MAGA fans left Donald Trump’s rally in Michigan after the candidate cut short a three-hour podcast interview with Joe Rogan in Texas hours later.
That may have been a clever way for Trump to reach millions of listeners of Rogan’s popular podcast, but it left a few thousand fans watching videos in a chilly open-air hangar while organizers pressed for time.
By the time Trump announced a three-hour delay on Twitter, hundreds of supporters were already heading for the exits.
‘Where is Trump?’ one shouted as he walked out the door.
“That was a waste of the day,” said another disappointed visitor on the way to the door.
The delay denied Trump the chance to try to seal the deal with hundreds of voters in a crucial battleground state, in a county where he can try to gather votes to counter a Kamala Harris push in the state .
Not all of Trump’s supporters who left the venue were angry with him – and a number of people contacted by DailyMail.com responded immediately.
MAGA fans left Trump’s rally after waiting hours for his appearance
“I have to work very early in the morning,” says Elizabeth Burkhardt, a cardiac stenographer. She got off work at 2pm and went straight to the meeting, leaving about six hours later.
“You’ll probably get a better seat,” gas station worker Dee Johnson told her seven-year-old son Jason as she made plans to return after buying a sausage from a food truck. She drove from Cadillac to meet Trump after working a 60-hour shift.
Stephanie Drenth temporarily left with her young children Moses and Dorthy to retrieve a stroller from her car with firm plans to return. “We’re already here, and it’s past his bedtime,” the nurse said.
Jeff, a real estate worker who flew to the event from Florida at 6 a.m. wearing a Santa Claus costume, did not stop the postponement from Trump. “No, I’ve seen him before,” he said.
Their trip to the exit came after the Trump campaign tried to slow things down by playing a lengthy Tucker Carlson video with behind-the-scenes footage of Trump.
The video eventually froze and the campaign switched to a slideshow with ads for MAGA hats and campaign slogans.
At 8:45 p.m., more than an hour after the scheduled start time, Montana Governor Doug Burgum came out to read the remarks. He joked about coming from a cold state and being impressed by the remaining crowd who endured 50-degree temperatures.
The campaign played a video message from Trump announcing a three-hour delay
The campaign came to a halt after the playing of an extensive behind-the-scenes video about Trump. But the video froze and was replaced by a slideshow
“I know some had to leave because of family and children – people who were here for 12 hours,” Burgum said. “Thanks for being here.”
Speaking of Trump, the former presidential candidate said, “I know he feels bad about being late tonight.
“I went to see him at two in the morning while he was still at work… He’s excited about coming to Michigan tonight!”
Then he called to the stage and defeated Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon.
“We have a special treat coming: Tudor Dixon, she spoke to you earlier,” as the pair bid time by creating what Dixon called a version of her podcast.
Trump was back in Michigan after a pair of polls on Wednesday gave his rival a lead on a key stretch of the Democrats’ “blue wall.”
Hundreds of supporters left after anticipating a Friday night with Trump
A rally-goer told DailyMail.com he flew in from Florida at 6 a.m. for the event but left before Trump spoke
Harris leads Trump 49 to 46 in the latest Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters in Michigan.
A Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll on the same day put Harris at almost 50 percent, while Trump was at 47 percent.
Trump narrowly won Grand Traverse County in 2020, but the city itself is a blue island in a lake of Republican support. He lost the state that year after winning it in 2016.
The state is older than average, has strong union support and has more than 200,000 voters who identify as Arab-American.
Traverse City, where Trump held his rally in an airport hangar, is a vacation spot located on Grand Traverse Bay, dotted with breweries and water sports.
Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of Indianapolis and Biden’s chief advocate on Fox News, moved his home here after the election.
MAGA fans lined up to see Trump, at an event guarded by law enforcement officers carrying long guns
Jamin, a mechanical contractor, and his daughter Nora came to hear Trump. Jamin said he saw Trump here four years ago
A sign calling Election Day ‘the most important day in the history of our country’
Among those waiting to see Trump were Jamin, a mechanical contractor, and his daughter Nora. The father said he saw Trump here four years ago. He said the US had lost some of its “position in the world.”
“We are a superpower and we must act as such,” he said. He did not outright support Trump’s signature proposal to stop illegal immigration. ‘I don’t know if that starts with a wall or not. But we cannot allow so many illegal immigrants to just flow in freely. You know we’re definitely the land of the free, so they’re welcome. We are a gateway, right? As it should be.’
Hellade Gasparetti also supports Trump on immigration, who emigrated from Brazil in 2017. The caregiver works with elderly patients and said immigrants in the country “also do a lot for the country.” We have our role, let’s put it this way, for the country. The problem is the immigrants who are not legal,” she said.
She does not copy Trump’s own rhetoric, saying there has been an “invasion” of illegal immigrants made up of criminals and “crazies” – a phrase he used on Friday.
She said she supported Trump’s threat to deport illegal immigrants. ‘I understand that, because it costs other people’s jobs. It takes things from the legal ones,” she said. But she admitted: ‘I don’t think all illegal practices are bad because sometimes there are different reasons why people have become illegal. I can’t say they are bad, but there is something bad in everything: legal and illegal.
The crowd of a few thousand people warmed up to Trump by Michigan Rep. Jack Bergman, a few days after President Biden flustered by saying “lock him up” when talking about Trump. Biden quickly corrected himself, saying he was locking him up “politically.”
“You know, eight years ago, what were we saying here about Hillary? What was that chant eight years ago? Lock her up, right?’ said Bergman, a retired Navy lieutenant general. “I remember leading that cheer. Well, what about this one? Should we just throw Harris out? Let’s hear it! Throw her out! Throw her out!’ he said as he led the crowd.