Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke to a crowd more than 4,000 strong at a rally Sunday in Poughkeepsie. Meanwhile, some 200 protestors gathered across the street.
Two days before New York’s presidential primary, Trump supporters lined up for blocks and blocks along one of several Poughkeepsie streets closed to vehicular traffic, waiting to get into the Mid-Hudson Civic Center. Clinton Corners resident Jim King says he supports Trump’s immigration and economic plans.
“The man is a patriot. He’s different country in that he doesn’t owe anybody anything,” King says. “And I believe that he’s, the country needs a businessperson to run it for a change.”
King says his Republican status is relatively new.
“I just changed my enrollment about six or eight months ago,” says King.
“Because of Donald Trump?” asks Dunne.
“Yes, absolutely, yeah, not so much because of Donald Trump but because of Barack Obama, who I voted for the first time around,” King says.
During his nearly 40 minute speech, Trump referred a few times to bringing back jobs and bolstering the economy.
“New York state has lost 350,000 manufacturing jobs since ’97, 350,000. I mean, honestly, it’s a disgrace. Is anybody crying? Are the women crying? Are the men crying?” asks Trump. “By the way, do the women love Trump?”
Monica Luisi does. She was donning a “Hot Chicks for Trump” button.
“I thought it was really cute. I saw the button and I thought it was really funny,” says Luisi. “I feel like a lot of people think that Donald Trump doesn’t like women because of the things that he said but I feel like the media just construes it all and that’s not what Trump means and he doesn’t hate women. I think in certain interviews he’s very supportive towards them and likes the ideas that they have.”
She’s a student at Marist College, where Democratic Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders held a rally April 12.
“I know a lot of kids from Marist were feeling the Bern but I was definitely not,” Luisi says. “I’m on the Trump train.”
Trump highlighted his many connections to Dutchess County, including his Trump National Golf Club in Hopewell Junction, and said he has family and friends living in Dutchess, Plus, in early April, Trump named longtime friend and Dutchess County Sheriff Adrian “Butch” Anderson as an honorary co-chairman of his New York state campaign. He called on Anderson mid-speech.
“Where’s Sheriff Butch, where’s the sheriff, where is he, where’s Butch?” Trump asked. “One of the toughest guys… You don’t want to be a criminal in this area, I want to tell you. Butch will take care of business, right?”
It’s this connection that rankles Hudson Valley Black Lives Matter Coalition member Margaret Kwaceng, who helped organize a protest of some 200 people across the street from the indoor rally.
“In the City of Poughkeepsie, in addition to in many cities, it’s a disproportionate arrest rate people, it’s disproportionate prison populations of people of color to white people in these prisons,” says Kwaceng. “Instead we have someone who’s explicitly endorsing someone who’s racist, he’s sexist, he’s xenophobic and Islamophobic. It is very scary and it is something that we’re taking really seriously.”
Inside, supporters were decked out in Trump fan gear and pumped up on their own chants.
“Build that wall, build that wall, build that wall, build that wall.”
It’s a major platform of Trump’s immigration plan — building a wall along the border with Mexico. Newburgh resident Angelina Rojas is a supporter.
“I support Donald Trump because he is an outsider. He’s not your typical politician,” says Rojas. "He, there’s just something about his persona. He wants this country to be great again, like he keeps saying. And he’s a true patriot. He’s not getting paid by anyone to love the country. He loves this country and he wants to see it do better.”
On the streets after the rally, Poughkeepsie resident Antwone Jamison and his friends denounced Trump’s appearance in their city, saying they would vote for a different candidate.
“I like Bernie. Bernie. Bernie. Bernie. He respects Black Lives Matter. Yeah, black lives do matter, but when Trump…”
One of the young men added:
“Why can’t we live the million-dollar dream like every else? Why do we gottta be last at everything?”
Meanwhile, Trump says he is no fan of Sanders:
“And I’m no fan of Bernie Sanders, believe me. I think he’s terrible,” Trump says. “I think he’s terrible. I refuse to vote for a communist.”
However, he believes Sanders, like himself, is a victim of a rigged party nominating process.
“Because in all fairness, Bernie Sanders should be able to win. And they all say he can’t win because it’s... —they don’t say this, I say this — because it’s a fixed system, it’s a corrupt system that’s run by the bosses,” Trump says.
A system, he alleges, that is worse on the Republican side. Trump urged his supporters to show up at the voting booth Tuesday.
“You’re going to go home and you’re going to remember this evening but, more importantly, you’re going to go home, you’re going to rest up on Monday, make as many calls as you can to get everybody out and go and give us a big mandate, a big, big mandate for the movement,” Trump said. “Remember, they call it a phenomena. There’s never been anything like this.”
Recent polls show Trump leading Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich by a wide margin.
