Group begins camping outside coliseum more than a day before Trump rally in Phoenix

BrieAnna J. Frank
The Republic | azcentral.com

A group of people supporting President Donald Trump set up camp outside of Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday afternoon — nearly 30 hours before doors are set to open ahead of the president's rally on Wednesday evening.

The first in line was Mario Estrada, who traveled to Phoenix from California ahead of the rally. Timothy Bond said he first came to the venue Monday morning, but after realizing no one had begun camping out yet, opted to leave and return Tuesday.

He said he was prepared, though, to camp out for more than 48 hours to hear the president speak.

"It's too important," he said. "I've been a Trump fan for years and I just couldn't miss it. We have to show our support because the left is definitely showing theirs, so we have to match it."

Bond said he and the others camping out outside of the venue had connected with each other and were "like a family," pointing out the diversity of the group that had gathered.

"This is a great cross section — gays, Latinos, white — we're all family, we're all friends here now, and probably lifelong friends," he said.

LGBT supporters among the first in line

Estrada, who said he is gay, said he believes the president supports the LGBT community as well as other minority populations. He added that those who believe the president is divisive are coming from a "place of ignorance."

"He has a long history of championing Americans and American values and putting his country ahead of himself and that's why there's this misconception," he said. "Once he became president, the media wanted to turn it on him and if you tell a lie long enough and often enough, people will start to believe it."

Estrada said he's hoping to hear an "America first" message by the president during the rally.

He hopes that more people will acknowledge the diversity among Trump's supporters. 

"Gays for Trump exist," he said. "We are here, we aren't going anywhere, and we are here to shatter the narrative."

Sarah Lether, 34, also came to Phoenix from California, having previously gone to a Las Vegas rally in 2018.

"He is the only president in my lifetime that I have ever felt has represented us as a community, a people and a nation altogether," Lether said.

Lether said she manages a coffee shop in Los Angeles, and cried as she talked about how she doesn't feel she can wear her pro-Trump hat or shirt in California because of the potential for harassment.

"I never thought that I would grow up in a place where I couldn't wear a baseball cap of something that I liked, I couldn't wear a T-shirt of something that I liked," she said. "I think what's most divisive is the other side trying to tell everybody that it's Trump who's being divisive."

Lether said despite potential harassment Trump supporters face in public, those who back the president are more energized than ever as the election looms nearer.

"I am just coming to just be part of what is going on," she said. "We won acquittal and now I feel like we're heading into 2020 and it's just like, the momentum is revving up. I am thrilled to see what happens next."

Many supporters coming from California, also going to Vegas rally

Blake Marnell, who wore a "Make America Great Again" hat along with a matching brick-print jacket and tie in reference to the president's promise to "build the wall," was second in line.

He took the week off and traveled from California to Phoenix, adding that he will also attend the president's Vegas rally on Friday.

Blake Marnell of San Diego relaxes with other supporters of the President Donald Trump camping out the day before a rally held by at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix on Feb. 18, 2020.

"I've learned along the way that the time that you spend in line and the people that you meet in advance of the rally is something that I enjoy almost as much as the actual rally itself," he said.

Marnell said he was not a registered voter and subsequently did not vote for the president in 2016, saying that the last time he'd voted was in 1984 for Ronald Reagan.

That's going to change in 2020, he said.

Like others standing in line, Marnell dismissed beliefs that the president is "divisive," saying that he believes Trump "brings people together" because he is prompting many people who were not previously interested in politics to get involved.

"I think it's fair to say that his rhetoric does highlight divisions that were already there — I don't believe that it creates new divisions," he said. "I think that he's very outspoken, which we as Americans are not used to in politicians - we're not used to people telling us the truth."

Like Estrada, Marnell said he hoped stereotypes about Trump supporters would be dispelled.

"I hope there aren't people out there who believe that we're still all misogynists, white supremacists and things like that, because we're not," he said. "Just come out, we're people like them, like you, and we may not agree on all issues but we need to talk with each other and find the common ground."

Marnell said he supported the president withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying that the "function of America's president should be to put America first."

A desire to be surrounded by Trump supporters

Susan Fairbrother said she's willing to wait in line for hours on end for the president because "he gave so much to make our world better and safer."

"He's sacrificed so much for us," she said. "His family has put themselves aside to kind of straighten some things out in our nation. In terms of making our military stronger, in terms of ending some corruption in the swamp ... building the wall so we're protected so people can politely go through the gates."

Trump supporters camping out discuss politics the day before a rally held by President Donald Trump at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix on Feb. 18, 2020.

Fairbrother admonished the media for what she described as an unfair portrayal of the president and his supporters, in particular saying that "nobody ever called him a racist" until the 2016 election.

"That man is not a racist — there's nothing racist about Donald J. Trump," she said. "There never has been. He's been friends with Asians, he's been friends with Blacks, he's been friends with Hispanics, he talks to people — he talks to the common man."

Fairbrother said she hoped the president would speak about "whatever's on his heart" at the Wednesday rally, adding that though she'd be more comfortable watching from home and not camping out ahead of the rally, she wanted to be surrounded by fellow Trump supporters. 

"This is a lifetime opportunity and I didn't want to miss it. I wanted to see him before he got reelected," she said. "I'm confident he'll be reelected."

Reach the reporter at bfrank@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8529.  Follow her on Twitter @brieannafrank

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