If you’re standing in line outside the War Memorial wondering if I’m somewhere in the crowd with you waiting to see and hear Donald Trump, I’m not there.
An uptick in blog traffic suggests some people think I would at least be weighing in on the Trump visit.
I reserved two tickets to the Trump Johnstown rally as soon as I learned of it. At last count, there are seven email messages waiting in my inbox just today telling me how to progress in terms of what I should, or shouldn’t do when attending.
I’m lucky to have a source on the scene telling me of blaring music since 7 a.m., a massive video board and American Flag, people lined up including one line that snakes over the bridge toward the site of the former Johnstown High School at the corner of Napoleon and Somerset Streets and proceeds along Somerset and under where the Rt 56 bypass overpass crosses Somerset.
This same source just called (at about 1:10 p.m.) to tell me lines were beginning to creep forward slowly, long after doors supposedly were to have opened.
There also is a considerable convoy of vendor trailers at the site. I guess there probably is a small knot of misguided souls counterprotesting, too.
Why am I not there? Let me count the reasons.
First, there is a sort of been-there, done-that element to this for me. I was at the same War Memorial venue in September 2004 when the George W. Bush re-election campaign stopped in Johnstown. It was hours spent standing in line, ironically on the same Napoleon Street bridge.
There was a long line that I was in, another line stringing from the War Memorial front doors toward Walnut Street, and a third, late-forming line that began at the doors and ran out Market Street. This Market Street third line annoyed me; the fact that people can’t follow the rules and leapfrog those who had done what they thought was the right thing or that those in charge didn’t deal with it.
Fortunately, my party got into the rally. Considering the size and enthusiasm of Trump crowds, I wasn’t that optimistic this time and I really didn’t want to spend hours in line only to be denied admittance. It was, after all, first-come, first served.
Second, if it had been an outdoors rally, with no limit to crowd size, I’d have gone.
Third, I can watch the rally live on television, as promised by Newsmax and other cable outlets.
On that last note, I’ve found through the years, with the advent of larger, high-definition TV screens, digital imagery and other advancements in terms of how things are covered, the home experience often is superior to in-person attendance.
Take it from a guy who has been to Super Bowls, World Series games, Stanley Cup hockey playoff games, NCAA men’s basketball tournament games, an abundance of college football bowl games, the Indianapolis 500, NASCAR races, major golf tournaments, etc., etc., etc, watching at home on television is often nicer.
It’s certainly more convenient when you want a drink or snack, or need to run to the bathroom to purge those drinks and snacks.
To sum up, I’m old and looking to keep life simple. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t crawl on my hands and knees over broken glass to vote for Trump. I just wouldn’t do that to attend a rally.
But this latest evidence of the enthusiasm of Trump supporters, as indicated anew by this Johnstown stop, makes the supposed previous election victory of Clueless Joe Biden all the harder to believe. The Clueless One drew token crowds to his infrequent events and basically hid out in his basement in lieu of campaigning.
Yet we are to believe not only that he won, but he also got the most votes in this country’s history.
Clueless Joe now whiles away his days on the beach, while VP Kamala Chameleon shows up on CNN with support animal Tim Walz and a handpicked interviewer to do a taped, edited, first interview.
Kamala Chameleon’s crowds need a rock concert ahead of them to boost the figures. The projecting leftists, especially those in the Lamestream media, say Trump is running scared and the right is standing in awe of Kamala Chameleon.
The last is partly true in my case. I’m in awe that a cackling hyena devoid of policy knowledge or original ideas, wearing stereotypically large pants suits, can be claimed to be running neck-and-neck, if not ahead of, Trump.
You believe what you want. I’m not buying it.