Trump Backers Rally to Support the President

April 10, 2019 - Alamo Plaza (Downtown SA)

By: Jonathan Guajardo - Editor, San Antonio Sentinel

Rob Cortis made his way across the country, pulling a bridge that had been formerly located on his Michigan property behind his truck as he drove. As part of his national Build the Wall tour, he traveled from Calexico, CA through Arizona to San Antonio and, Wednesday morning, he pulled up to the front of Rivercenter Mall to help San Antonio Republicans host a rally in support of President Trump, a city the President would be visiting that day at the Argyle Club in lofty Alamo Heights.

Like Jake and Elwood Blues of the famous Hollywood flick, The Blues Brothers, Cortis believes he is on a mission from God to help unite the people of the United States. Describing his motivation to drive across all fifty states hauling a Trump bridge behind him, Cortis stated, “I woke up one morning and said, ‘I’m on a mission from God.’ The pope said build bridges not walls. The media said unite America. I’m going to unite America around positive messages to get Trump elected. There’s nothing more positive than the messages he’s doing about America First.”

A.D. Smoot, the organizer of San Antonio’s Wednesday morning rally was very pleased to see the trailer pull up to Alamo Plaza, as it whipped the crowd into a frenzy and motivated the group of around thirty Trump supporters to cheer loud and stay late, taking selfies with the behemoth of a trailer as they waved MAGA flags and chanted for the President. “They just happened to come because they knew that Trump was going to be in San Antonio and it’s a great addition to what we’re doing here,” praised Smoot.

A.D., a Bexar County Republican Party volunteer, described his motivation for putting on the event as having to do with national and even city politics, stating, “I heard that Trump was coming to San Antonio and we have liberal elected officials here that do not want the RNC to have their convention here. They’re totally liberal and against everything. They don’t support our president, and we support our president.”

As cars drove by the rally, tourists snapped pictures of what they were witnessing while Trump supporters proudly held up Make America Great Again flags and pointed towards their MAGA hats. Some drivers honked their horns in solidarity, while others simply glanced and took in the environment. The rally drew attention from a variety of sources with very little detractors present. Many in attendance from other parts of the country remarked on the welcoming attitude they received from San Antonians while wearing their MAGA gear around town.

Although Trump’s actual San Antonio fundraising luncheon was organized over at the exclusive Argyle Club, the group chose to have their assemblage at Alamo Plaza instead as a matter of principle. Describing their reasoning, Rich Rodriguez, Communications Director for the Bexar County Republican Party, stated that the rally was, “Organized in response to all the protests that are always following around the president. We on the contrary want to show support to the President and we want to spread the word to the rest of the folks particularly at the symbol of Texas liberty, which is the Alamo.”

Another group of attendees at the rally included members of the #WalkAway Movement prominent on YouTube and other social media sites. The campaign website states that they are there to encourage current Democrats “to walk away from the divisive tenets endorsed and mandated by the Democratic Party of today.” Joe Garza, a rally attendee and Texas leader of the #WalkAway Movement described the group in the following manner: “We’re a group of people who used to be Democrats and we walked away to the Republican side. We’re Latinos, gay, straight, from all religions. We love America and we want to be united.”