Hundreds of Granite State Donald Trump fans brought their trucks, Harleys, and high spirits to Manchester Sunday morning for a “Trump Train” caravan to fly their flags — literally — for the former president.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. This is crazy,” said Bryan Fairweather of Amherst, N.H. “I love it.”
Fairweather was a first timer, while many of the drivers and their passengers have been part of these impromptu rallies across the region.
(Credit: Jeffrey Hastings, Frame of Mind Photography)
“We started doing this a year or so ago. Everyone was asking, what can we do to let people know about our movement and our support for the president,” said David Abare, who organized this all-volunteer event. “I think this is our third or fourth time we’ve done this. We’ve got to get the president reelected.”
Abare said he had 23 people at his first rolling rally. The Trump Train on Sunday had around 300 vehicles, most with Trump flags, signs, or banners. They drove through Litchfield, Hudson, Londonderry, and Windham before arriving at the American Legion in Pelham for a BBQ and rally.
Before the caravan rolled out, state Rep. Fred Doucette (R-Salem) spoke to the crowd from the back of a Humvee adorned with a half dozen American flags.
“President Trump and this country, they need us. We get this done, the grassroots gets this done. We can win these four Electoral College votes. Let’s get our beliefs and our country back.”
Several participants mentioned that they would normally be in church on a Sunday morning at 9 a.m., but they felt like they were in the right place. “No church. The Lord wanted us to be here today,” one man in a MAGA hat said as he arranged Trump flags on his vehicle.
And while some D.C. pundits are saying that Trump was counting on running against President Joe Biden and is afraid of Vice President Kamala Harris, that word has not reached New Hampshire.
“It’s going to be easier [with Harris],” said Craig Lewis of Pelham, N.H. “If you look at her record, it’s worse than Biden’s. I think Biden would have been a more formidable opponent. With Kamala [Harris], once they put out their opposition, people will see what her record is.”
Rick Makoti of Derry, N.H. agreed.
“She is far, far left of the liberal side. The only people who are going to vote for her are the people out in California.”
Two recent polls show Harris leading Trump in New Hampshire by six points, hardly a surprise in a state Trump lost twice and rarely votes Republican for federal office. She’s also likely to improve turnout among Democrats, which will help the party’s down ballot candidates. A New Hampshire Journal poll taken just before Biden announced he was leaving the race found Republicans had a 50 to 35 percent enthusiasm advantage.
Two Republicans running in the First Congressional District primary were at the rally, and they both said they were confident about Trump’s prospects.
“I’m here because we’ve got to elect Trump. It’s Trump or bust,” said Manchester Board of Alderman Chair Joe Kelly Levasseur.
Asked about the impact of Harris as opposed to Biden on Republican chances to defeat U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, Levasseur said “We’re all going to do fine. The voters are going to find out who she is. And I don’t believe anything coming out of the mainstream media about her at all.”
Former Executive Councilor Russell Prescott said was at the rally to “make sure Donald Trump gets into office. We need a person who’s independent of the D.C. swamp.”
“We need to restore the American Dream. Get Donald Trump in office, and I’ll make sure I vote for balanced budgets,” Prescott said.
Russell Prescott
While a majority of the crowd was male, there were quite a few women as well. Some were sporting “Women for Trump” shirts, while Erica Clark of Epping, N.H. was sporting a shirt with the now-iconic image of a bloody Trump holding up his fist after having been shot by a would-be assassin, and the words “You Missed.” It was a common theme among rally attendees.
Christina Kirby from Milton, N.H. had a long list of reasons for Granite Staters to pick Trump over Harris.
“Number one, the border. Number two, the left can’t define what a woman is, anyway. So why would they want to vote for a woman just because she’s a woman? And number three, because she’s a laughingstock. She laughs at everything like the country’s a joke. But in reality, she’s the joke.”
Another prominent New Hampshire Republican who isn’t worried about Harris’s rise to the top of the ticket is Gov. Chris Sununu. During an appearance on ABC News’ This Week Sunday, he said Democrats today “are in the honeymoon period.”
“The first poll that will matter is the Wednesday after Labor Day,” Sununu predicted. You’re going to get back to numbers you saw about a month before the presidential debate, which is essentially a neck-and-neck race or at least within the margin of error, probably with Trump up by a little bit nationally. The swing states will all be in play, and it’s going to come back to issues.”
As for the final outcome of the election, Sununu says the fundamentals are with Trump.
“People want a change. They want some sort of disruption. They’re tired of the elitism. The wokeism and elitism and the liberalism coming out of [politics], telling people how to live their lives. They just want the freedom to live their lives.”
