Today, Explained - Inside a Trump rally

Episode Date: November 5, 2019

At a Kentucky rally, President Trump's supporters ordered the media to "Do your job!" and reveal the identity of the Ukraine whistleblower. The Wall Street Journal's Mike Bender explains how these events have changed the American political landscape and Sean Rameswaram speaks with a superfan who has attended 18 rallies. And counting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump appeared at a rally in Lexington, Kentucky last night. But this time, it wasn't something he said that turned a lot of heads. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul stole the show. We also now know the name of the whistleblower. The whistleblower needs to come before Congress as a material witness because he worked for Joe Biden at the same time Hunter Biden was getting money from corrupt oligarchs. I say tonight to the media, do your job and print his name. The president was impressed. Wow, that was excellent. Wow. Wow.

Thank you. President Trump likes a sure thing. When he goes to a ball game in D.C., he gets booed. When he goes to a ball game in D.C., he gets booed. When he visits California, he forgets the name of the town he's visiting. But when he speaks at one of his rallies, the crowd is willing to go wherever he wants. Sometimes they'll even go a step or two further. The president has been holding his rallies since 2015 and winning the presidency didn't stop him.

But heading into the 2020 election, we wanted to find out what it is about these rallies that keeps people coming back. And to help with that, we found an expert. The short answer is I've been to over 50 rallies. This is Mike Bender, and he covers the White House for The Wall Street Journal. The long answer there is I only realized that by interviewing people at the rallies and talking to them about some of their favorite moments and some of their favorite rallies. And as they were telling me about these moments, I was kind of like, oh, yeah, I was at that one. Yeah, I saw that.

I was at that one, too. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh crap, I've been to over 50 rallies. So I've been to a lot of them. Yeah, almost as many as Donald Trump maybe. Yeah, it's true. Mike says that the Trump rallies aren't a sideshow. They're his entire campaign. So I asked him to take us to one. A Trump rally is a multi-day event for a lot of people.

The campaign announces a rally maybe a week or two ahead of time, and you RSVP for a ticket. And the trick is you have to get there in time to get let in before the fire marshal shuts it down and so a lot of people will have started to show up hours in advance sometimes even days in advance to deal with the parking to deal with the crowds to deal with the security and then you get into an arena that is just full of people maybe the best analogy is like a WWF event, a professional wrestling event. Welcome to the show, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Get your peanuts and popcorn inside. People have their characters they want to cheer for.

They know the storyline. And it's basically the same kind of maybe dozen or so songs that are kind of on repeat. You know, you have Hey Jude from the Beatles. Hey Jude gets played at Trump rallies? Hey Jude gets played at Trump rallies. Tiny Dancer, Elton John gets played. What? Yeah.

And for me, it's not really a Trump rally until I hear Sympathy for the Devil from the Rolling Stones. Turned up all the way to 11. I had no idea. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And does Mick know there is a long list of songs where Trump has been asked not to play a lot of them. He plays anyway. Really? Yeah. That doesn't surprise you. It doesn't actually does, because I figured they could sue him. But then, of course, it starts to not surprise me. So there's no opener. There's no pre-show entertainment. They have started also, they'll bring in family members, Donald Trump Jr. The one thing he was wrong about was he said that you would be sick of all the winning.

Are you sick of winning yet? Eric Trump. We're going to say Merry Christmas again. We are saying Merry Christmas again. And then Mike Pence will give kind of a few minute warm up. America needs four more years of President Donald Trump. And the Trump show, which is, is running about 90 minutes now. And, you know, kind of all the greatest hits.

Many times I said we would drain the swamp, and that's exactly what we're doing right now. We're draining the swamp. By the way, that is a lot of fake news back there. That's a lot. That's a lot. What do you think it is about this environment that can get people to chant, lock her up, or drain the swamp or especially send her back. I think for a lot of the folks who are at these rallies and care

enough about Trump and his presidency and this movement to show up hours before a rally, or certainly to attend multiple rallies, and you're with 10,000, 5,000 kind of like-minded people. And, you know, again, not unlike a Ohio State Buckeye game where you sort of like brings together like all these people from different walks of life, but all with a shared interest. I think they also get really swept up in the moment. I talked to about a dozen people who were outside that Trump rally in North Carolina beforehand. And it was that racist tweet from Trump who said that the four women Democrats from Congress should quote unquote, go back to where they came from, even though they're all American citizens, three of the four of them have been, were born in the country. And to a T,

every single one of these people outside said, no, no, no, no. I would never use that kind of language to disparage a minority. But then two hours later, they're all inside the arena and participated in a chant that mirrored that language. Did you talk to any of the people who actually chanted it afterwards? Yeah. And what did they say? They blamed it on themselves. They said, this isn't the president's fault. He didn't tell us to chant it.

We did it. We embarrassed them. Right, because Trump came out and distanced himself from those rally crowds. I disagree with it, by the way, but it was quite a chant. And I felt a little bit badly about it. And they took that message too, right? I mean, they were like, this is on us. It's our fault.

We embarrassed them, which is pretty striking to hear. Sender back was surprising, shocking. Even the president had to correct course after. But as someone who's been to 50 of these things or so, what's the most surprising thing you've seen at a rally? The most surprising thing so far is the people I've met who have attended 30, 40, 50 Trump rallies. They call themselves the Front Row Joes.

Who are these Front Row Joes? Who shows up to 50 Trump rallies other than me? Other than you. They're mostly white. A lot of them are recently retired. So mobile. They're almost all paycheck to paycheck. A lot of veterans on disability who, you know, will load up the minivan and the folding table

and a deep cycle battery that powers their camping stove and their electronics and, you know, will come and get there early. And even though their disability checks are their entire income, they've signed up so that $5 every month gets auto-deducted from their disability check to go to the Trump campaign. These rallies are announced with very short notice, so it puts the airfare out of reach for a lot of people. But they'll figure out who's going, who they can carpool with, and if they can share hotel rooms.

And they'll share hotel rooms in the sense of they'll show up two days early, but then Libby will wait in line with the lawn chairs and the coolers while April is back napping at the hotel. And when the gates open up, you know, make sure you're out of the way because it's a mad rush for the doors. What do you think it is that keeps the Front Row Joes coming back for a show that you've noted is oftentimes pretty similar to the show they saw last time? Yeah, definitely. I mean,

there is a sort of like old time tent revival aspect to these rallies and the sort of ritual of it. And there's a certain validation to it, too. I mean, for a lot of Trump supporters and especially the front row Joes, they were among the first people in America to recognize the resonance of Trump's political message. And they were right. They picked a horse early on, stuck by him and they won. And all of the people I talked to, the one thing they talk about is the energy they get from these rallies. And it's kind of psychic cleansing that comes from 90 minutes of participating in the same chants and cheering the same applause lines as 20,000 other people, like-minded people, that a lot of them don't get out of their normal daily lives.

You know, there is a certain kind of loneliness that some of these people have coming into a rally would. And I talked to one woman who said that Trump has sort of changed her life in terms of the confidence that it gives her and to sort of see Trump's brashness. You know, she says she's more willing to speak up at work and in interactions in her day-to-day life that she took from going to Trump rallies and watching him perform. Hello, this is Sean. Can you hear me? Yes, I can, Sean. How are you?

I'm doing well. How are you? Good. Thank you very much. Your name's Gene? Yes, Gene Huber. Gene Huber. Where are you from, Gene? Originally Long Island, New York, but now I do live in West Palm Beach, Florida, 15 minutes away from Mar-a-Lago, President Trump's actually new residence. All right. It's Monday, November 4th, and you've been basically standing in a line since Saturday. Where are you? Oh, I'm at the beautiful rally here in Lexington, Kentucky. I'm looking at

at least 10,000 plus people with smiles, hugs, and just loving each other, waiting to see our wonderful president. It sounds like you like the president. Yes, I do. And absolutely. And I'm not sure if you're familiar with my story. So if I could explain it really quick. I would love for you to explain your story, Gene. Absolutely. On February 18th, 2017, okay, I was doing interviews just like this. And President Trump was on Air Force One coming to the rally in Melbourne, Florida. And he saw me on his TVs. So now 30 minutes into the rally, he pointed me out. That's my guy right there. And he said, come here, come here. I ran up the stage. I gave our president a hug and I spoke to the world. Mr. President, thank you, sir.

We the people, all movement is the reason why our president of the United States is standing here in front of us today. How many Trump rallies have you been to? This is my 18th rally now that I have attended. My last rally was just in Mississippi. I drove all the way here to Kentucky, and here I am today. So, 18 rallies. I hear they're kind of similar. They play the same music, the president comes out, and sometimes he talks about pretty much the same things.

But I'm wondering, when you hear the same kind of talking points, you know, build the wall, lock her up, these kinds of chants over and over, what keeps you coming back? Right. That's what I tell the folks, like the people that are there for the first time at the rally. I say, listen, we're going to be chanting lock her up. We're going to be chanting build the wall. And We're going to be chanting, build the wall. And we say CNN sucks. Okay. You know, it's funny, Gene.

You talk about all the love and the hugs and the positivity and the support. But then the three things you're excited about chanting at these Trump rallies, lock her up, build the wall, CNN sucks. They're all kind of negative things. You notice that? No, not at all. They're not negative because Crooked Hillary deserves to be in jail for what she's done to this country and all the lies and all the things with her emails. We can go on and on.

Now, build the wall. Okay. Our president is protecting America. Okay. We're not having these illegal aliens coming in, stealing our jobs, bringing in the drugs over the border. And CNN sucks because they lie. We don't listen to the news. All polls, the tens of thousands of people is all polls for We The People Are movement. Gene, I wonder how you feel about the president calling the leadership of Ukraine and asking for help getting political dirt on one of his opponents. Is that something that you think he did for this country?

That's absolutely false because you heard the president in the Mississippi rally. Now, I'm an honest person anyway, but do you think when I'm making a call to a newly elected president of a country that I would say something improper when I know there are so many people listening on the line. Many people. Do you think he's going to do something like that? He even brought the recording back to show what he said. Gene, I read the transcript. He released it.

He's asking for help investigating his political opponent in advance of an election, Gene. And it's what the White House released. I don't need CNN. I saw it in the transcript. Exactly. You know what? Whatever the transcript says, it is not a problem with us.

There's going to be no impeachment. They have nothing else better to do to waste their time, taxpayers' time. We have no issues with the president. We believe him, and there's nothing more to expect from him. Okay. You know, just again on the sort of positivity aspect,

I want to ask you about a couple of things I have noticed at Trump rallies. One thing I saw was, of course, the send her back chant. But even long before that, in 2016, you saw people who were protesting the rallies and bringing a different viewpoint. You saw them physically attacked. And you saw them pushed out and you saw them pushed out and booed out of these campaign events. Do you think those kinds of behaviors are acceptable? Well, now you're talking about folks that were in the rally that shouldn't have been there and

causing some issues. Is that what you're saying? I'm asking about two different things. I'm talking about people exercising their First Amendment right to protest a politician. And I'm talking about people exercising their First Amendment right to protest a politician. And I'm also asking about a room full of people chanting, send her back, about an American politician and a naturalized citizen of this country. Absolutely. Send her back. I agree with it. I mean, if you're against this country and you're looking to hurt this country, send her back. I don't think anyone was trying to hurt the country, Gene. Is there anything President Donald Trump could do that would make you abandon him, Gene?

Nothing. Nothing. Because he would do nothing to that to make that even come close to happening. You know, Gene, you're saying that there's nothing the president could do to lose your vote. Reminds me of when the president himself was running for office in 2016 and said, I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay?

It's like incredible. Would that change your mind if the president shot an innocent person on Fifth Avenue? He's not going to shoot nobody, and I can guarantee you that. So we don't have no worries about that. Okay, but just to be clear here, if he did, would you still support him? Would I still support the president? Absolutely not. So there is a line, Gene. Who would? You know?

I mean, seriously. I mean, if my father shot somebody on Fifth Avenue, I'm going to have no respect for my father ever again. That is just a ridiculous question, I quite honestly have to say. Okay. What do you think you'll do if he loses in 2020? Nothing, because it's going to be a landslide, and it's going to be unbelievable.

Guaranteed. Mark my words. You sound kind of like him there. I'm from New York. You better believe it. Well, I just want to say a very big Hello, Kentucky. Mike, do you think the president needs these rallies just as much as his front row Joes do? Absolutely. I have no doubt about that because he loves them. And how will they factor into his

re-election campaign? The rallies were a central piece of the 2016 campaign, and they are going to be central again in 2020. They're effectively going to be the only campaigning he does. And they provide not as much free media as they did four years ago, but still a lot of local free media.

A Trump rally in North Carolina or Wisconsin or Michigan will drive local news for better part of a week. It's Trump in the headlines of a battleground state. And they are collecting hundreds of thousands of pieces of data on these rally goers that they'll use to push everyone to the polls in November of 2020. I wonder if this time around we're going to see the same kind of vitriol at these rallies that we saw in 2016 or if these things could get even worse.

I mean, these rallies have been hostile to people perceived as outsiders, yeah? I definitely felt that in 2016 and there have been moments since he's been elected that I was nervous about a rally environment or what it might be like. I do think, just sort of to step back a little bit, it was the same sort of feelings I had covering Sarah Palin's vice president rallies in 2008. Now, I so appreciate all of you coming out tonight. Where she had really tapped into an anti-media message that resonated with a lot of people.

I'd ask him to sing one more song for us. Here he comes! The left-wing liberal media have always been a real close-knit family. But most of the American people don't believe them anyway. That was the first time I went to a political rally The American people don't believe in any way you see. That was the first time I went to a political rally and kind of looked for the exits of where I, you know, made sure I knew where to go and how to get out if things got too crazy. I mean, but that pales in comparison to what we've seen in the past few years, right? I mean, President Trump retweets these memes of people shooting up CNN and NPR and even Vox.

He's hostile towards the media and his opponents at his rallies. I think one thing that is definite is that Trump has changed the way candidates campaign for president. I mean, we saw Elizabeth Warren get tens of thousands of people in New York and thousands and thousands of people on the West Coast. I think these are real tangible changes in how people will be expected to campaign and show support. Right. I mean, Obama brought out big crowds, but in like big moments, you know, a speech in Berlin, his acceptance speech. When he sang Amazing Grace in South Carolina, right? Yeah, they were all kind of leading up to moments where Trump, every single rally is 15,000 people, you know, every couple weeks. And I don't know how the Democrats are going to replicate that this time around. And it's going to be a constant question for them.

How is Joe Biden really going to beat Trump if he's only bringing out a few hundred people at a time? How is Elizabeth Warren matching up with Trump if she can get big crowds every couple of months? And, you know, for good or bad, I think that's changed the way candidates are going to run for a while. I mean, there is a theory that this is not good, right? That the way you get big crowds is by throwing out red meat to your base and sort of further dividing the country or segmenting the country into far right or far left. And you're not going to get sort of by definition 20,000 people show up for a message of I can work with the other side. Or to hear about your Medicare plan. Exactly. Like that doesn't filter down to an easy chant. Do you think if Trump loses in November of 2020, that that's sort of like the end of the political involvement of this tribe, of the Front Row Joes, of this disaffected group of people who attend these rallies and chant their chants?

I think it's a really good question of what happens if he loses the Trump base and really what is now the Republican Party. I don't think he just hands over all of that attention and these voters to the Republican Party. What he does with it, I don't know, but I'm not sure it would just transfer to the next Republican candidate unless it was Donald Trump Jr. I think Trump's base will stick with him, whatever he wants to do and support him. I mean, that, you know, 20 to 30 percent of the country, pretty narrow slice, but still pretty valuable. Mike Bender covers the White House for The Wall Street Journal. I'm Sean Ramos-Firm, and this is Today Explained.