Cold night demonstration shows warmth of Trump’s support
You never know what you’ll find during a neighborhood walk with your dog.
Last summer our beagle Emma and I spotted a frying pan-sized snapping turtle. Emma kept a respectful distance.
More recently, I saw a bushy-tailed fox bound from a backyard to a grove of trees near the railroad tracks.
And on Wednesday, I came across a species I never expected to find during a nighttime walk in the Villages of Five Points - two sign-carrying supporters of Donald Trump.
Finding Trump supporters in the Cape Region wasn’t a surprise. But I didn’t expect to find them, in the dead of winter, across the street from Fish On restaurant, holding up signs in the glare of a car’s headlights so that they could be read on this cold January evening.
But read by whom? There was virtually no foot traffic. I was among the few to see the signs, Emma showing little interest.
Unfortunately, I was without pad and pen. I went home, rushed back, but they had disappeared. Perhaps they got cold feet. Literally, I mean. It was about 30 degrees.
I wanted to ask them why they had decided on that time and place to show their support of Trump.
The apparent reason was because the Democrats of the 14th Representative District were meeting inside, concluding business such as voting to endorse incumbent Pete Schwartzkopf’s run for re-election.
But I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that there weren’t many potential Trump voters at the 14th Democratic RD meeting.
Which means the Trump supporters were trying to do what? Harass? Intimidate?
If so, they didn’t have much effect. With screens pulled down, the Democrats inside couldn’t see outside, as I found out when I asked if they’d seen the signs.
I didn’t write their messages down so I hesitate to quote from memory. One was straightforward, something like “Donald Trump - 2016.”
The other was a rather long message that appeared aimed at Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs.
Yes, it’s going to be that kind of political year.
And while those supporters that night might have been feeling the cold, it’s beginning to look like the Republican establishment is warming to the idea of Trump as their nominee.
For good reason. They have no choice.
Not that they haven’t tried derailing the Donald Trump train.
On Tuesday, I saw something I had never seen before. In her rebuttal to Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina knocked her own party’s frontrunner.
She called on her fellow Republicans to “resist the siren call of the angriest voices.”
Though she confirmed the next morning she was talking about Trump, Haley could have been referring to almost anyone on the Republican debate stage Thursday night, with the exception of Dr. Ben Carson.
The rest of the field appeared to be auditioning for a revival of “The 12 Angry Men,” with Gov. Chris Christie, perhaps, hoping for a lead role in a reboot of “The Sopranos.”
Gov. Haley’s criticism of Trump may have been a political masterstroke. If he were to win the nomination, she has positioned herself as his ideal running mate.
In a general election, Trump would be open to charges that he is anti-Mexican, anti-Muslim, anti-women and so on.
Haley would be the perfect antidote: a governor of Indian descent who received good marks for her handling of the situation following the Charleston church shooting and for her state’s Confederate battle flag issue.
But how could she become Trump’s running mate following her very public criticism? Easy. Politics.
Few candidates have loathed each other as much as John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. They managed. So could Trump and Haley.
What’s striking about Trump is that in running for president he’s offering a deal to the American people:
Vote for me, he promises, and all our country’s problems - be it crime, healthcare, foreign policy, dandruff, etc. - will vanish with the wind.
No specifics, no details. He simply says he will make it happen.
But Trump, the self-proclaimed master dealmaker, would never accept such a deal himself. If he were putting up a new hotel he would expect the construction company to spell out, exactly, the materials, the timetable, the cost - everything he needed to evaluate the deal.
The kind of “trust me” deal he’s offering the American public? He would reject it out of hand.
Not that I’m predicting he’ll fade, as pundits have been predicting - practically guaranteeing - for months.
At this point, if Trump does win the nomination, so many pundits will be eating crow that the familiar black bird could find itself on the endangered species list.
Note: If the sign-carrying Trump supporters are out there, I’d still be happy to talk to them.
Don Flood is a former newspaper editor living near Lewes. He can be reached at floodpolitics@gmail.com.
