Feeling victorious after “so much winning,” Sumter County Trump supporters gathered at Panera in Lake Sumter Square to celebrate the many delegates which Presidential candidate Donald Trump gleaned during the Tuesday primary in five States, and foremost the Florida election outcome which had Trump defeating Marco Rubio in a landslide finish.
The surprise was “The Donald” himself attending. Stan Swies, a volunteer for the Trump campaign, came dressed as the presidential candidate, and shared the same feistiness and opinions as his character was representing. Swies believes protests will be breaking out should the Republican Party try to block the frontrunner Trump from becoming the nominee should he gather the delegates needed.
Bill Garner, campaign manager for the Sumter County Trump for President movement believes Trump will garner enough delegates to have the nomination. While the other competitor, Ted Cruz, came close to Trump winning in a few races, Garner believes Cruz “commits treason against the American worker.” Garner’s own son was released from his technical position by workers from other countries under the H1B Visa Program, which he blames on both Cruz and Rubio.
Garner’s family has met and decided none of them could never support a candidate that allows the firing of American workers and allows corporate greed to create job loss.
Will Enderley, an early Trump supporter, was dressed up as Uncle Sam, and thinks the Republican establishment will smarten up and accept Trump, rather than looking at the possibility of a brokered convention. Enderley is known for his merchandising of Trump shirts, buttons, and signs sold at the Marion and Webster markets.
Trump supporters David and Cheryl Sylvia and Artie and Jeane Post are passionate about why they are supporting the presidential candidate. David Sylvia believes Trump says what the people are thinking and throws out the political correctness and puts everything on the table, no matter how abrasively. Sylvia says people are fed up and angry with government. Artie Post does not see all of Trump supporters thinking that Trump is so great, but says the Republican party has let them down. He also fears for Trump’s safety during the campaign.
Cheryl Sylvia and Jeane Post were not swayed by the political ads showing Trump being demeaning to women. Jeane thinks anyone with half a brain will see it as slanderous and ignore it; and Cheryl does not like excerpts being taken out of context and thought Trump showed his support of women in many ways, including supporting the non-abortion work of Planned Parenthood.
Gary Kadow, a well-known veteran advocate and a supervisor in Community Development District 5, took time to go out to the Ocala National Forest, where it is known that many former soldiers reside, and signed up 143 veterans and made sure they had transportation to the polls.
One hot topic of conversation was the placement of signs both during polling, and on district and private property. Many volunteers stated that they were approached both by workers from recreation centers and Community Watch, telling them that they could not have signs in the ground near the polling stations.
Those attending were looking forward to working on upcoming elections for other state and national candidates, as well as continuing to ensure their favorite candidate, Donald J. Trump, was one they will be calling president come 2016.