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Driving my boat across two of the Great Lakes, Erie and Ontario, and the intricate and timeless system of canals that link them, politics seems far away, until you see the Trump flags. The former president is hugely popular among the boating and fishing community. From Erie Pennsylvania to Oswego New York, the big blue Trump banners are everywhere, on power vessels large and small.
The display of support is impressive. I don’t know if any formal polling has been done on this niche community of water folk, but they’re voting for Trump big time and they are watching Fox News or NewsMax or news or YouTube channels even further rightward on the political spectrum. They consider themselves patriotic Americans, and speaking with boaters on this trip from Northeast Ohio to Western Pennsylvania to Upstate New York, and other recent trips through the region, they are voting for Trump because he stands for them, hard working, God fearing and native-born citizens or those who have legally immigrated.
That distinction is important here in Brewerton an Erie Canal community. It sits on the Western edge of Oneida Lake, not far from Syracuse and rich in bass and bass fishing. Reflecting the demographics of the boating community, the town is 95.3% white, 1.3% African American and 1.5% Hispanic, not counting undocumented seasonal workers.
We have nothing against immigrants, if they come in the right way, is a familiar refrain. How can you vote for someone who wants to give away our hard earned tax dollars when my daughters and their families are struggling to find affordable housing? And don’t get me started on all the money we’re spending to support wars around the world.
The same Saturday I was having this conversation with the couple who run the marina helping me keep my boat going, not far away the world’s richest man was campaigning with the once and maybe future world’s most powerful man, Elon Musk and Donald J. Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, a small town now forever linked to the July 13th attempted assassination of the former president.
These titans share my marina friend’s disdain for undocumented, aka illegal immigrants and especially for Vice President Kamala Harris and her Democrat Party, which in Musk’s words, “want to take away your right to vote, effectively, (by allowing non-citizen illegals to vote, thereby diluting the votes of citizens).”
My X feed, which has been packed since his endorsement of Trump on July 13th, is nonstop Musk’s exhortations to vote for the man who showed courage under fire. That passion was matched today by the crowd numbering in the tens of thousands. Their roar of “Fight, Fight, Fight,” was easily Trump’s finest moment of this campaign otherwise marred by false claims Haitan immigrants in nearby Ohio were snatching and eating Fido.
Whether he wins the November election, Trump definitely won the weekend. Soaking the adoration of the crowd, he generated a wave of enthusiasm that could win him Pennsylvania, the most important swing state, and perhaps the election. He will certainly win overwhelmingly in Butler, Pa., and here along the Erie Canal.
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