2024-03-03 03:00:55
As soon as the doors open, they rush to the front rows, ignore the “reserved” and sit down. “Trump is going to look us in the face, directly,” rejoices Scott Knuth, a tall guy wearing a “Front Row Joes” t-shirt – “the guys in the front row”, a well-identified group.
These diehards are among the former American president’s most loyal supporters — Scott is at his 43rd Trump meeting. He negotiated with security, he will stay there, he who waited all night in the rain to get this place.
“They’ll need a bulldozer to get me out,” he said with a laugh, more than two hours before Donald Trump’s speech began in Richmond, Virginia.
On Tuesday, this state in the Eastern United States will join around fifteen others during “Super Tuesday”, a major stage in the primaries ultra-dominated by the billionaire.
The first time Scott Knuth saw Donald Trump was in 2015, and he felt alone in believing in his candidacy. Since then, this employee in the building says he has spoken to him eight times. He proudly shows his various selfies with the Republican leader.
He knows well the scenography that others discover for the first time on Saturday: endless queue of red caps, lively music in the huge hall while waiting for the arrival of their hero. “It’s like a rock concert,” explains Scott in his large white jersey, signed with a large “Trump” on his back.
Saturday night in Richmond, they are just two of the “front row guys”: the other members of this very exclusive group went to another speech, earlier the same day in North Carolina.
– “Ruin” –
“It’s the best show in the world,” confirms his comrade Edward Young, 73 Trump meetings under the clock. He stands out in the crowd with his green cap, his red scarf and an unstoppable chatter.
On Friday, he worked until 6 p.m., drove home to New Jersey, then drove south to Richmond, “drove all night in the rain,” arrived at 4 a.m. to get the best place, without sleeping a minute. “I want to be in the front row,” he says, mentioning Scott and his partner in their “front row guys” uniforms. They know each other well.
This handful of die-hards arouses admiration among those, met in the queue, who are coming for the first time.
But this devotion to Donald Trump comes at a cost. Edward, the man in the green cap, remembers the victorious election of 2016, for which he counted neither his hours nor his money. “If the campaign lasted another week,” he said, “I would have been ruined.”
– “Family” –
Gasoline, hotel, plane tickets for some… The bill for him has reached thousands of dollars, just since January. “I am 64 years old, divorced then widowed (…), I have no children. So it is not a problem for me to spend, but I am digging into my savings,” he admits.
Like Donald Trump who readily uses violent rhetoric, Edward Young sees himself as a “warrior” who fights “with (his) words” in a “civil war” situation.
A few seats away from him, at the foot of the podium, we find the two “guys in the front row”. The one next to Scott Knuth prefers to give neither his name nor his age, but wears this long jersey with great pride. He is there for his seventh meeting, to find “the family” he is creating there, leaving his wife and daughter at home for the weekend.
He remembers his first time. “As soon as you come, you are addicted” to these moments, he confides. Behind him, while waiting for the president, discussions continue, new people take photos, others queue up to buy a snack.
The wait, the wait, and finally this music known to all which sings “proud to be an American”. The crowd stands up. Donald Trump arrives and in the front row, his last square admires him, once once more.
Do you have a real estate project in mind? Yakeey & Médias24 help you make it happen!
1709438828
#guys #front #row #Trump #meetings
