HIDALGO, Texas — Organizers of the three-day We Stand America gathering were clearly frustrated on day two: In an arena built to hold thousands of spectators, only a few hundred people showed up.
On a podium in the South Texas border town of Hidalgo, they blamed the bland crowd on liberal media and activists, claiming they maliciously wiped out the free tickets intended for veterans and law enforcement to keep the seats empty.
It was only the first conspiracy theory of the time.
Within minutes, there were multiple false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen. “We haven’t seen evil come over the country since Hitler himself,” said Mark Finchem, an Arizona lawmaker who is running for secretary of state there. He described Arizona’s current top election official as both a “demon” and a “plant” (and not the horticultural variety).
‘Don’t take the mama bears’
The event held late last month in the Rio Grande Valley — which featured a parade of conservative stars including Ted Nugent and Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser — was just one of many right-wing symposia and conferences held across the country. take place. almost weekly.
These events resemble religious revivals, a mix of protest and celebration. There is anger, but also celebration. There are tailgate parties and barbecues and prayer services, the threads that make up the social fabric of Trumpism. The conferences illustrate how Trump and his false claims about the election have become both a culture and a matter.
In Hidalgo, there were FJB bumper stickers in the parking lot – JB for Joe Biden, F for an expletive – along with flags announcing “Stolen, Rigged, Fraud, Election 2020”. T-shirts read, “Don’t California My Texas.”
One speaker called President Biden “this freak in the White House,” adding that “the responsible people hate you and hate freedom.”
Christie Hutcherson, one of the organizers, described the event as non-political, claiming that the focus was on the “humanitarian effort” to rescue children illegally crossing the border with the help of coyotes, as people smugglers in the border area are called. She claimed, without evidence, that young children were abducted and killed for ‘organ harvesting’.
Ms. Hutcherson, the founder of Women Fighting for America, a group that describes part of its mission as protecting values and spreading “biblical truth,” called herself a “mama bear.” Numerous other speakers and attendees embraced the name. “Don’t take the mama bears,” said one woman, who refused to give her name. “We’re fed up and you messed with the wrong people.”
Republican gains
Republicans have made their way to South Texas, a predominantly Hispanic region that has been a Democratic stronghold for decades. In 2020, Trump won Starr County, a rural community along the border that he lost by 33 percentage points in 2016. And while Biden won in other more populous counties along the South Texas border, including Hidalgo County, many voters waved sharply at Trump.
However, the crowd at the We Stand America events seemed to have more out-of-town people than locals and more white participants than Hispanics. Many in attendance flew in from Albuquerque and Phoenix, or came to Dallas and Oklahoma City.
The highlight of the three days for many of them was a Sunday morning march to the border fence.
Maria Elena Veliz, a resident of nearby Edinburgh and one of the local conservatives in the crowd at the Sunday protest, sat in a chair at the edge of the stage. She said she has attended weekly protests at a local abortion clinic for more than a decade in her own effort to prevent women from having abortions.
“I’m not one of these people who thinks that everything you do is right, that we can make excuses for it,” she said. “That is my number 1 problem and I will do everything I can to support people who agree with me. I’m here for the unborn and born babies.”
Another woman who refused to give her name while marching said she was “abhorred by open-border Democrats who don’t care what happens to the kids”.
The group was joined by a man with a military-style rifle strapped across his chest. They prayed when they got to the gate, in an area near the National Butterfly Center. The center, the victim of right-wing misinformation spreading online, was closed that weekend amid threats and security concerns.
Protesters prayed to “stop the slave trade on our borders”. Some raised their hands. Others held American flags. A few got on their knees on the sand hill. And they closed by singing Amazing Grace.
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Watching the President
On Politics regularly shows work by Times photographers. On Thursday, Al Drago saw Marine One, the presidential helicopter, arrive at a regional airport in Brandy Station, Virginia, as President Biden flew to an event about the prices of prescription drugs† This is the story behind this image:
The president usually travels with multiple helicopters, partly as a security measure. While President Biden usually flies Air Force One, the presidential envoy will use a range of helicopters when we travel to smaller regional airports that are too small to fly the big plane or close enough to Washington. Typically, Secret Service, White House personnel and the press fly ahead in four V-22 Nighthawk Ospreys operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One. With their huge rotating turboprops they provide quite a spectacle.
On Thursday, after landing after a 20-minute flight from Joint Base Andrews, we lined up against the tarmac to record the president’s arrival at Marine One, one of three identical Sikorsky VH- 3D Sea Kings. I noticed a bit of cloud cover, which caused the light to change every few moments. The press pool cast a shadow on the terminal windows, allowing us to peek inside.
You’re not supposed to know which helicopter the president is in, so I shot a series of images as people pressed their cameras and smartphones against the glass as Marine One approached. I joked to a fellow photographer that the little boy probably had a better camera than me.
Is there anything you think we’re missing? Something you want to see more of? We would love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics.†
