Supporters of Donald Trump, before the debate in Nashville.Mark Humphrey / AP
Cars were honking their horns, which meant that they supported the many supporters of Donald Trump who gathered this Thursday afternoon at the entrance of the assembly hall of Belmont University, where the second and final debate was due to take place. between the president and Joe Biden in the city of Nashville (Tennessee).
In silence, those who were driving around the campus and were not supporters of the Republican president stuck an upright middle finger out the window, is what in the United States is called "give the middle finger."
In Spain they call it making "the comb".
Between beeps and obscene gestures the hours passed.
With people, characters and caricatures of little characters.
John says that he is a shepherd "of his sheep", among which he counts his wife who is by his side, and thanks the coronavirus through a megaphone, since the virus has come to "cleanse the world of homosexuals, communists , pedophiles ... ". The list is endless. Why does John
the pastor support
Trump? Well, because he is on a divine mission to" return America to its principles of purity. "
John says he is a shepherd and that he counts his wife among "his sheep." John thanks the coronavirus for cleaning the world of transsexuals and "other scum."
Listen.
pic.twitter.com/MBgxeUqyc2
- Yolanda Monge (@ymonge) October 22, 2020
Together with the pastor, Melinda and Michael Granholm had placed a huge red banner on the security fence that dictates the distance of how far you can go, from there it is forbidden land only accessible to those who have authorization.
The ordinances mandate that you can protest, but you cannot hang anything.
Two police officers, armed to the teeth, intimidatingly approached to politely ask the Granholm couple to remove the banner.
They did it without question.
"Law and order," they explain.
"We respect law and order," says the lady.
"That security will disappear if the socialist Biden comes to the White House, he will infiltrate it from the extreme left."
Chrissie has three religions: God, Guns, and Trump.
"With none of the three you are wrong and they all keep you," he assures.
# PresidentialDebate2020 #Nashville pic.twitter.com/hApFTc4aqX
- Yolanda Monge (@ymonge) October 22, 2020
The streets were closed, some as childish as placing a typical yellow school bus crossed in the middle.
The checks at checkpoints with police dogs to the cars at the hands of security teams were carried out by those who were not law enforcement officers, but neither did they identify themselves as secret service.
The presidential debate is breathed in the cradle of
country
, even on the famous Broadway, with one bar followed after another with live music from noon that mixed one with another until none became incomprehensible.
Spread the bourbon.
Huge pro-Trump flags hang from the Honky Tonk.
There was absolutely none, in any establishment, of the Democratic Party.
There is no doubt that Donald Trump is more than 13 points ahead of Joe Biden in the State of Tennessee.
Mary, Ellis, Courtney, and Pamela were coming out of Legends Corner.
They came to celebrate, after noon, Pam's birthday;
They've already danced and now Ellis pulls out of her bag a red cap, the famous red cap that proclaims
Make America Great Again
.
"No one will ever steal our country from us again," Ellis says.
"Trump is going to win and he's going to finish the job he's started."
Together, they begin their ascent up Broadway, waiting for an Uber to take them to Belmont University.
Music made it impossible to talk to anyone.
The masks did not help communication although they protect against the pandemic, but it was a mandatory element to access any establishment, no matter how much the place is.
On the street, the show was another.
Trump supporters have embraced the president's doctrine and proudly go bare-faced in a country with more than 223,000 deaths.
The pace does not stop in the city where Johnny Cash died before his turn, as dictated by life expectancy.
Albert and his fiancee, Jenna, were in a hurry.
They stopped to talk long enough to say that they hope their children will inherit the country that Trump is building.
They miss the bus that will take them to Dollytown, a theme park owned by singer Dolly Parton in the Rocky area of Knoxville.
"Of course we will see the debate, but first we are going to have fun," they say goodbye with laughter.
Albert wears a T-shirt with the American flag.
Jenna a tight top with Parton's face.
This last debate was a street party.
What will happen when they go head-to-head with Trump and Biden remains to be seen.
On the campus of the University, of course, there has been a more civilized discussion than the one that took place in the first meeting between the two politicians.
Dylan -democrat- talks calmly with Deborah -republican.
They ended up concluding that neither is going to convince the other but that it is necessary to avoid the polarization that divides the country like never before.
Joyce had been the only person with a pro-Joe Biden T-shirt and banner for hours.
He ended up leaving.
Although on her way she was rebuked by a young woman opposed to the voluntary interruption of abortion who showed images that were very difficult to digest about alleged children resulting from abortions.
"I'm also in favor of life," Joyce explains to the young woman.
"But life is taken care of not only when it is in the womb, it is necessary to guarantee a decent life afterwards", Joyce continues.
But his final sentence is yet to come: "I wonder how many abortions Trump will have paid for?" He tells the young woman, accusing the president of the United States of "hypocrisy" and "danger to the nation."
Night was beginning to fall and many people came and went from the bars.
Nashville's Broadway is always a show.
Sometimes a cruel spectacle, with the corners - that nobody sees - of abandoned businesses full of aging, homeless people, who once dreamed of being on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, the
country
mecca
that has few left years to be centennial.
Pro-Trump banners billowed in a light wind.
There was barely an hour left for the last debate of 2020. The music continued.
In fact, it hadn't stopped.
Nor will it do so once the debate is over and Tennessee votes massively for Donald Trump.
Subscribe here to the
newsletter
about the elections in the United States