Christmas in Trumpland: The Biloxi Rally


It’s 4 days until Christmas which means the war on Christmas is in high form. Donald Trump, Fox News and the rest of the right-wing media has been in full force going after supposed claims of people being too politically correct around this highest of high religious days. First there was the gingerbread man according to Fox there are people on the internet who claimed that we should call them gingerbread people. Now I haven’t seen you that but it goes along with the other story that right wing anti politically correct news sites are running claiming that there are people that want Santa’s of both sexes.

Now I have quite a liberal Facebook and Twitter feed probably more so than most of the producers at Fox News and the Daily Caller and I have yet to see a single person making these claims but as more and more people don’t give a flying fuck about whether the clerk at the local Walmart says happy holidays or Merry Christmas they have to drum up more rage during what was supposed to be a giving time of year.

This is not new of course it’s been a decade-long right-wing media obsession that Donald Trump embraced like it was a underage model at one of his pageants. But this year the desperation seems different.

That was evident in Mississippi over a month ago when Donald Trump held a rally for incumbent senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Biloxi. Normally these sorts of rallies are by the books local politicians come out and talk about how important it is that we elect so and so the politician him or herself comes out says a couple words Donald Trump comes out says about 30 seconds of something about the candidate and then we never see the candidate again. Donald Trump though precedes to spend at least an hour talking about himself how he won Wisconsin the Electoral College and in general is winning. Oh and of course something something the border wall.

But this rally in Biloxi was different. It happened in late November but was from top to bottom Christmas-themed. There were brand new Donald Trump make America Great Signs that were green red and white as opposed to be normal red and and white. There were also human sized nutcrackers lining the floor space and the inflatable Christmas-themed things that you would normally see on your homeowner association violating neighbor’s front lawn… such as a moving helicopter that was green red and white of course that gave the date of Trumps election on the side of it.

But there was also the two-story high chimney with the entrance to the stage that all of the candidates including the president of the United States Donald Trump entered the arena from. When Trump enter the arena he was greeted by several minutes of fake snow that came from Jets at the top of the scaffolding above the press area. This was something of course that Trump did not expect and was seemingly play bother by as he said it ruined his hair and his suit… He did keep his composure though to continue on through his many words about himself.

I did forget to mention that Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus arrived the for Trump did wearing a make America great hat and throwing t-shirts and hats to the audience.

As I mentioned previously this was in Biloxi, Mississippi in late November not surprisingly there were members of the audience who came expecting it to be a Christmas-themed rally like this young man who made his own t-shirt. They were of course selling newly branded Trump gear off to the side there was a continual line of people waiting impatiently to get the new products.

Outside the arena there were many more people from all walks of life selling their wares – Trump hats, Trump towels, Trump tie dye t-shirts, Trump bobble-heads and everything you could think of that could possibly be branded with Donald Trump’s name and face (or at least his hair. I walked back to my nearby hotel through the crowd and already lined up cars trying to leave the parking area . Along the way I was reminded that the Mississippi state flag was still essentially the Confederate flag, the flag of the Rebellion, the flag that represented those that fought to keep slavery a thing.

Cindy Hyde-Smith won her election the following day by over 10% – even after talking joyfully about thethe idea of going to a public hanging with a friend. She also wondered aloud if there was a way to suppress the vote of local African American students. While there are many in Mississippi that have moved on trying to drag their fellows citizens into the 20th century – clearly enough have refused.

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