Christie
This was a little smaller crowd than I've been to so far this year, about 75 people, and less press than for DeSantis, Ramaswamy or Haley, maybe because it was in the western part of the state that is less populated by media types. Quite a few students from Keene State College were in attendance which was nice to see. They were well behaved but other people interrupted Christie to ask questions when they were not called on and to argue with him. It was the feistest town hall I have been to.
I got a question in about Ukraine, and his response followed a pattern - he listens, then states his position and does not budge, and instead says that his position is the correct one because he is "honest" and other politicians are liars. He contrasts himself to Trump but seems to have a lot of the same personality traits.
To make Social Security solvent he wants to raise the age limit and means test it but not raise the cap on taxable earnings. So he is willing to look at tough issues, it's just that it's his way or the highway.
He has a sense of humor, he engaged with the audience a little like a comic might who works people present into his routine (without being mean), but he's not open to other viewpoints and he has an inflated sense of his worth. He said he didn't care how few Americans suppported funding the war on Ukraine, he would win them over to his point of view. No he won't. The trend is in the opposite direction.
Next on my list are Williamson and Hutchinson, but Hutchinson isn't for a couple weeks so who knows if he will have dropped out by then.
Not just because lived in NJ for 34 years, I have been interested in Christie's performances as Presidential candidate. I agree with your assessment that he shares some of Trump's traits, such as arrogance. But he was a decent governor if you disregard his Bridgegate scandal. And I love that he's taking on Trump. But because of his focus on that one issue, he doesn't have a chance in hell of doing much better in the polls than he's doing now, which is very low. At this point, I think he knows that and is simply using the debates to promote his anti-Trump message hoping he can talk some people into rejecting Trump.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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Yppej, I really enjoy your critiques of the candidates. Keep 'em coming.
Williamson
About two dozen people gathered to hear Williamson and one radio station sent a reporter. She arrived, shook everyone's hand, and took all questions including from some people who asked more than one.
Before she arrived I was chatting with a woman who said she was with AARP and they send someone to all candidate events to ask about keeping Social Security solvent. On this Williamson was the opposite of Christie, wanting to lift the cap on taxed earnings but not take other steps. She was also not a know it all like him, stating when I asked her that she has no covid policy. I can't imagine him not having ironclad views on something.
Her major focus is on reversing the transfer of wealth upwards in the country and wants to expand government - universal health care, free college, free daycare, etc.
She had trouble hearing one guy and walked closer to him, stating even with a hearing aid she has trouble. Maybe not the best contrast to the aging Biden.
Talked to her staff after and they are working to get on the ballot in all 50 states. Some people from Vermont were present and they were having them sign.
Trump
I know Trump brags about his crowds and didn't want to play into that, but I figured I better see him now while I still can before he's in jail. I invited a Trumper I know to go with me and we drove over 2 hours to Wolfeboro, NH.
Previous events I was at including a Biden one four years ago, were "large" with a few hundred people, but there were literally thousands here wearing hundreds of different varieties of Trump garb. The lines were long but it was a nice day out so we queued up, e-ticket in hand. Taking advantage of the crowds various street peddlers were there, also a campaign first for me, selling Trump clothing, dog tags, and waffle sausages and waffle dogs.
There were no portable toilets or access to restrooms but we held on, and eventually saw Trump's motorcade. There were also a couple military personnel, one in a tanklike vehicle with a big gun aiming skyward, as well as Secret Service. The only press outside was an anti-Trumper who goes around to all the Trump rallies trying to provoke his supporters into saying silly things. He kept hammering about 91 indictments.
After waiting over 2 hours we saw people in line leaving, but continued on only to be told by the Secret Service that the campaign had overbooked the event. Our tickets were meaningless. Anyone was let in, ticket or not, first come first served. Rumor was some in the know about how these rallies worked had camped out overnight to be sure of a spot inside. The venue has a capacity of 850 plus an overflow room for 400 more people, and there were probably at least another thousand people outside.
When the event started people outside turned on the speech on Youtube and we heard Trump say that the teleprompter was not working and this would be a problem if it were Biden but it is not an issue for him. However, it did appear to be a problem as he kept making statements to the effect that we will win here in Iowa on January 15, and also references to being in Cedar Rapids although this was New Hampshire. I also caught a snipppet listing various entities, including Ukraine, that others put first whereas he will put America first. Then the people playing the speech left the line.
Being shut out - and the lack of any Trump swag at the campaign table - did not faze the crowds. They absolutely loved Trump, and locals both in front of and behind us were saying how honored they were that he chose to come to their town. It was clear to me that Trump will get the Republican nomination hands down. His supporters have some passion. The closest I saw to this level of enthusiasm was 4 years ago with Andrew Yang, but this was a much larger event. People in wheelchairs and oxygen tanks were among those waiting hours to see him. He is and always will be their president, or as some hats proclaimed, "Jesus is my savior and Trump is my president".
We left when we couldn't even get in to use the bathrooms, peed behind some bushes, left and had lunch before driving home. I will not try to attend another of his events. It was interesting to experience the Americana, but the candidate and his poorly run campaign did not impress me. But I was quiet about that being surrounded by so many of his ride or die supporters, one of whom had a banner across the entire front of his Jeep showing Trump dressed as Rambo holding a machine gun. It had NH plates, and I could count the number of out of state plates including mine on one hand. Those like Chris Christie who think they can beat him in NH are delusional.
Thank you, Yppej. I am hoping New Hampshire is something of an anomaly, now that I live by New Hampshire and have experienced its particular zietgeist. But that's pretty chilling.
Thanks for taking one for the team, Yppej, and reporting on the Trump event. Seriously, you have my respect.
Thanks, Yppej for not only taking time to go to such a clown circus, but reporting on it and all your other reports.
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