Anthony Man | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Some of Donald Trump’s most die-hard supporters are planning to show their allegiance to the former president by demonstrating on his behalf as he leaves his Mar-a-Lago resort home Monday to head to New York to face criminal charges against him.
Club 47 issued a call to supporters on Sunday — even before Trump confirmed just when he’d be leaving — to be on hand on Southern Boulevard when his motorcade passes on the way from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach to Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach.
Demonstrators supporting Trump began gathering as the sun was just rising at a West Palm Beach shopping center on the way to the airport, hours before he was set to pass along the route. A WPEC-Ch. 12 livestream showed a few dozen supporters gathered along the route.
Many held flags proclaiming, “Trump 2024 Save America,” Trump Won” and “Let’s Go Brandon.” The Brandon phrase represents an obscenity Republicans direct toward President Joe Biden.
Boca Raton firefighter Erik Solensten and his retired colleague, John Fischer, got an early start putting up banners. One was 30 by 6 feet, picturing police officers and firefighters saying, “Thanks for having our backs, President Trump.”
“We are fire-rescue. We are prepared and don’t like to wait for things to happen,” said Solensten, who took a vacation day to show support for Trump. “He needs morale just like everyone else needs morale. He’s done more for this country than any 10 presidents combined.”
Solensten said it is wrong that Trump is being charged with a crime stemming from an alleged tryst with a porn star long before he was in office.
Club 47 is the current name of a Palm Beach County-based political organization that formed during Trump’s presidency to support him. It eventually became Club 45, for Trump’s place in the numerical order of U.S. presidents.
It became Club 47 on President’s Day this year when Trump addressed the group. The number expresses club leaders’ support for his 2024 presidential campaign, hoping that he’ll defeat President Joe Biden and become the 47th president.
The group wants to get pictures and video showing support for Trump. “Media coverage is expected to be from the air as well as from within the motorcade,” the organization told members who were urged to bring signs and flags.
Late Sunday night Trump wrote on his Truth Social social media platform that he’d “be leaving Mar-a-Lago on Monday at 12 noon, heading to Trump Tower in New York. On Tuesday morning I will be going to, believe it or not, the Courthouse. America was not supposed to be this way!”
After appearing in court, Trump plans to return to Mar-a-Lago Tuesday afternoon or evening. The Trump campaign announced that Trump would “deliver remarks” during a Mar-a-Lago Club appearance on Tuesday night.
On Jan. 20, 2021, the day Trump left office and President Joe Biden was inaugurated, about 1,000 people were on either side of Southern Boulevard from Dixie Highway to the bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway to show their support and welcome him home.
Crowds haven’t been as robust since Trump himself first alerted the public that he’d likely be facing criminal charges in New York. The case concerns hush-money payments made to conceal a sexual relationship — which he denies — with porn star Stormy Daniels.