It was peak downvalley rush hour traffic, but that wasn’t the reason for the horns at the Catherine Store intersection on Highway 82 Thursday afternoon. Rather, it was the crowd of 60 or so avid supporters of President Donald J. Trump who’d gathered on both sides of the road, donning “Make America Great Again” and otherwise stars-and-stripes apparel while waving campaign flags fervently.
Carbondale resident Sam Chambers assured that the honking and shouting from drivers — which occurred so frequently in a brief conversation that he had to repeat his points several times — were mostly positive.
“I got here pretty early,” he said just before 5 p.m. of the rally that commenced around 3:30 p.m. “I think it’s probably two-to-one positive. The only middle fingers we get are from Priuses and Suburus. Mostly younger women, a couple of gray-haired old dudes flipping us off, too.”
Almost on cue, a car passed, horn blaring, with a thumbs up hanging out the window from the vehicle’s passenger.
“That’s mostly what you see,” Chambers said.
For Chambers, his primary reason for turning up at a local Trump rally is his fear of an economic downturn should his preferred candidate not prevail for a second term in November. He cited concerns about the well-being of retirement savings in particular, but spoke in broader terms, as well.
“Your rights are going to be gone; your freedoms are going to be gone. Biden’s as corrupt as they come. In general, if you have savings, they’re going to dissipate rapidly. The economy’s going to crash if Biden wins. I don’t think anybody disputes that,” he said.
Then there was Bailey Griebel, who attends Bridges High School in Carbondale.
“It’s good to put that out there that we support our own president who’s our president now. Because if we don’t support him now, it’s like being in a plane. If you don’t help the pilot, we’re all going to go down together,” she said.
And even though the 17-year-old is not yet of legal voting age, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel she has a vested, personal interest in the outcome of the election. From her perspective, her family’s livelihood could be at stake.
“I definitely think a lot’s going to tank if Biden wins. I know if Biden gets elected, he’s going to start cutting oil, and that’s going to put a lot of people out of jobs, including my brother,” she said.
Griebel didn’t come to support her president alone Thursday — she was joined by two friends, including Rifle High School student Vance Silvius. Unlike Griebel, Silvius will be able to cast a vote.
“I just turned 18 not too long ago, and I’m definitely voting for Trump,” he said.
He blamed what he sees as obstructionism from Trump’s political opponents for much of the country’s divisive landscape and lack of progress.
“I just want to let everybody know that what Trump’s doing, he’s trying to make it greater and be the best it can be. All these liberals and Democrats, they’re trying to stop whatever he can do with all the riots and everything going on,” Silvius said. “Everybody knows that he can do something great, but nobody wants to let it happen because of who he is. I just want to see all the bullshit stop, and I just want to see what he can really do.”
It’s a sentiment Ray Cordova, a 71-year-old Mexican-American who proudly held his “Latinos for Trump” sign while posting up in the grassy median of the highway and engaged with commuters Wednesday. He expressed concern with what he called a violent approach from leftists toward those who disagree with their viewpoints.
“I would never tear down a Biden-Harris sign,” he said.
Cordova was a registered Democrat until the Reagan administration. Admittedly, he said, he’d never cared much for politics. At 71 years old, the only two votes he’s cast for presidential candidates were for Ronald Reagan and Trump.
“I was complacent; I didn’t care about politics,” he said.
He also wasn’t completely sold on Trump — quite the opposite, he emphasized.
“I met him at Las Vegas, because I was invited with 50 other ministers to go to a private meeting with him. In the beginning, I thought this guy was just an ogre. I believed he was just a bad man. But when I came to know him and I really saw his heart — and I believe he just wants us to get back to our founding principles,” he said. “And believe me, Trump’s not perfect. And I’m not necessarily voting for the man; I’m voting for the agenda. I’m voting for the policies.”
But ultimately, Cordova believes Trump’s bold style, as he described, is what the Republican party needed to more effectively combat against what he sees as affronts to traditional American culture, from the “homosexual agenda” to the “abortion agenda” to “supporting Israel.”
Tom Baker, chairman of the Pitkin County Republicans, felt that Wednesday’s showing demonstrated an important reality, that there is likely more support for Trump in the Roaring Fork Valley than many would believe based on voter registration data.
“Really, the purpose of a rally like this is just to encourage one another,” he said, echoing Chambers’ observation that most responses from drivers had been positive. “People need to see that even in this valley, there’s a lot of people that support President Trump and a conservative agenda.”
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