Tensions flare at recent pro-Trump events
Recent high-profile demonstrations in support of President Donald Trump have fueled tensions in Texas and the Houston area ahead of Election Day.
Hundreds of drivers swarmed Houston’s Loop 610 on Sunday for a pro-Trump car rally, leading to delays and warnings from police to stay off the roadway.
Trump supporters flocked to a campaign stop for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden last Thursday at Hightower High School in Fort Bend County, where a community leader took issue with the presence of weapons, military vehicles and what he deemed an offensive prop. Elsewhere in Texas, multiple vehicles with Trump flags and signs surrounded a Biden campaign bus last Friday on Interstate 35.
One of the drivers crashed into another vehicle, but no one was injured. Biden’s campaign canceled two Austin-area events because of the incident, which is now under FBI investigation.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo on Sunday said the bus incident was “arguably criminal.”
“That’s the kind of behavior we will not tolerate in Houston,” he said.
The Texas Democratic Party chairperson did not directly address the incident but said people should “ignore the noise and go vote,” the Associated Press reported.
“Voting is the only thing that matters right now,” the chair, Gilberto Hinojosa, said in a statement.
A number of recent “Trump Train” demonstrations have captured headlines nationwide.
Sunday’s rally in Houston involved more than 1,300 vehicles. Houston police had been informed of the event a head of time, Acevedo said. Officers helped direct scores of vehicles adorned with Trump flags out of a Sam’s Club parking lot as the demonstration began.
A crash on the highway slowed the group, Acevedo said, but he did not know whether the wreck involved rally-goers. A second rally of about 200 vehicles started hours later, traversing the same route along Loop 610.
As part of a statewide bus tour, Biden’s campaign last Thursday stopped in multiple southeast Texas cities including Houston and Missouri City.
At Missouri City’s Hightower High School, hundreds of Trump supporters showed up with flags and military vehicles, according to videos posted by Eugene Howard, president of Brazoria County’s NAACP chapter.
Howard said some Trump supporters were armed and lobbed racial slurs. One Trumps upporter brought a hearse and casket with a mannequin inside. The prop included a label: “Collecting Democrat votes one dead stiff at a time.”
The white mannequin appeared to be wearing a dark-colored wig. Howard was offended because he believed it depicted what he though was Kamala Harris or a Black woman.
“This is (an example of ) white fragility or fear of losing power,” said Howard. “And this is also Texas’ show of voter intimidation, voter suppression and voter disenfranchisement.”
The man who organized the pro-Trump gathering, Joe Walz, said he extended an open invitation to all Trump supporters and did not arrange for the prop to be at the rally. He said itwas originally used for Halloween andwas not meant to convey a person’s race.
The prop’s message, he said, was to draw attention to voter fraud.
He acknowledged that the military vehicles “rubbed some people the wrong way.” He said it was only intended to catch the public’s eye — not to intimidate people.
He said he didn’t hear racial slurs and described amore peaceful version of the event.
“The message here is that two opposing political parties met at the same place for the same reason, and it didn’t turn into what you see in Seattle or Portland,” he said. “And I think that’s an accolade to the Fort Bend County Republican Party and Democratic Party.”