It had been just over eight long months since my last Presidential trip and I was getting antsy standing around with my head nodding and nowhere to go. It seemed that every night I stared in wonderment as my photographer watched episode after episode of ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ reruns – even though I liked Andy, Barney, and little Opie, too. We were three months away from our next scheduled Presidential trip; one that would find me on an airplane headed for California. Then out of nowhere I heard something that stunned me; my cameraman’s wife said out loud: “Did you see Donald Trump is coming to the area on Saturday night? Tickets for his rally are free, we just need to pre-register on-line to get them.” It turned out that President Donald Trump was coming to Washington Township, Michigan on April 28, 2018 for a 7:00pm ‘Make America Great Again’ rally. Since the Total Sports Park Arena just outside of Washington was less than 30 miles from our back door, it was a no-brainer for my photographer to secure tickets – which he did. Tom also mentioned to his wife that he wanted to get out to the arena early so the three of us could get as close as possible to the President. My camera guy had also figured we needed to be close to the podium so that he could photograph me near Trump; plus, he didn’t want to take a chance and not get inside. Having a ticket in-hand didn’t guarantee entry; it was first-come, first-served at the door and only a certain number of people would be allowed inside for the rally.
The morning of Saturday April 28, 2018 had arrived and I was excited. After all, this wasn’t just a Presidential site I was visiting; I was going to see a sitting President in the flesh and hear him speak. But soon after everyone got out of bed that morning, my photographer and I heard the bad news – Vicki had a hair and nail appointment that was scheduled for 11:00am. Not wanting to miss seeing Trump either, my photographer’s wife said she had planned on being finished no later than two o’clock and we could leave for Washington as soon as she returned home. I knew Tom was frustrated as he watched the time tick away. Given a chance, he would have preferred to be in line at the arena no later than 10:00am; even though the doors to the arena didn’t open until 4:00pm. But instead, we didn’t get onto the property and parked until three o’clock and the line of people waiting to see the President was nearly out to the road. Both my photographer and I thought: ‘Well, so much for getting up close to the President. We’ll be lucky to get inside. There must be at least four or five thousand people in front of us.’
At roughly four o’clock, the line began to move, albeit at a snail’s pace. In line, I saw all kinds of people from all walks of life. While some of the folks there seemed normal and they were simply curious to see the President, others in line seemed as though they were “politically possessed” – and those were the ones I tried to hide from. I didn’t want them to spot me posing for photos or ask my photographer if I was George Washington or Alexander Hamilton. In a sense, I’m a lot like my COBS-infected photographer – I have little to no patience for ignorant people.
At roughly 6:15pm, we finally made it to the Secret Service security scanning station that was situated a short distance from the building’s entrance. As a matter of fact, we were the next ones to go through one of the four metal detectors; and although I’ve been through Secret Service checkpoints before, for some reason I tend to get nervous. It’s not that I was hiding anything – I’m made out of resin, paint and a steel spring; I simply don’t want the authorities manhandling me with the potential of being dropped or tossed aside and broken. As Tom placed the camera bag with me in it onto the table, I thought to myself that I was less than an hour from seeing my first President in person. Then it happened – I heard the Secret Service make an announcement: “Okay, let’s stop the line right here until we get a count of how many are inside. The fire marshal has set the limit at 5,500 people and we need to see where we’re at.” I was stunned by that announcement and I know that my photographer was peeved; especially since he knew that we could’ve been some of the first in line had it not been for “someone’s” hair and nails appointment. After about a five-minute delay, however, the screening continued and once again I made it through the Secret Service scrutiny unscathed. Once we were inside the large indoor sports complex, I could see there were thousands of people already packed into the area closest to the podium. There was bleacher-style seating behind the podium that was filled with obvious Trump fanatics. Three gigantic American flags, and a smaller Michigan flag, were positioned behind the bleachers and served as patriotic backdrops.
There was no doubt that most everyone in that building was a huge supporter of the President; it was easy to feel the electricity and excitement as the clock neared 7:00pm. Like warm-up bands before a rock concert, we listened to speeches by several prominent dignitaries; including former Congresswoman Candice Miller, former Michigan Republican Party chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel; and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. The last person to ‘fire-up’ the crowd before the President appeared was his daughter-in-law, Laura Trump. At one point during the warm-up speeches, my photographer’s wife noticed a guy who was standing near us. His shoddy clothing, stocking hat and disheveled appearance made him look suspicious. Vicki had a ‘gut-feeling’ that something wasn’t right as the guy was alone, he was fidgety, and he was making numerous calls on his cell phone; she wasn’t even sure if he was speaking English. I heard Tom say to his wife: “Let’s keep an eye on this guy and when the President comes out, if he makes a sudden move to do something bad, I’m going to tackle him to the floor. When I do that, you run for the nearest exit over there; there’s no way that I’m going to stand here and let him try to harm our President.” Luckily for all involved nothing happened; but I know that my camera guy had visions of Lee Harvey Oswald, Squeaky Fromme, Sara Jane Moore and John Hinckley, Jr. all running through his mind.
As we waited for Trump to make his entrance, classic rock songs filled the arena. Much to my photographer’s delight, we heard two Elton John tunes – the first was Elton’s classic hit Rocket Man, which I had wondered if it referred to the dictator from North Korea. The second and last song by Elton was Tiny Dancer; which was the last tune played before the President was announced. The anticipation in the arena could be cut with a knife; it was like waiting for Heinz ketchup to flow out of a new bottle. Then a booming voice said: “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the President of the United States – Donald J. Trump.” The place erupted as Trump strolled out from behind the stage. As my eyes got their first glimpse of President Trump, it was a dream come true for me. But that dream suddenly had a different twist – where was the song ‘Hail to the Chief’? How can a President make an appearance without ‘Hail to the Chief’ being played? On that evening, as President Trump slowly walked to the podium, Lee Greenwood’s ‘God Bless the U.S.A.’ was featured. I was somewhat disappointed as I had looked forward to hearing ‘Hail to the Chief’, but Trump opted for the more patriotic song instead. As he looked out at the large crowd, he clapped and smiled; he knew that it was Michigan’s votes that helped him get elected in 2016. Once the President signaled for the song to end, he walked up to the microphone and said: “Hello Michigan. I love this state and I love the people of this state; and thank you for being here. You may have already heard that I was invited to another event tonight – the White House Correspondence Dinner. But I’d much rather be in Washington, Michigan than in Washington, D.C. right now – that I can tell you.” The boisterous crowd went wild as they cheered and waved their signs. President Trump continued: “Thank you for that incredible support; and by the way, you want to see a lot of people, go outside. We could’ve filled this place up probably five or six times; you see what’s going on. This is a beautiful building, but I said, ‘Couldn’t you have gotten one larger?’ That would be nice, right? But you know the expression ‘you’re inside, so you made it – it’s good real estate!”
President Donald Trump’s 80-minute speech, which was interrupted for over five minutes at one point when a spectator needed medical attention, was exhilarating for most everyone in the building – including me, a non-partisan bobble head. The best part of the night was seeing a sitting President in person; which was a first for me. My photographer saw George and Barbara Bush in Wixom, Michigan when the 41st President was on a ‘Whistle Stop’ campaign tour in 1992; which made Trump the second sitting President he had seen live. Both of us saw Jimmy Carter in Grand Rapids in 2014 and Tom met Gerald Ford at McMorran Arena in Port Huron in 1989.
We had moved around the arena several times in an attempt to get closer to the President, but the crowd was elbow-to-elbow so we simply stayed back. My photographer held me up and snapped dozens of pictures of me with Trump in the background, but the end results were just so-so; at least when it came to quality images.
At the end of his speech that was filled with what he had accomplished in his first fifteen months in office, Trump began what seemed to be the start of his 2020 campaign for re-election. He ended the night by saying: “I’m a politician I guess and I’ve accomplished more that I promised to do – and I did it for you. Our great journey together is just beginning. So with love in our hearts and hope in our souls, I say these words again; you’ve heard them before, you liked them before, and we can’t say them too much. Because together we will make America strong again. Together we will make America wealthy again. Together we will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again. Thank you everybody”. I was pumped-up listening to those words, and I had wished Tom would’ve bought a small ‘Make America Great Again’ hat for me to wear, although I’m not sure anyone makes hats small enough to fit the head of a bobble head.
As the huge crowd cheered and began their exodus from the sports complex, Tom tried to carry me towards the podium. Even though Trump was gone, my photographer wanted to snap a few images of me close to where the President delivered his speech. The throng of people was extremely thick, which made it difficult to get to the podium very quickly. We could see that the Presidential Seal was still affixed to the front and Tom wanted it featured in our photos. But as we made our final approach to a spot where I could pose with the podium, a Secret Service agent removed the seal. Once again those ‘Men in Black’ had peeved-me off and there was nothing I could do about it.
After I had posed for a handful of photos with the seal-less podium, I overheard my photographer as he asked the female Secret Service agent for a favor. He said to her: “I am a Presidential enthusiast and have a pretty good collection of Presidential artifacts. Would there be any chance that you would take the foam windscreen off the microphone for me so I could add it to my collection?” She replied in a friendly tone, “I would if I could, but that microphone is not ours. It belongs to the arena, so I can’t give that away.” In my mind I thought she was lying – but at least she was friendly while she did it. Dang Secret Service!
After we made our way out of Total Sports Park Arena, it seemed to take forever for us to get back to the farmer’s field where Tom’s truck was parked; and when we got to the general area, we had trouble finding the truck. With hundreds of vehicles still parked in the totally dark field, the only way we found the truck was by Tom clicking the remote lock button on his key which made the truck’s horn ‘beep’.
The back roads east of Washington were jammed with vehicles; it took twice as long as normal to get home. That was okay with me because it gave me plenty of time to think about Donald Trump. I had to admit that the President was energetic, and quite frankly, he was intoxicating. His words made me proud to be an American; even though I was made in China.
As I was carried into our house where I was placed back onto the barn wood shelf with Tom’s other Presidential bobble heads, one song kept running through my resin-filled mind. And for some reason I couldn’t get that tune out of my head: “And I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free; And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me. And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today; ‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land; God bless the USA.” Now why couldn’t that have been “Hail to the Chief”?
