At Pence rally, Trump supporters in Macon urge president to ‘not step down’
At Thursday’s Republican rally at Middle Georgia Regional Airport, where Vice President Mike Pence voiced support for the two GOP incumbents in Senate runoffs, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, the star of the show — though he wasn’t there in the flesh — was President Donald Trump.
His likeness was on flags and on RVs that tour the country peddling merchandise and spreading his word.
His catchphrases were on T-shirts and ball caps: “Stop the steal!”
Also present in the gray, mid-December chill was an air of defiance or, depending on how one sees it, denial.
‘Don’t step down’
Republican devotee Charles Woods showed up 90 minutes before the rally began.
He came bearing a white poster board.
On it was a handwritten message for the outgoing vice president and, mainly, for Trump: “DON’T STEP DOWN!”
“Look, we know he can’t just be a dictator and stay in, OK?” Woods, who lives in Peach County, said. “But I’m just saying, ‘Hey, don’t step down, keep fighting, fight to the end,’ and hopefully it’ll be reversed.”
In the airport parking lot as wind-chill temperatures hovered in the mid-30s beneath an overcast sky, Woods, a retired civilian worker with past ties to the Department of Defense, said he and his wife Jackie had already cast their ballots for the GOP Senate candidates.
“We got our vote in,” he said, “as long as it’s not taken away from us.”
Asked what his thoughts are now that Joe Biden will become president next month, in part because traditionally Republican Georgia was won by a Democratic presidential candidate, Woods raised his poster.
Trump, he said, “needs to keep fighting. ... It has to be done legally, of course. But I think votes were robbed and people that voted were dead.”
Woods said he was “concerned” about the prospects of Georgia’s Democratic lean and he felt it important to support incumbents Perdue and Loeffler to maintain Republican control of the Senate.
“To block (the Democrats),” Woods said. “They’ll just be able to pass bills that they want to pass without any obstacles.”
Ten minutes or so later, after Woods cleared a security line and made his way toward the tarmac to await Pence’s arrival, Woods could be seen marching toward an exit, poster in hand.
The poster was ripped to pieces.
Event organizers apparently prohibited it.
“So I tore it up,” Woods said, “and I’m going home.”
As he headed out, other supporters trickled in.
‘I think there was major election fraud’
Lisa Stradley, who moved to Macon a couple of years ago after retiring as a captain in the California Department of Corrections, described herself as “a huge Trump supporter.” She reiterated claims of election fraud that have proved false and been rejected by state and federal courts.
“I don’t believe President Trump will be leaving office,” she said. “I think there was major election fraud, and that’s, I think, pretty obvious.”
She said she is a former Democrat — “I walked away” — who is backing Loeffler and Perdue “because it supports my president and what I believe.”
Stradley said that in the coming days she thinks Trump “will prove election fraud. I think the public will become fully informed despite the media attempts to cover it up.”
A check on the Biden administration
Rally attendee Kristin Oren, of Macon, a native Indianan who once worked as an engineer at Macon’s paper mill, said she was there to support the Republican Senate incumbents and to see Pence, the former Indiana governor.
“I think that the president and vice president got eight years worth of good done in four years,” Oren said. “And they could have gotten 16 years’ worth if they had another four.”
As for the Senate runoffs here, Oren said, “I just hope that the Republican vote turns out, and maybe people who were complacent in the general (election) realize how important it is to keep the Senate. ... We need a check on the upcoming administration.”
Spectator and GOP volunteer Timothy Carter, a former Delta Air Lines mechanic from Forsyth, said he doesn’t think the presidential election has been decided.
“It was stolen, OK?” he said, reeling off other states that Biden won as suspect. “There was a lot of fraudulent ballots.”
He said he supports Perdue and Loeffler, even though the latter was handpicked by Gov. Brian Kemp, who lately has been publicly pilloried by Trump as a Democrat enabler.
“You don’t want my thoughts on Brian Kemp,” Carter said. “I supported him in the past, but that’s over. I do not like the way he handled this election.”
Asked if Kemp’s appointment of Loeffler might deter some Trump supporters from voting for her, Carter said, “Ahhhhhh, we’ll see. ... I have my concerns about that. But I stick with the party even though some of the party don’t stick with the party.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 5:08 PM.