New Jersey and beyond – next Trump targets

Over the weekend, President Donald J. Trump did something no one could have predicted a year ago. But neither could anyone have predicted that a corrupt State judge would place him under “State arrest” in one of the three “Tri-States,” which are the bluest of the blue: New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. That “State arrest” in New York limits Trump’s ability to campaign across the country (and everyone knows why). So if he couldn’t get very out of the Tri-States area, he would campaign within the Tri-States. First he started campaigning in New York – and by most accounts, New Yorkers loved seeing him up close and personal. So he tried it in New Jersey – and surprised everyone with the excellent reception he got. At that rally, he announced his intention to press his attack – and attack Minnesota and Virginia as well.

The New Jersey rally

The best reportage on the New Jersey rally comes from The Gateway Pundit. Trump selected Wildwood, New Jersey. Wildwood is the largest of five resort towns, all on an island off the Jersey Shore, in Cape May County. Apparently Trump picked a venue with a capacity of either 30,000 or 40,000, depending on whom one asks. That would be a fraction of the crowd he would eventually draw.

The rally was supposed to begin at 5:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday (May 11). At 11:40 a.m.., Jim Hoft reported that Trump supporters had started to camp out on the beach beginning on Wednesday. Thousands of people were already waiting, seven to eight hours before Trump was scheduled to speak.

At 3:40 p.m., Jordan Conradson estimated that 80,000 people had arrived. That number, even had it held, would have made this the largest political rally ever held in New Jersey.

During this hour, Trump’s private airliner overflew the site, where the crowd, under a sunny sky, could see him clearly.

At 7:00 p.m., David Greyson offered highlights of Trump’s speech, which began at 5:00 and lasted for 90 minutes.

Jim Hoft offered more posts from the overflight:

A barnyard chant – and a crowd estimate dispute

On Sunday afternoon, Christine Laila offered more photos and X video, including details on a particularly amusing segment. At one point, Trump railed against the various indictments against him, using a barnyard expletive to describe them. The crowd took up that word and turned it into a chant.

See also these photos:

Crowd estimates varied sharply. Sympathetic users on the scene turned in the high-end crowd estimate of 100,000 people.

But Newsweek sought to dampen everyone’s enthusiasm. Their top estimate, from a Wildwood city spokeswoman, came in between 80,000 and 100,000.

Reporters from The Philadelphia Inquirer and USA Today insisted that attendees were leaving before Trump finished speaking. But the USA Today reporter posted his video late, casting some doubt on his account.

These two users posted what they said were side-by-side comparisons of events with larger crowds, next to the same picture from the Wildwood event. But the Wildwood picture is a twilight picture, making an accurate crowd estimate impossible.

But maybe this post is where two different users got the same photograph, which was not only dark but cropped. Here is the photo, uncropped and in clear landscape orientation:

Furthermore, influencer Red Eagle Politics did his own two-hour livestream – and said nothing about people leaving toward the end.

Highlights – and a bold prediction

At 7:40 p.m. Jordan Conradson was back, with the first report of the most electrifying announcement Trump made.

As you can see today, we are expanding the electoral map because we are going to officially play in the state of New Jersey; we’re going to win the state of New Jersey. We’ve got a great group of people with us, an incredible group of people. We’re also looking really great in the state of Minnesota, which hasn’t been won since 1952, and we’re leading in the polls in the state of Virginia, and actually many other states. I don’t know it could be all of them. This guy is so damn bad it could be all of them. He’s so bad, I think we’re going to win them all!

Mike LaChance reported that, on Friday, several Trump supporters in New Jersey were already suggesting Trump could carry the State. One even said she had friends and neighbors who were switching their vote from Democrat to Republican.

Even that wasn’t the highlight of the day. That came when two retired players for the New York Giants stood before the crowd, to endorse Trump.

One of them, Lawrence Taylor, said this:

I just wanted to say I grew up a Democrat, and I’ve always been a Democrat until I met this man right here. I’ll tell you what. He will not have to worry about NOBODY in my family ever voting for a Democrat again.

The other, Ottis Anderson, actually worked the crowd.

Ottis Anderson: Don’t you just love that guy? Don’t you just love that guy? I tell you, it has been a very exciting day. You guys, not one person left here. You’re still here. Yes, yelling and screaming. So my word is, ‘Wildwood, are you in the house?’

MAGA Crowd: Yes!

Ottis Anderson: Now, I can’t hear you. ‘Wildwood, are you in the house?’

MAGA Crowd: YES!

Ottis Anderson: Thank you guys for all your support. And how about a great shout out for Metro Exhibit, baby. We made it all happen all across the EU. Thank you. Thank you.

MAGA Crowd: USA, USA, USA!

Three months ago, no one imagined that Donald Trump would carry New Jersey, least of all this Democratic Senate candidate:

That was February – before revelations of prosecutorial misconduct in two cases (South Florida and New York). That, and student demonstrations rivaling those from the Sixties – on behalf of an even less sympathetic enemy than the Viet Cong was, if one can imagine that.

Influencers like Red Eagle Politics and Gold Crown Politics all assume that Trump was “testing the waters,” first in New York, then in New Jersey. Not so. Trump is campaigning in those two States because a biased but foolish judge effectively limited him to them. And when he started to campaign in those two States – because he had to campaign somewhere – he drew excited crowds. None of his advisers would have predicted that – so maybe Trump needs to say “You’re fired” more often.

Can Trump really carry New Jersey?

The best decision Trump made about this rally was where to host it. Wildwood is a beach resort on the Jersey Shore. It is also part of South Jersey, not far south of Ocean County – which he carried in 2020. Furthermore, South Jersey is far more conservative than North Jersey, and its people have wanted to secede for some time.

New Jersey, however, has a problem: a Democrat-lite Republican Party. The last Republican to carry New Jersey was George H. W. Bush (Bush Senior) in 1988. Establishment Republicans simply don’t believe they deserve to win, and that’s how they campaign.

Donald Trump came to New Jersey and found a crowd wanting to change the way things are. But will Trump have to build an organization from scratch in the State – and does he have time? Stay tuned. Stranger things have happened.