Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he speaks throughout a marketing campaign rally at Madison Sq. Backyard in New York, October 27, 2024. —Picture by Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse
ATLANTA, Georgia — After dozens of stops throughout the nation, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s marketing campaign rallies have taken on the meticulous choreography of a ritual.
Here’s a breakdown of how the occasion often performs out, utilizing the instance of a latest rally in Georgia.
Act I: Arrivals – To get an opportunity of seeing the previous president up shut and private, his most ardent supporters arrive 5, six, even seven hours upfront.
They’re met by distributors promoting T-shirts and baseball caps bearing the Republican candidate’s likeness. Whereas in line, they chant “Combat! Combat! Combat!” and lift their fists—an homage to Trump surviving an assassination try at a Pennsylvania rally in July.
When the doorways open, the gang rushes into the venue, on this case a university basketball area in Atlanta.
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Among the many attendees is Tikva Mann, an 83-year-old Israeli-American girl, who’s overjoyed on the prospect of seeing her first Trump rally.
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“If he’s all the way in which over there to the opposite facet, it doesn’t matter so long as I get to see him,” she advised Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Act II: The openers
The rally begins 4 hours earlier than Trump takes the stage, opening with a prayer.
Attendees take away their purple caps, recite the US Pledge of Allegiance, and take heed to the nationwide anthem.
Plenty of opening audio system take to the rostrum, every of whom showers the previous president with reward, assuring the gang he’ll “save America” from financial inflation, a migrant “invasion” and leftist ideology.
As is usually the case, Trump is late to his scheduled look, however his supporters don’t care, as they move the time by singing alongside to the preshow playlist with music by Pitbull, Elvis Presley and Miley Cyrus.
Whereas they wait, a younger man in a sky-blue polo shirt makes his method by way of the gang, asking: “Do you wanna signal Elon Musk’s petition?”
The richest man on Earth has been holding a contest in latest days whereas campaigning for the Republican, providing to offer $1 million a day at random to a registered voter who indicators the petition.
Act III: The Trump present
The gang erupts right into a roar as Trump lastly takes the stage because the ultrapatriotic anthem “God Bless the USA” begins to play.
Attendees sing alongside to the track, which opens every of Trump’s rally speeches, whereas he takes to the rostrum, surrounded by Secret Service brokers.
“Let me begin by asking you a quite simple query: Are you higher off now than you had been 4 years in the past?” Trump asks the gang.
“No!” the world shouts in response.
Although the Atlanta rally was deliberate to give attention to inflation, Trump makes a speech nearly solely about immigration.
Portray a darkish portrait of the US, Trump accuses migrants of kidnapping youngsters and raping younger American ladies.
The gang, in the meantime, responds effusively to Trump’s speech, laughing at his imitation of Democratic rival Kamala Harris and yelling “we love you!” and “end the wall,” in reference to his proposal for the US-Mexico border.
“You bought to get out and vote,” he urges over an hour into an typically rambling speech. In return, he guarantees to make America “robust,” “proud” and “nice.”
Because the audio system start enjoying the track “YMCA,” Trump raises his fists and begins dancing a bit. His supporters dance alongside, forming the letters similar to the track with their arms, earlier than submitting out of the world.
Act IV: What subsequent?
For some attendees, this was removed from their first rodeo.
Eric Villacis has been to fifteen different Trump occasions, describing them as “a love fest.”
The 40-year-old shrugs off accusations of Trump supporters being racist, as a substitute saying the rallies are crammed with “folks of each single coloration, all people getting alongside collectively.”
Trump himself echoes this sense of group throughout his speech, already talking with a touch of nostalgia because the marketing campaign nears its finish.
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“We’ve had the best rallies within the historical past of the world,” he says.
