battleground states. Biden’s successor will need to take all three to win. Trump only needs to win one and the rust belt imperative informed his VP pick of J.D. Vance – a native Ohioan. He knows these people. Talk like them. Understands them.
Around 1pm the venue opens, the clusters of people sitting in picnic furniture get to their feets and the queue starts moving. It’s a friendly atmosphere exactly as you’d find before a concert. Enormous pick-up trucks drive past the queues, draped in flags and images of Trump. They honk and the crowds yell back. Other vehicles broadcast Trump quotes or play rowdy music.
Through the security screening and into the auditorium. There are 2 massive stars and stripes. More slick communications about voting. Digital signs show “Make America Great Again”. An attack video plays, showing Biden. The crowd hisses and boos pantomime style. When some Trump family members appear, the crowds cheers. The now familiar and utterly incongruous music blasts out. The lights dim. And on walks JD Vance. They yell “JD JD JD”. His task: be brief, welcome the chief, and don’t even think of trying to outshine him.
Trumps appears at the end of the walkway 100 yards from the podium that’s dead centre of the venue. The crowd go bananas. There are tears, yelling, “Trump Trump Trump”. He ambles on slowly, stopping to work each section. As he stops that group find even more volume. This is Beatle-grade mania and they can’t get enough.
He sidles up to the podium and goes into his familiar script. God gets several mentions. Biden is the worst president ever. Kamala is terrible. There is much drifting off script, which is recovered with lines such as “And you know what we’re going to do folks”, as he lowers his voice and slows down “We are going to Make America Great again.” The crowd erupt.
The heat and intensity Trump can generate in the media, in person, at a live event make him a very difficult person to beat in November. And the numbers agree.
