A night at a NASCAR track with Trump fans
Republican candidate holds court at Virginia racetrack
RICHMOND, VA.—“We’re going to build the Wall,” Donald Trump said, and the crowd made that sound again, that sound you hear at a football stadium after a big hit but not usually in American politics.
Not a cheer, a roar. Elation and aggression expressed at the same time. The sound of a candidate not going away.
Trump, the bombastic billionaire, holds a sizable lead in the Republican presidential primary. The Republican establishment is waiting for the inevitable collapse. It is far from inevitable.
No attack ad or debate gaffe will persuade the gushing fans who attended his speech in Richmond, Va., on Wednesday to vote for Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush.
They are angry, aggravated with various combinations of Barack Obama, traditional Republicans, illegal immigrants, the media, Muslims and the elites who corrupt politicians with donation dollars. They are ecstatic they have found a champion in an American icon they believe is too rich and independent to be bought.
“I never voted before. I didn’t think anyone was worth voting for. Until now,” said Faye Croker, a cheerful 66-year-old. “We went down there and we registered to vote for Trump.”
Trump spoke for an hour in a cavernous grey hall on the grounds of a NASCAR racetrack. Several thousand people showed up.
4:52 p.m.: More than two hours before Trump is scheduled to take the stage, the line is already snaking around the building.
“He’s going to bring this country back the way it should be. He’s going to save Social Security. He’s going to help our vets. He’s going to get rid of the Chinese and the Mexicans,” says Ann Marie Ashworth, 75.
“This is illegal people she’s referring to,” her husband, Jim, clarifies.
“He’s in nobody’s pocket,” Jim continues. “He pays his own way. He’s not asking for a dime. And he honestly loves America. The present president would probably like to be a member of ISIS if he could.”
4:56: A man in a suit lays out the rules for the lucky supporters who get to stand behind Trump while he speaks. “No funny faces, no nosepicking, no falling asleep,” he concludes.
5:03: Lynn Rivers, 56, says she became a Trump fan by watching The Apprentice. This is common. “I just admire him, being one of those guys who makes money so easily, strategically,” she says.
5:11: Tim Hatley, a retired corrections officer wearing a Confederate flag T-shirt, says Trump will extricate America from its wasteful wars. “We need to take care of our people first,” says Hatley, 50. “We’ve spent tens of millions of dollars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and what do we have to show for it?”
5:24: Cheo Rodriguez, owner of a towing company, walks around the line holding up five playing cards. “This is a royal flush, right? This is what we want to do to Congress,” says Rodriguez, 55. “We want to flush ’em.”
6:21: Pastor Steve Parson takes the stage. “I believe the calling of God and the anointing of God is on Donald Trump,” he says. “God’s going to use this man to bring America back to greatness!” Then he asks: “Y’all ready to pray?”
6:30: “I’m tired of the Democrats, and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, letting our enemies come across our border unchecked!” shouts the next speaker, Jack Morgan, a former Republican district chairman. There’s that roar again. “I’m tired of them using every excuse possible to try to take my guns!”
6:46: Elton John’s “Rocket Man” plays. Supporters sway to the beat while holding up stars-and-stripes signs shaped to resemble Trump’s thumbs-up.
7:05: “The next president of the United States: DONALD! J.! TRUMP!”
7:06: Trump begins his speech by boasting about a Virginia winery and a Virginia golf course he owns.
7:10: Trump begins a five-minute boast about his poll numbers.
7:13: “Illegal immigration: important,” Trump says. “We’re going to build the Wall! We’re going to build the Wall!” He needs not elaborate. Everybody here knows what “the Wall” is — an impenetrable barrier running the length of the Mexico border — and the throng hollers its euphoric approval.
But a small group of protesters objects, holding up pro-immigrant signs and shouting things like “Dump Trump.” Trump brushes them off respectfully. His supporters are less forgiving. One of them spits in a confrontational protester’s face. Some of them rip the protesters’ signs out of their hands and then into small pieces.
“They settled down when we kind of muscled up on them,” volunteer Dan Ellen says later.
7:24: “I love China,” Trump says, but its shrewd leaders are taking advantage of incompetent U.S. leaders. “I wish our representatives took advantage of them,” he says. “I think that would be great.”
7:25: A black protester shouting “black power” is challenged by a woman shouting “white power.” She is the girlfriend of a Trump supporter and white nationalist, Kehne Moeller.
“Our culture is dying today. It’s crumbling,” says Moeller, 30. “This nation has turned into a very antiwhite nation.”
7:36: “I’m self-funding my campaign. I’m the only one,” Trump says. The next day, his campaign releases documents that show he actually accepted nearly $4 million in donations last quarter. He contributed only $100,000 himself.
7:37: Trump notes that rivals who have challenged him have fallen in the polls. “Man, can you imagine if I’m president, everybody that plays tough with us, they’re all going down,” he says. “They can kiss my ass,” a man yells.
7:50: Jeanette Chesterman, 63, watches the speech while holding aloft Trump’s bestseller, The Art of the Deal, into which she has tucked an American flag. “We came here from Italy to see Mr. Trump,” she says. “America is turning into Europe. And it is a disaster. The left and the right are uniting together and leaving the citizenry out.”
8:02: Trump refers to Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist, as “this maniac” and as a “socialist slash communist.”
8:06: Trump rambles about Japan and his children, then abruptly transitions to his conclusion. “Look around at all the people here. Look around at the people next to you. Because this is a special night. We are going to make America great again.” Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” plays as he exits.
8:28: Croker and her husband, Tommy, 67, stand alone outside the building, hoping to meet Trump before he departs. Tommy wants an autograph on his thumbs-up sign.
They insist Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii. (“This is on the computer,” Tommy says.) They know Trump would build a wall no Mexican could climb. (“Have you seen a picture of his wall? You will not get over his wall,” Faye says.) For the first time, they are excited about politics. “We need someone who really cares,” says Tommy. “He’s going to run the country like a business.”