![]() ![]() Michelle Wood of Bismarck, who held two signs, one announcing that it was her birthday, wouldn't get her hoped-for hug from the president on her big day. The president was taking a different route and the motorcade wouldn't pass by the crowd that had gathered. But a few minutes later, someone in the crowd noticed the motorcade drive across the bridge over Mandan Avenue. The crowd grew anxious as word spread that Air Force One had landed at the Bismarck Airport. ![]() Briefly, a shower of insults flew back and forth, but died quickly.īy 3 p.m., there were 62 people in the Trump section and 30 people in the protester area. When a woman showed up wearing a T-shirt with profanity aligned with Trump's name, supporters of the president yelled at her across the street, calling her disrespectful. "Trump is a racist, sexist, elitist, crybaby," said Wastewin Young of the Standing Rock tribe. Another said, "Your mom was illegal." A third called Trump "the drying breath of white supremacy." One had a sense of humor, saying: "We shall overcomb." One protester held a sign saying "Free Red Fawn," a reference to a jailed Dakota Access pipeline protester. ![]() The signs they carried were more strongly worded. ![]() They were more vocal than earlier arrivals. A dozen or so mostly American Indians, some veterans of the Dakota Access pipeline protest, arrived as a group. One protester said some bikers, Trump supporters, had moved near her "to intimidate her."Īs late as 2:30 p.m., 45 minutes before the president was scheduled to speak, there were still only five people in the designated area for protesters. Occasionally, someone from one side of the street would wander to the other side, stirring tensions. There was little mixing, perhaps reflective of the polarized mood in the country. The crowd was largely good-natured and respectful of people on the opposite side of the street. That's not a North Dakota thing." Others in the crowd on both sides of the political spectrum echoed that view. "I'm praying for him and I hope he does well." Asked if she expected conflict between pro and anti-Trump forces along the street, she said, "No. "We have to support our president," said Linda Amseth of Mandan. But at first there were no protesters in the designated spot and they were hard to find anywhere on the street until later in the day.įarther down Mandan Avenue, a woman stood in the shade wearing a Heidi Heitkamp T-shirt, but even she said she wasn't a protester. Mandan police put placards in the grass that lined the road, designating the east side of the street for Trump supporters and the west side for protesters. One said "Deport Antifa, BLM, Illegals, Muhammad Lovers." One man set up tables and was selling Trump T-shirts, hats and posters. Trump supporters gathered on the east side of Mandan Avenue, waving American and "Don't Tread on Me" flags. "You might as well leave the country if you don't want to make it great again." "I want to show my support for the president and let him know that there are still states left that believe in freedom," he said. He wore a bowler hat and a long beard befitting his name. Marty Beard of tiny Stewartsdale southeast of Bismarck was the first to arrive at 8:30 a.m. Trump supporters outnumbered protesters 2-to-1 in the block closest to the gate by the time the president spoke mid-afternoon. 6, was small, largely quiet and mostly polite. The crowd gathered along Mandan Avenue outside the main gate of the refinery where President Donald Trump spoke here on Wednesday, Sept. MANDAN, N.D.-Mandan isn't Charlottesville. ![]()
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