Was successful Trump rally a victim of 2021 politics?
/By NJGOP Watchdog
In September, a grassroots Republican activist from South Jersey, long associated with the NJGOP, sent a memo to local Republican leaders in Northwest New Jersey about a “Skylands Trump Rally” planned for Wednesday, October 14th at the Skylands Stadium in Augusta, Sussex County:
“I wanted to make sure everyone up in your neck of the woods knows this is happening. We're working to get maximum representation from the Trump Campaign. The Chairman and Pierce are in the loop and helping… Jersey will be pivotal in taking back the House this cycle. Jersey voters could really use a big moral boost, which POTUS creates in his wake.”
The activist went on to note that she was not “the organizer” of the event but was rather sent to get “all Jersey GOP folk in the loop.” The memo noted that the “organizers are local grass roots & business” people.
Indeed, the event was organized without the knowledge or participation of local legislators – although some area freeholders appear to have played a role, enough that a conflicting county board meeting was rescheduled. Established Tea Party leaders reported that the event was being coordinated “from Trenton” and their knowledge of the details was at best incomplete.
From various social media comments posted by those associated with the project, it appears that at some point certain local organizers became disturbed over the direction from South Jersey or “Trenton”. They voiced concern about the event becoming “too much” about “next year”. Apparently, these organizers tried to bring in a local Tea Party leader to pull the event away from “Trenton”. He asked that he not be given that role. The internal dynamics of the event unraveled somewhat – to the point that a formal letter from the Trump campaign was leaked to David Wildstein of the New Jersey Globe yesterday. The Globe went on to publish a story on this “cease and desist” letter just hours before yesterday’s event:
President Donald Trump’s campaign sent a cease and desist letter to the organizers of an Augusta rally in support of the president Wednesday.
“Neither the President nor his campaign has any affiliation with your group or this unauthorized event,” Trump campaign COO Michael Glassner said in the letter. “We thus demand that you and your group immediately cease and desist all activities using the President’s name, image, or likeness in connection with today’s rally event and any future activities.”
The campaign official said the organizers were “misleadingly promoting” the event as a Trump rally.
The event, slated to begin at 5 p.m. in Augusta’s Skylands Stadium Wednesday, was organized by NJ4Trump, a grassroots group helmed by Montague resident Barbara Holstein that has no connection to Trump’s re-election campaign.
The rally’s Eventbrite page says Senate candidate Rik Mehta and House candidates Rosemary Becchi, Frank Pallotta and Billy Prempeh are set to attend.
Mehta confirmed his attendance to the New Jersey Globe. Pallotta and Becchi’s campaign did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.
It also advertises appearances by Atilis Gym owners Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti, Lakeside Diner owner Brian Brindisi and CKO Kickboxing owner Darlene Pallay. Smith, Trumbetti and Brindisi earned fame by flaunting executive orders issued by Gov. Phil Murphy to stem the spread of COVID-19.
Pallay last month sued Murphy’s administration, charging the state needed to compensate her for closures Murphy ordered.
The Eventbrite and the NJ4Trump Facebook pages include disclaimer saying the rally is not affiliated with Trump’s campaign, though some posts on the latter feature the campaign’s official logo.
That fact, as well as the rally’s unauthorized used of the president’s name, could cause confusion among Trump voters, the campaign said.
“Our grassroots supporters like you and your group are critical to ensuring that President Trump is reelected this November. Yet it is also important to the President and his campaign that our supporters not be misled to believe that they are interacting with or supporting the President’s campaign when they are actually attending unauthorized events like your rally,” Glassner said. “By misappropriating the President’s name and calling your event a ‘Trump Rally,’ when it is no such thing, you create unacceptable confusion among the President’s supporters.
Glassner’s letter is bizarre given that various “Trump rallies” using the President’s “name, image, or likeness” have been happening around the state for months now – including in Sussex County – and the Trump campaign had never intervened in this way. Under the Bill of Rights, we don’t see how the Trump campaign could prevent a group or individual from using the “name, image, or likeness” of a sitting President – even if they wanted to burn it in an exercise of Free Speech. But to attempt to disrupt supporters in this way is curious, to say the least.
In the end, the Skylands Trump rally was a success. The rally started at 5pm and lasted well into dark. Thousands attended. Several Republican candidates for Congress spoke – as did AriseNJ President, Pastor Phil Rizzo, who lead the rally in prayer. Here is a video from the event…
It makes you wonder what the point of Glassner’s letter was. Why suppress your own voters? Who would come up with such a thing?
