Worlds Apart, Living Right Next Door
Chapter One. The Trump Rally. "Fuck Joe & the Hoe" + "You Missed, Bitches!"
Call it a happy accident but on the day I flew into Asheville, North Carolina, to work on stories about the US elections, Donald Trump was hosting a rally at a local convention hall in Asheville’s city center. Asheville is a progressive city in the rural west of the state, a haven for writers, artists, and creatives of all types, or, in the words of one Trump supporter I overheard that day, “a blue liberal shit hole.”
Rainbow signs abound. All are welcome here, it’s clear.
On that sunny Wednesday afternoon, Asheville’s downtown, with stores run by witches and women’s cooperatives, and a bookstore offering yes, books but also coffee and community, was filled with people who would apparently have no time for that stuff. “I hate Hippies,” one man said, “I hate their Birkenstocks, I hate their smell.” He also hates socialists. “The only good socialist is a dead socialist,” he said. “Do you really mean that?,” I asked. “Well,” he clarified, “I wouldn’t kill a socialist unless I was being attacked.”
His name is Rick. He’s a former stock broker and he lives in Henderson County, North Carolina. He is a white, well worn, older guy - over 70 he tells me, and his wife calls him “Joe” because he keeps forgetting things. He is in the company of Craig, who’s about 30 years old, and lives in South Carolina. Both are wearing the ubiquitous MAGA hats - red baseball caps with the words, “Make America Great Again,” emblazoned in white. Rick is also wearing a black t-shirt, with “Kamala” written across the front of it and the “do not enter” street sign stamped across her name.
In truth, it was one of the least offensive t-shirts there.
A sampling of some of the others as follows:
“Trump 2024. Fuck your feelings.” Worn by a tall, athletic white guy, striding down the street like he truly didn’t give a fuck about your feelings.
“Liberals Suck.” Worn by an affable looking guy with a friendly face.
“Biden Sucks, Kamala Swallows.” Seriously? To this level we go?
“Fuck Joe and the Hoe.” Apparently so.
“Say no to the Hoe, Vote Trump 2024.” It appears to have some traction.
There were also a few which referred to the attempted assassination:
‘You Missed, Bitches!” which accompanied a photo of Trump giving the middle finger.
“Liberals can’t shoot for shit” worn by an elderly lady, stooped over, who was apparently happy to ignore the fact that the kid who attempted to assassinate Trump in July was a registered Republican.
Variations on “I’m Voting for the Felon,” were also on display.
But I digress.
I asked Rick why he supported Trump. “The Democrats want to make this a Communist country,” he said, drawing out each word slowly, “I didn’t want anyone paying my student loans.” And he’s happy to pay his own health care. Craig meanwhile, who is “voting against the communist takeover of the United States,” had a heart operation not too long ago. He is still paying it off. Health insurance in the United States means health care still costs a fortune. Neither had anything good to say about the Affordable Care Act, also know as Obama Care, which makes health insurance accessible to most Americans regardless of their income or employment status.
Rick was wearing a pair of dark wraparound sunglasses. Impenetrable. I could never see his eyes. He was, in his words, “passionate,” and would lean into me when he wanted to make a point. He was aghast by what he sees happening in the UK. Too many Muslims he said. And the Labour government? “How could you do that?,” he leant into me again, saliva forming on the corners of his mouth, “You are losing your national identity.” Again, that slow drawl.
Craig, who is Black, tells me that Kamala is pretending to be Black. I ask him why he thinks this and he explains that to be truly Black in the United States, you need to come from a slavery ancestry. Otherwise, you’re just faking it. “When my parents were enduring the segregated South,” he says, “Kamala was in Canada.” And, he goes on, “If Kamala’s Black, Elon Musk is Black too because he was born in South Africa.”
We were talking quite close to the convention center’s entrance, and, behind a fenced off area on the other side of the street were some Harris/Walz supporters bearing signs. “A Woman’s Place is in the White House,” read one, “I need a leader who believes in Science,” said another, “Make America Kind Again,” one more, and “Nope. Not Again.”
The rally had a party atmosphere. Amidst U.S.A. chant-offs, songs like the Village People’s “YMCA,” John Denver’s “Country Road,” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” were blasting from a sound system. A small group of Asian-Americans marched by, bearing American flags and singing Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA (Proud to be an American).” They were applauded and cheered.
(Lee Greenwood is the country singer who partnered with Donald Trump earlier this year on the “God Bless the USA Bible,” the promo of which has Trump, serial liar, sex offender, con artist and convicted felon, spout the words, “Let’s make America pray again”).
Roxana is an older woman, and a “God-loving Christian.” She is also Trump-loving, although she does demur that it would be better sometimes if he kept his mouth shut. Her number one issue is “Muslims” who she believes are coming to “kill us all.” She also despairs about what she perceives to be happening in the UK (“Muslims are taking over”). Her other number one issue is the rights of the unborn child. A thin, wiry man is listening and joins the conversation. “The greatest genocide of all time is the genocide against the unborn child,” he says, and points me to Ephesians, Chapter 6. “The devil will steal,” he intones, and Roxana agrees: “this is a fight between good and evil.” She is emphatic. “Trump doesn’t need to be president,” she adds, “he is a business man. He is running for the good of this country.” Roxana gets emotional.
Another woman told me that she was happy abortion had gone back to the states, and added, “I don’t want some minority who are choosing to have abortions at 8 or 9 months, dictating our country’s abortion policy.” Even though this is not true.
Everything is to the extreme with this crowd. Time spent in Canada as a teenager means Kamala is an inauthentic American. Kids are being “indoctrinated” in schools - I heard that several times. If you are not “extremely” proud to be an American - and according to a recent Gallup Poll only 34% of Democrats are “extremely proud” to be an American, then you “hate” America. It’s also quite mean. A guy taunts a kid over on the Harris/Walz side of the fence: “he doesn’t know what gender he is,” he jeers in that far too recognizable voice of the schoolyard bully.
Haywood Street, the street running up to the convention center, was also chock a block with vendors - t-shirts, hats, flags, badges - all the tchotchkes of a presidential campaign. This is where I met Eric, a young Latino and staunch Trump supporter, “when Trump says he is going to build a wall, he builds a wall.” (Note: Trump didn’t truly build a wall). He was wearing a “You Missed, Bitches!” t-shirt, and selling them too. He moved from Brooklyn to Florida because he wanted to live in a Republican state. “Those immigrants coming in across the border,” he nods, “they are giving us a bad name.” He asked me where I was from and when I said I lived in the UK he said he would love to have a king and queen. “Really?!” I asked him. “Yeah,” he said, “it would be different.”
By this time, the rally had almost dispersed and the police were moving vendors along. Eric tried - unsuccessfully - to hold on to his turf. “That’s what I’m talking about,” he called back to me as he was ushered away. “They stop us from making a dime.”
Once I had left the rallying crowd I went to sit outside a hotel to wait for my ride. I was joined by an elderly woman also waiting to be picked up. She and her daughter were heading to a book signing but the Trump rally had complicated their route. She was from “New York, New York,” she said, and now lives in Florida. Generally speaking, she offered, “I vote Republican.” The first time he ran - she doesn’t use his name - she couldn’t vote for him, she said, because he mocked special ed kids. She was a special ed teacher, and she didn’t like that. The second time, she thought he was getting such a rough time that she “decided to give him a chance.” She voted for him.
But, and her voice changes, “what he did on January 6, on what was supposed to be a peaceful transfer of power.” She pauses. “I’m done. I can never vote for him again.”
Addendum: Since writing this piece, the city of Asheville has been crushed by Hurricane Helene. According to Buncombe County officials at least 61 people have lost their lives and hundreds remain unaccounted for. It has been truly devastating.
If you would like to support those who have been impacted by Hurricane Helene, my best advice is to donate cash. You have many options and of course the American Red Cross is one. If you would like to be more specific, I would recommend donating to the River Arts District. I had a chance to explore this beautiful space, right alongside the French Broad River when I was in Asheville, and now it is gone. As RAD starts to recover and rebuild from this immense and tragic event, I am sure they would appreciate your support. Thank you.