On Nov. 17, 2024, MAGA supporters participated in a “Trump Train” in Montecito, California, home to celebrities such as Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and Oprah Winfrey to name a few.
The organized events see Donald Trump loyalists take to the streets in their trope-fulfilling, Earth-destroying, huge trucks, waving American flags and noisily supporting the president-elect. The Daily Mail reported they were met with middle fingers as they drove past pedestrians.
The trend follows a strange uptick in republicans trying to get a reaction out of, what they presume to be, democrats just going about their business — if you’ve not seen the cringeworthy video of an airplane passenger wearing an anti-Joe Biden shirt recording his smug face as people pass by his seat, completely ignoring his theatrics, you’re lucky.
The flaunting of the election victory is no shock. After all, we’ve seen what some Trump supporters do when they lose, so a positivity-fuelled get-together is bound to be equally as dramatic. In reality, though, and in stark contrast to demonstrations where people actually fight for things, they just slowly drove through streets.
The goal? More C02 emissions and the hope a liberal would overreact. We have no evidence to support the theory all attendees were aged 30 or older, but it has that distinct “we organized this on a WhatsApp group chat” vibe.
Trump Trains as a concept date back years. Searching for the term on social media brings up videos as far back as 2020. One user posted a clip on Oct 17 from Turlock, California. They claimed the date was picked in retaliation to the Turlock Women’s March, which took place on the same day.
Montecito was likely chosen due to its affluent, democratic, community. Kamala Harris’ loss has partly been attributed to how Trump effectively reeled people who view the “liberal elite” as the source of financial woes and decreases in quality of life, instead of the broad realities of a capitalist economy.
But some of the expensive vehicles seen in the fleet point to a more simple reason for joining it: a lack of modesty. Discourse has devolved into schoolyard dirt-throwing, and now people are all too happy to revel in their opponents’ misery to election results. It’s just another example of a divided country where hate has won.
In the end, it’s wasted gas. A few middle finger salutes didn’t provide the outrage these bored people clearly craved, and slowing traffic down has proved an ineffective way to convert people to your side, even if it’s a justified one.
Trump’s personality encourages this, though. Democrats have behaved similarly, people were dancing in the street when Biden beat him, but there’s an extra ingredient in 2024 republican sauce. Trump built a foundation of nastiness, derogatory remarks, and us vs. them during his campaign. Electing someone as downright mean as Trump to the highest office in the U.S. sends the message that decorum isn’t valuable, and we’re all free to be as hubristic and arrogant as he is.
Published: Nov 18, 2024 12:19 pm