Current Events > NYT reporter goes to an event called "Trumpstock"

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Antifar
12/28/19 7:48:44 PM
#1:


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/us/politics/trump-2020-trumpstock.html
Great American Pizza & Subs, on a highway about 100 miles southeast of Las Vegas, was busier and Trumpier than usual. On any given day it serves M.A.G.A. Subs and Liberty Bell Lasagna. The Second Amendment pizza comes loaded with pepperoni and sausage. The dining room is covered in regalia praising President Trump.

But this October morning was Trumpstock, a small festival celebrating the president. The speakers included the local Republican congressman, Paul Gosar, and lesser-known conservative personalities. There was a fringe 2020 Senate candidate in Arizona who ran a website that published sexually explicit photos of women without their consent; a pro-Trump rapper whose lyrics include a racist slur aimed at Barack Obama; and a North Carolina activist who once said of Muslims, I will kill every one of them before they get to me.

All were welcome, except liberals.

They label us white nationalists, or white supremacists, volunteered Guy Taiho Decker, who drove from California to attend the event. A right-wing protester, he has previously been arrested on charges of making terrorist threats.

Theres no such thing as a white supremacist, just like theres no such thing as a unicorn, Mr. Decker said. Were patriots.

As Mr. Trumps bid for re-election shifts into higher gear, his campaign hopes to recapture voters who drifted away from the party in 2018 and 2019: independents who embraced moderate Democratic candidates, suburban women tired of Mr. Trumps personal conduct and working-class voters who havent benefited from his economic policies.

But if any group remains singularly loyal to Mr. Trump, it is the small but impassioned number of white voters on the far right, often in rural communities like Golden Valley, who extol him as a cultural champion reclaiming the country from undeserving outsiders.

These voters dont passively tolerate Mr. Trumps build a wall message or his ban on travel from predominantly Muslim countries theyre what motivates them. They see themselves in his fear-based identity politics, bolstered by conspiratorial rhetoric about caravans of immigrants and Democratic coups.

The president draws support from a broader political and ideological cross-section of Republicans than the Trumpstock crowd reflected, and he attracts some independents and Democrats as well. The festival itself was relatively small, drawing about 100 people, though significant enough to attract the likes of Mr. Gosar.

But events like it, as well as speaking engagements featuring far-right supporters of the president, have become part of the political landscape during the Trump era. Islamophobic taunts can be heard at his rallies. Hate speech and conspiracy theories are staples of some far-right websites. If Trumpstock was modest in size, it stood out as a sign of extremist public support for a sitting president.
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Grass-roots gatherings play a critical role in the modern culture of political organizing, firing up ardent supporters and cementing new ones. Small circles of Trump-supporting conservatives, often organized online and outside the traditional Republican Party apparatus, engage in more decentralized and explicit versions of the chest-beating that happens at Mr. Trumps closely watched political rallies.

In interviews, people in the crowd described a white America under threat as racial minorities typified by Mr. Obama, the countrys first black president, gain political power. They described Mr. Trump as an inspirational figure who is undoing Mr. Obamas legacy and beating back the perceived threat of Muslim and Latino immigrants, whom they denounced in prejudiced terms.

I dont have a problem with Muslims, said Angus Smith, an Arizona resident who attended the festival, but can they take the rag off their head out of respect for our country?

At Mr. Trumps official rallies, including a recent one in Florida, the president has referred to Mr. Obama by stressing his middle name, Hussein, and said Democrats were trying to stop me because Im fighting for you.

The Trumpstock speakers pushed even further, tying Mr. Obamas middle name to a false belief that he is a foreign-born Muslim.

And Democrats were portrayed as not just political opponents, but avatars of doom for Mr. Trumps predominantly white voter base and for the country.

There is no difference between the democratic socialists and the National Socialists, said Evan Sayet, a conservative writer who spoke at the event, referencing Nazi Germany. Democrats, he said, are the heirs to Adolf Hitler.

Speakers at Trumpstock said their cultural fears had been exacerbated by their states own changing nature: Arizona is on the front lines of undocumented border crossings from Mexico and racial minorities are expected to outnumber white people in the state in the next decade.

Arizona Democrats made political gains in 2018, and the national party is riding high after it won governors races this year in Kentucky and Louisiana. But Republicans remain bullish. They argue that a slice of their electoral base will only vote when the president is on the ballot, and point to regions like Northern Arizona as places to find, as Mr. Trump wrote in a recent tweet, the Angry Majority.
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In Arizona, the most prominent pro-Trump, anti-immigrant groups are AZ Patriots and Patriot Movement AZ, which have held tight to the themes of white nationalism that some Republicans have denounced. In September, after repeated clashes, some members of the groups agreed to a court order to stop harassing migrants and church volunteers who help them.

Earlier this year, the groups and their allies organized a Patriotism over Socialism event in Gilbert, Ariz., near Phoenix, that included speeches from Representative Andy Biggs, the areas congressman, and Kelli Ward, the states Republican Party chair. They appeared alongside more fringe figures: Sharon Slater of Family Watch International, which has promoted figures associated with anti-L.G.B.T. conversion therapy, and Laura Loomer, the far-right activist and Arizona native who was banned by Twitter and some other platforms after making anti-Muslim comments.

Stacey Goodman, a former police officer from New York who retired to Arizona and attended Trumpstock, said her distrust of Mr. Obamas birth certificate had led her to Mr. Trump.

If youre Muslim, just tell us youre Muslim, she said of Mr. Obama. Its not that I didnt believe him, Im just not qualified to answer that question. Ive seen information on both sides thats compelling.

Mona Fishman, a singer from the Las Vegas area who perf
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squee
12/28/19 7:50:34 PM
#2:


Antifar posted...
theres no such thing as a unicorn

Someone never heard of programming
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Eevee-Trainer
12/28/19 7:51:00 PM
#3:


Theres no such thing as a white supremacist, just like theres no such thing as a unicorn, Mr. Decker said. Were patriots.

Yikes
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Antifar
12/28/19 7:51:01 PM
#4:


Events like Trumpstock are not limited to Arizona. Its organizer, Laurie Bezick, recruited speakers from around the country through social media, tapping into a network of pro-Trump voices only a click away.

Long-shot congressional candidates touting an America First agenda came from places like Iowa and Maryland. Leaders of fledgling political groups with names like JEXIT: Jews Exit The Democratic Party, Latinos for Trump and Deplorable Pride, a right-wing L.G.B.T. organization, told the overwhelmingly white audience they were not anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, homophobic or racist. In fact, the speakers insisted, people who used those terms were more guilty of bigotry than the people they accused.

To applause, the co-founder of Latinos for Trump, Marco Gutierrez, read the pledge he took when he became a naturalized citizen and renounced his Mexican homeland. Nitemare, a pro-Trump rapper who refused to give his legal name, invoked QAnon and called Mr. Obama a racist slur in his set.

Brian Talbert, the founder of Deplorable Pride, was contacted by the White House after he was barred from the L.G.B.T. pride parade in Charlotte, N.C. At Trumpstock, Mr. Talbert, who has a history of expressing anti-Muslim beliefs on social media, gave voice to hatred of Mr. Obama and Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and Mr. Trumps 2016 opponent.

I think she should be hanging at the end of a rope for treason, he said of Mrs. Clinton.

Members of groups like these at once make up a critical portion of Arizonas conservative base, and espouse derogatory rhetoric that must repeatedly be repudiated, creating political difficulties for the states Republican lawmakers. After a photograph emerged last April of members of Patriot Movement AZ posing with Gov. Doug Ducey, he said he had never heard of the group. I absolutely denounce their behavior, he added.

Trumpstock attendees say they are used to being denounced, another quality they feel they share with the president. Its part of why they are protective of him, to the point that they refuse to acknowledge the possibility of a Trump loss in 2020.

Mark Villalta said he had been stockpiling firearms, in case Mr. Trumps re-election is not successful.

Nothing less than a civil war would happen, Mr. Villalta said, his right hand reaching for a holstered handgun. I dont believe in violence, but Ill do what I got to do.


The good news is, these people will be normal again if Joe Biden wins
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Umbreon
12/28/19 7:51:43 PM
#5:


Antifar posted...
I dont have a problem with Muslims, said Angus Smith, an Arizona resident who attended the festival, but can they take the rag off their head out of respect for our country?


Antifar posted...
If youre Muslim, just tell us youre Muslim, she said of Mr. Obama. Its not that I didnt believe him, Im just not qualified to answer that question. Ive seen information on both sides thats compelling.


Yeah... These are the types of people voting.

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12-18-19: Donald Trump has been impeached.
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Guide
12/28/19 7:54:01 PM
#6:


A party of really dumb people. Shocking.

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squee
12/28/19 7:56:49 PM
#7:


Umbreon posted...


Antifar posted...

If youre Muslim, just tell us youre Muslim, she said of Mr. Obama. Its not that I didnt believe him, Im just not qualified to answer that question. Ive seen information on both sides thats compelling.

Yeah... These are the types of people voting.

That's the funniest part. You believe him but want him to stop lying.
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CADE FOSTER
12/28/19 7:59:17 PM
#8:


They label us white nationalists, or white supremacists, volunteered Guy Taiho Decker, who drove from California to attend the event. A right-wing protester, he has previously been arrested on charges of making terrorist threats.

Truly sane people totally not a cult
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Umbreon
12/28/19 8:01:31 PM
#9:


What no? Totes normal people make terrorist threats all the time.


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12-18-19: Donald Trump has been impeached.
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Complete_Idi0t
12/28/19 8:02:11 PM
#10:


I thought Trump banned the stocks after Vegas
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Antifar
12/28/19 8:05:04 PM
#11:


Complete_Idi0t posted...
I thought Trump banned the stocks after Vegas

Good post
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DeathVelvien
12/28/19 8:08:27 PM
#12:


I hate my state sometimes

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RickyTheBAWSE
12/28/19 8:09:23 PM
#13:


I wish there were a humane way to just... eh, never mind.

some serious disinfecting is needed though.
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Antifar
12/28/19 8:10:11 PM
#14:


DeathVelvien posted...
I hate my state sometimes

It is not unique to your state.
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sktgamer_13dude
12/28/19 8:11:58 PM
#15:


Antifar posted...
Theres no such thing as a white supremacist, just like theres no such thing as a unicorn, Mr. Decker said. Were patriots.
Only TRUE patriots get terror charges against them.

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Delirious_Beard
12/28/19 8:13:52 PM
#16:




Theres no such thing as a white supremacist, just like theres no such thing as a unicorn, Mr. Decker said. Were patriots.

I dont have a problem with Muslims, said Angus Smith, an Arizona resident who attended the festival, but can they take the rag off their head out of respect for our country?

There is no difference between the democratic socialists and the National Socialists, said Evan Sayet, a conservative writer who spoke at the event, referencing Nazi Germany. Democrats, he said, are the heirs to Adolf Hitler.

If youre Muslim, just tell us youre Muslim, she said of Mr. Obama. Its not that I didnt believe him, Im just not qualified to answer that question. Ive seen information on both sides thats compelling.

the best people

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CADE FOSTER
12/28/19 8:15:24 PM
#17:


Trump has brought these nuts out from under the rocks they were hiding under and given them a voice what a shitty country current America is
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#18
Post #18 was unavailable or deleted.
creativerealms
12/28/19 8:18:54 PM
#19:


Pizzagate 2.0

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Freddie_Mercury
12/28/19 8:38:03 PM
#20:


Antifar posted...
I dont have a problem with Muslims, said Angus Smith, an Arizona resident who attended the festival, but

Antifar posted...
I dont believe in violence, but


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Sayoria
12/28/19 8:50:29 PM
#21:


More like laughingstock. Sausages on the pizza. To compensate for something missing?

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RickyTheBAWSE
12/28/19 10:03:16 PM
#22:


they should have had a comedian tell some jokes with that conservative humor I've heard so much about
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Never let those intent on misunderstanding you be the narrator to YOUR story!
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spudger
12/28/19 10:04:39 PM
#23:


Ex-Kefiroth posted...
The post-Trump era cannot arrive soon enough

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Antifar
12/28/19 10:05:05 PM
#24:


RickyTheBAWSE posted...
they should have had a comedian tell some jokes with that conservative humor I've heard so much about

The President was busy
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