WaPo: Donald Trump’s Massachusetts rally is absolutely mind-boggling

[Laura PourMeADrink]

MASSACHUSETTS? BLUE STATE???

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/05/this-crowd-shot-from-a-donald-trump-rally-is-absolutely-eye-popping/

Donald Trump went to Lowell, Mass. — a town about five miles south of the New Hampshire border — for one of his now trademark big-arena rallies on Monday night. This is what the crowd looked like per WaPo's Jenna Johnson.

The building — named after the late Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas (D) — holds 8,000 people, and local officials were estimating that it was filled to capacity or beyond. That is a MASSIVE amount of people — especially considering that the high temperature in Lowell yesterday was 29 degrees and Trump's rally didn't start until the evening.

This is what the line to get in looked like. The line to get in for Trump stretches to the Post Office #TrumpInLowell

[philosslayer]

1. Racists live everywhere

Thats not news.

[KingCharlemagne]

15. Maybe the "vulgar talking yam" (h/t Charlie Pierce) plans

his next rally for South Boston? (For those DUers who remember the early '70s.)

[edhopper]

2. Here is a Rally for Ron Paul

[IMG][/IMG]

How did he do in that election?

Trump is very popular among the angry white folk.

He is very unpopular with everyone else.

BTW, here is the "unelectable" Bernie rally;

[IMG][/IMG]

[Laura PourMeADrink]

3. Why can't the people who have the best and most worthwhile ideas win? or will they? nt

[edhopper]

4. The thing about unelectable in quotes

was meant to be irony. He is very popular, with a big following, yet many. especially in the MSM say people won't vote for him.

I was showing he get's bigger crowds than Trump.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

5. Yes...Trump and Bernie are the popular ones who have enthusiasm

behind them. Polar opposite - Jeb! Think Trump is in. And, if he isn't, can't picture this enthusiasm readily transferring to anyone else, can you. Likewise, can't see Bernie's transferring in large quanitites to Clinton either.

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. So who thinks this is a Status Quo Election Year?

And who besides Jeb Bush is identified with the status quo?

[madokie]

8. Thats easy

Hillary

[Buzz Clik]

7. Some people's minds are easily boggled.

[sufrommich]

9. He's playing to Sarah Palin's old constituents.

She got massive numbers of people at rallies too,these are literally the same people.

[librechik]

10. everyone in town shows up for the circus

doesn't mean they're going to run away with it when it leaves.

[steve2470]

17. haha that's excellent and so true! nt

[randys1]

26. Heads up Hillary vs Trump it is within margin of error, but they say those type polls dont mean

anything at this point.

Bernie does better, supposedly.

What I wont be able to fathom is Trump getting close, let alone winning, when he is the official

The WorldNutDaily “Man of the Year” Award winner

He is likely to be the official candidate for one of two major parties and he is on record saying Obama is not an American.


Welcome to the mainstream repub party.

[smirkymonkey]

30. I like that! Is that an original quote? I have never heard it before.

I do know one girl at work who is basically a presidential candidate groupie that was there. She said he's not as crazy as he seems in the media. She has a knack of getting up close and personal with all of them and getting her photo taken with them. I don't get the feeling that she is in any one particular camp, but I can't tell because I don't like to get political at work. She even got a photo with Hillary, which is pretty hard to do from what I understand! I think she's just trying to learn. She's pretty young.

[lumberjack_jeff]

11. Hillary *and Bill* Clinton drew 700 people yesterday.

The people who support Hillary because she's electable have it exactly backwards.

[Democat]

24. Trump is the best candidate because he can fill an arena?

What's your point other than attacking Democrats?

[lumberjack_jeff]

25. Bernie is the best candidate because he can fill arenas.

What's your point for inferring that Hillary is the only democrat?

Hillary brought a former president as her warm up act and can still only muster about 10% of the people who come to see other candidates.

[Mass]

12. How many were bused from out of state or just people living in NH and working in the Boston area.

Not that MA does not have its quota of racists. Here, in Central Mass, we sometimes see the Confederate flag and a lot of anti Obama signs.

Note: MA is also a state who does not like to elect women in an executive position. Martha Coakley did not lose on Baker because Baker was a superior campaigner (none of them was good). She lost because a bunch of macho/racist Democrats endorsed Baker. This should be of no surprise to anybody who knows MA, but still. Brutes like Trump attracts a lot of old Dems who see their jobs disappear and Dems basically ignore them.

[arendt]

13. Lowell is in the Merrimack Valley...

Along with Lawrence, MA, it was the starting point of the industrial revolution in America. It led both the industrial and post-industrial eras.

But the area has been on the skids since the mills went to the South in the ?1950s? Despite the efforts of Sen. Tsongas, the town and the region still suffer.

The population has a large number of former factory employees that are Trump's (and Sanders') natural constituency. This turnout does not surprise me at all. The MV is a very conservative part of Massachusetts. They have their little rightwing free broadsheet, called "The Valley Patriot" available in every damn coffeeshop in the region.

As for out-of-towners, Lowell is at the junction of two interstates and literally across the river from New Hampshire. So, its easy to draw a conservative crowd.

All that said, the support for Trump is worrying.

[maveric]

21. Born and raised in Lawrence MA.

MV is a racist area. With the mills closing and the huge "Spanish" population, many whites in the area have adopted this attitude, blaming the woes of the city on minorities.

[arendt]

27. The mayor of Lawrence didn't help

An emigre from the Dominican Republic. Indicted (not sure if convicted) for selling some of the cities garbage trucks to the DR for almost nothing.

The city has been in political gridlock for decades. The state has taken over the school system. Gangs and drugs are rampant.

Lawrence is way worse than Lowell.

Sorry your home town has fallen so far.

Thanks for the validation on what a RW place the MV is.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

28. I did an assignment at a bank in Boston and I was surprised that

many of the managers were hard core conservatives too.

[seaglass]

29. Lowell votes overwhelmingly for Democrats and has a very diverse population. The same cannot

be said of its surrounding suburbs - I live in one of them.

2012 Obama Romney
Lowell - 22,597 10,586
Lawrence - 18,240 3,459

Suburbs - where I'm guessing most of the Trump supporters came from:

Dracut - 6,925 8,026
Chelmsford - 9,606 9,534
Tewksbury - 7,540 8,332

[arendt]

32. It gets NH-like rural quickly

Dracut, IMHO, is the boonies. One main road (along the river) with no discernible town center.

Chelmsford had (?still has?) a lot of computer tech. I used to work there. They put a lot of money into their school system, and it is well-rated. Then again, Obama actually won there.

My take on Massachusetts is "it's not liberal; it's just cantankerous". Look at how they supported Market Basket. I didn't hear the RW screaming how Arnie T was a socialist.

But, in general, the MV is a RW place.

[Vinca]

14. I found this very disturbing since Massachusetts is generally regarded as sane.

[BlueStater]

16. A lot of stupid, embarrassing things have been popular through out history. n/t

[Matrosov]

18. This guy used to draw large crowds as well

Back in the 1930s and 1940s

[Skittles]

31. the people back then who wondered, WTF

I know how they felt

[KamaAina]

19. Not as Blue as one might think.

It has a repuke governor.

[maveric]

22. They elected Romney too. n/t

[Marrah_G]

20. I'm left shaking my head

[Blue_Tires]

23. What? Americans love trainwrecks and freakshows...

and 8,000 doesn't impress me, to be honest... Sarah Palin could roll out of bed and get twice that number...