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Tuesday, May 21, 2019

In the Presence of Greatness



Friends, yesterday I had the great honor and pleasure of attending a Trump rally held at the Williamsport Regional Airport in Montoursville, Pennsylvania.  My latest article is about that experience.  I hope you will find it interesting and inspiring!

My Trump Rally Experience

On Monday, May 20th, the 45th President of these United States, Donald J. Trump, paid a visit to north-central Pennsylvania. Specifically, he addressed a MAGA rally held in a hangar at the Williamsport Regional Airport. As a Western New Yorker, I had only to drive a short distance to partake. I couldn't resist the opportunity to see our Fearless Leader in the flesh. I'm glad I did.

For those who have never been to a Trump rally, you should know that sour-faced liberal protesters are almost entirely absent. A carnival atmosphere prevails, and overwhelmingly the crowds are composed of ordinary Americans, either long-time and fervent admirers of the President, or recent converts to the cause. They are male and female, young and old, rich and poor. Indeed, I was heartened to see such a broad cross-section of humanity, including plenty of people from demographic categories which the pundits decided long before November 2016 were utterly lost to Donald Trump. Not so fast!

The vast majority of rallying Trump-supporters are bedecked in MAGA gear. The sale of such merchandise is brisk. I now own a vintage red MAGA hat, a Trump-Pence sign, as well as a Space Force t-shirt — cherished mementos. The vast majority of those selling such gear, even in rural Pennsylvania, were black. Whether they were motivated by Trump-loving zeal or good, old-fashioned capitalism (sometimes the two overlap) is hard to say, but if Trumpers are synonymous with Klan members and “Nazis,” as Joe Biden claims, these African-Americans clearly never got the message. Needless to say, not a lick of racial, ethnic, or religious prejudice was on display.

One of my strongest reactions to the rally was a sense of gratitude and good fortune — gratitude that I live in the kind of country where an average citizen can get so close to a man who is not just our leader, but the leader of the free world. I felt good fortune because I was in one of the last groups of attendees who, after standing in line for hours, were allowed into the main venue. Thousands of my Trump-loving compatriots were not so lucky. They had to make do with a big-screen monitor in a nearby parking lot. Clearly, attendance vastly exceeded expectations. Despite the logistical challenges, the mood everywhere was exuberant.

I was pleasantly surprised that Donald Trump, Jr. spoke to the crowd shortly before Air Force One touched down with its precious cargo. He was phenomenal. He spoke with eloquence, intelligence, and frankness, and he had a natural rapport with the crowd that is on one hand extraordinary, given his privileged background, but perhaps not so surprising, given his genes. I got the impression that Don, Jr. could have a bright future in Republican and conservative politics.

Mingling with the crowd, and graciously taking selfies with all comers, was Kellyanne Conway. Absent was Mr. Conway. We were twice blessed.

The highlight of the rally was, of course, a rousing speech by President Trump himself. He dwelt, as one might expect, on the progress that has been made in the last two years. He talked about jobs created and hope restored. He asked the crowd, given the success of his presidency, whether his campaign slogan should continue to be “Make America Great Again,” or should instead become “Keep America Great.” The crowd leaned towards the latter, but I got the distinct impression that the President isn't quite convinced.

President Trump also taunted his opponents, as is his wont. He compared the size of his own rally with the smaller campaign event staged by Joe Biden two days before. 

The moment that was perhaps the most newsworthy, and the most “vintage Trump,” was when he speculated that he might win not just two presidential elections, but three, or four, or five. He got a chuckle out of the likely media reaction to that gem!

The main takeaway from the rally I attended, and I suspect from every Trump rally, is the extraordinary bond that Donald Trump enjoys with the tens of millions of Americans who support him. Say what you will about President Trump, but he possesses a brand of charisma that has seldom been seen in American political history.

The sad part is that, while he is free to connect on a visceral level with those who attend his rallies, the media, the vast majority of the time, ensures that his message is not delivered straight to the American people, but is instead passed through a filter comprised of equal parts cynicism, spite, and misinformation. As Trump himself observed, it is this barrage of negativity that explains why he isn't running away with the 2020 election, when he so self-evidently should be. 
 
In the end, though, the media isn't as powerful as the voters. This tells me that there are many more Trump rallies to come, and, at a minimum, “FOUR MORE YEARS!” of President Donald J. Trump.

My favorite slogan of all? “Make Liberals Cry Again.” And so we shall!

Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears weekly on the Newsmaker Show on WLEA 1480.

And here is the American Greatness version:

https://amgreatness.com/2019/05/22/what-i-saw-at-trumps-pennsylvania-rally/ 

7 comments:

  1. Dr. Waddy: Great slogan. But I'm afraid that when they lose again they will reach a kind of political critical mass, be transformed into pure, essential negativity, and careen about the country in self destructive anguish as the real America looks on with dismissive distaste while getting down to business.

    They hate him so very much for his unrepentant disdain for them; they can't control their frantic outrage at his refusal to be intimidated by their capital weapon, political correctness.

    I saw part of his speech on Fox and I can certainly see what you are saying about the way he assures what I call the real America that he has its back. Central PA is an ideal place for him to express this faithfulness. Its really down to earth there.

    I'm very much encouraged by your account and its characterization of the President as great. He is! I hope he drew strength from the welcome he received; he's going to need it now that the battle lines have joined irrevocably and we owe him our consummate support. One way anyone can do it is by calling the White House.

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  2. Jack, that's very well said! Trump needs us at least as much as we need him. The assault on his presidency has, if anything, picked up steam in recent weeks. You can see that he is growing frustrated to the point of losing his cool. No one can blame him for that. The liberals have clothed themselves in impenetrable armor of self-righteousness. The more we prove their arguments wrong, the more they cling to them. This is politics at its worst.

    As for what the Left will do if and when it loses in 2020, the sky is the limit. That may even be literally true. Perhaps they'll all buy tickets to Elon Musk's Martian oasis...

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  3. Dr. Waddy: Yeah, he is only human. Of course he needs our expressed support and gratitude. That is completely up to us and we'd better come through; this man has risked his 70 year old well being in our behalf.

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  4. True! It sends a shiver down my spine to contemplate how much he has risked, not just for himself but for his whole family. A loss in 2020 would be almost as devastating to the Trumps as it would be to America!

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  5. Dr. Waddy: As the attacks intensify they may affirm an ever increasing desperation on the part of the lefties. They have presumed for the last 50 years that their certain virtue guarantees their total triumph. Instead, they may, in their unconquerable arrogance, have invited a close to fully awakened Nemesis on themselves in the form of an aroused real America. What may be promised them now is a return to Greenwich Village, Berkeley and Oberlin; to coffee houses and smoky salons and those haunts of the marginalized and deservedly despised yet available. In such places they will flutter and mutter in impotent irrelevance and entertain tormenting dreams of their nearly realized ascension to totalitarian sway. Faulkner wrote about how for every Southern boy it is at some point 2pm on Seminary Ridge; may the left be vexed always by the thought of Nov.7, 2016, when historic confirmation for them was at hand. . . .

    I'll stick with my earlier prediction, for what its worth; President Trump's first term will be one of unceasing sturm und drang; his second, one of triumph.

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  6. Jack, I pray that you are right (you usually are).

    If America does succeed in turning back the leftist tide, you're right that 2016 will have been the turning point, and they will rue the day that they provoked Trump into joining the political fray, and tens of millions of Americans into voting for him. You're also right that we will have beaten them back at the eleventh hour!

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  7. Dr. Waddy: I hope, I hope. 2016 may be our Gettysburg and Vicksburg.Apparently at the time it was not obvious to those of 1863 that the turning point had been reached but the unconquerable courage of President Lincoln, General Grant and the Union soldier, carried it through. We must recognize that we live in the midst of a similarly decisive struggle.

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