By Dan Spalding
InkFreeNews

A recent road rally supporting President Trump in Oregon. Photo credit: The Oregonian.

Win or lose in November, Donald Trump has left his mark in many ways on America’s political landscape – including right now – in the form of grassroots campaigning.

What began earlier this summer as watercraft parades celebrating Trump and patriotism in various parts of the country is now morphing into well-organized regional highway parades featuring huge numbers of motorists passionately sporting big Trump flags, banners and red MAGA hats.

Let me be the first to say, I’ve never seen anything like these campaign rallies. Trump’s supporters are out in force in what likely had an organic beginning and is fueled by the pandemic and lack of huge traditional oral rallies.

They are big, bodacious and in your face, much like the man they are cheering.

Warsaw will get a taste of its first large scale parade today (Saturday, Sept. 26) that will travel through Warsaw and then head east on East Center Street and then US 30 to Columbia City and back.

A screengrab from a Facebook page promoting Saturday’s event.

It’s being organized by the same people who started the on-going flag-waving rallies at Center and North Detroit streets that recently saw more than a hundred supporters.

On Saturday, participants are expected to gather at the old Kmart parking lot beginning at 12:15 p.m. They plan to head out at 1 p.m.

But wait, there’s more.

On Sunday, another massive parade is scheduled that will gather supporters in Wabash and then head to Fort Wayne where they intended to encircle the city on I-469. That one is being organized by Wabash Republicans and could end up being massive by the time it reaches The Fort. Supporters will gather at SR 15 and US 24, with others joining in as the parade progresses.

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FRUSH RETURNS – Warsaw City Councilman Jerry Frush returned to city hall after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this month. Frush never did experience any symptoms.

Frush is the fourth city employee to test positive and joins Mayor Joe Thallemer and two other city employees who were not identified.

Two Kosciusko County employees have tested positive, according to the health department.

And for those who are counting, Monday’s city council meeting was only the second time since March that all city council members attended a meeting in person.

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GOVERNOR’S RACE – I might have under-appreciated the impact of Libertarian candidate for governor, Donald Rainwater in last week’s column. A friend directed me to the following on Indy Politics:

In April, Gov. Eric Holcomb was 20 points ahead of Dr. Woody Myers, the Democrat nominee. Now that number is down to 6 points, but oddly enough, picking up the slack is Libertarian Donald Rainwater. The breakdown was 36 percent Holcomb, 30 percent Myers, 24 percent Rainwater, and 10 percent undecided.

According to the Indy Politics report, “Rainwater looks to be the candidate of choice here among Republicans disaffected with the mask mandate and Gov. Holcomb’s leadership during the pandemic: over a third of respondents who say they’re voting for Trump say they’d vote for Don Rainwater for Governor were the election today.”

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MUTZ COMMENT – Former Republican Indiana Lt. Gov. John Mutz announced in a recent column published in Indianapolis that he’ll be supporting Democrat Joe Biden for president. In his column in Indianapolis Business Journal, he accused Trump of “corruptive behavior and outright self-dealing.”

Mutz is likely the most prominent Indiana Republican to openly criticize Trump, saying in part that, “Trump fails to meet my preference for honesty, empathy, respect for those who are different and a willingness to admit mistakes.”

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LOCAL POLITICS – A few observations:

• Kosciusko County Republicans have a new website.
• The GOP fish fry Oct. 7 at the Fairgrounds will be carry-out only. (Date corrected)
• In the race for Superior Court 3, both candidates, Republican Chad Miner and Democrat Antony Garza, are both wooing endorsements. As of this week, Garza had 10 video endorsements posted on his Facebook page and Miner had three on his Facebook page.
• I visited The Drudge Report (as I do every day) and saw an ad for Chad Miner. That’s the magic of the internet, and probably some smart online finagling.

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DEBATE TIME! – The first presidential debate will be Tuesday, Sept. 29, at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The first face-off between Trump and Biden will be broken into six 15-minutes segments, which include “The Trump and Biden Records,” “The Supreme Court,” “Covid-19,” “The Economy,” “Race and Violence in our Cities” and “The Integrity of the Election.”

Fox News’ Chris Wallace will moderate. The 90-minute debate starts at 9 p.m.

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ELECTION COUNTDOWN – Election Day is 38 days away. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5. You can do that online here. I did it last week!

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Dan Spalding is the editor at InkFreeNews.com.
He covers city government and politics and always welcomes your input.
He can be reached at [email protected] or at (574) 855-7612.