The gathering was not quite as big as organizers would have liked, but a hearty crowd — wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and robed in red, white and blue — showed their support for President Trump outside the Tennessee capitol Saturday. The event coincided with similar rallies in cities across the country, including Knoxville.
Supporters cheered as state Rep. Glen Casada, R-Franklin, spoke about the border wall and rolling back transgender bathroom protections. Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mount Juliet, called Trump’s election “divine intervention.”
Other speakers, including conservative talk radio hosts, justified the need to restrict immigration and refugee resettlement, saying many are starting to take middle-class jobs because they’ll work for less pay.
Christy Trammell of Franklin said this was her first political rally, and she came in direct response to the women’s marches in January.
“Seeing the people there that were trying to act like they represent women, it was appalling to me,” Trammell said.
Her husband, Scott, said he wants to push back on the constant stream of bad press about the White House.
“It seems like lately, every day you wake up and there’s some other attack in the media, and we just want to make sure that the message is understood that it’s not going to faze his supporters,” he said. “I mean, if there’s something wrong, let’s investigate it, that’s great. But I think a lot of it is based on falsehoods.”
Organizer Mark Skoda of Memphis kicked off the event by going into detail about President Trump’s story of the day, accusing President Obama of tapping the phones in Trump Tower.
Toni Miller of Gallatin said she has her doubts about the wiretapping. She said that kind of thing is her only criticism of Trump’s first six weeks in office.
“He does have a tendency to rip off a quick tweet,” Miller said. “Sometimes I don’t know that as much thought has gone into it as it should, but I think he’s trying. He’s trying to do what he said he was going to do.”
Anti-Trump protesters shouted from the fringes of the rally. Outside the barricades set up around War Memorial Plaza, some held signs supporting immigrants and decrying fascism. Some had their faces covered.
At times, the two sides engaged in cursing matches, with occasional physical contact that was broken up by state troopers.
Pretty intense at the Nashville Trump rally. Never seen so much law enforcement at Capitol rally.
pic.twitter.com/vZZYmPPB8U— Blake Farmer (@flakebarmer)
March 4, 2017
Law enforcement had a heavy presence, with dozens of officers and a Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopter hovering overhead. State troopers made two arrests of anti-Trump protesters, according to a spokesman.
There was at least one Trump opponent who made his way onto War Memorial Plaza to mingle with the crowd. He brought two camping chairs, one red and one blue. And he sat and talked to Trump supporters in an effort to “flesh out our differences.”
“I do want there to be a face that not all Democrats are not part of the crowd shouting,” said Joel Cummings of Nashville, who works in higher education research. “I might want to be in that crowd shouting, but we are not all those things that you see on Facebook…and neither are Trump voters.”
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