Donald Trump visits New Orleans as supporters and protesters spar verbally on street – NOLA.com
People for and against former President Donald Trump gathered along St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans on Monday, June 24, 2024. Trump was in town for a fundraiser at the home of Boysie Bollinger. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Former President Donald Trump deplanes upon his arrival at Louis Armstrong International Tuesday, June 25, 2024. It his first visit to the New Orleans since his 34 felony convictions in New York. (Staff photo by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com)
Former President Donald TrumpÕs motorcade makes its way along St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans on Monday, June 24, 2024. Trump was in town for a fundraiser at the home of Boysie Bollinger. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
People show their support along St. Charles Avenue as former President Donald Trump arrives for a fundraiser in New Orleans on Monday, June 24, 2024. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
FormerPresident Donald Trump is greeted upon his arrival at Louis Armstrong International. It his first visit to the New Orleans since being convicted in New York. Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Staff photo by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com)
This is the scene outside Boysie Bollinger’s Audubon Place home in New Orleans, Monday, June 24, 2024 as preparations are made for a fundraiser featuring former President Donald Trump. (Staff photo by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com) ORG XMIT: NO.trump.062524
A home on Plum Street in New Orleans was flying the sedition flag Monday, June 24, 2024. Former President Trump, who is facing federal charges for trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 election is in town tonight for a fundraiser. (Staff photo by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com) ORG XMIT: NO.sedition.062424
People for and against former President Donald Trump gathered along St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans on Monday, June 24, 2024. Trump was in town for a fundraiser at the home of Boysie Bollinger. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Former President Donald Trump deplanes upon his arrival at Louis Armstrong International Tuesday, June 25, 2024. It his first visit to the New Orleans since his 34 felony convictions in New York. (Staff photo by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com)
Former President Donald TrumpÕs motorcade makes its way along St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans on Monday, June 24, 2024. Trump was in town for a fundraiser at the home of Boysie Bollinger. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
People show their support along St. Charles Avenue as former President Donald Trump arrives for a fundraiser in New Orleans on Monday, June 24, 2024. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
FormerPresident Donald Trump is greeted upon his arrival at Louis Armstrong International. It his first visit to the New Orleans since being convicted in New York. Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Staff photo by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com)
This is the scene outside Boysie Bollinger’s Audubon Place home in New Orleans, Monday, June 24, 2024 as preparations are made for a fundraiser featuring former President Donald Trump. (Staff photo by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com) ORG XMIT: NO.trump.062524
A home on Plum Street in New Orleans was flying the sedition flag Monday, June 24, 2024. Former President Trump, who is facing federal charges for trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 election is in town tonight for a fundraiser. (Staff photo by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com) ORG XMIT: NO.sedition.062424
Former President Donald Trump raised $5 million in New Orleans on Monday, three days before his consequential debate on CNN with President Joe Biden.
Trump spent almost two hours at the Uptown New Orleans home of business owner Boysie Bollinger, a major Republican fundraiser in Louisiana.
Meeting Trump as he got off the plane at Louis Armstrong International Airport were U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, Gov. Jeff Landry, his wife Sharon Landry and U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 Republican in the House.
Scalise, listed as the fundraiser’s special guest, represents the slice of Uptown that includes Bollinger’s house.
Trump “was in really good spirits, and talked about a lot of the issues that will come up in the debate,” Scalise said Monday night, while confirming that Trump raised $5 million.
On St. Charles Avenue, a block from Tulane University, opponents of the former president outnumbered Trump’s supporters, which wasn’t a surprise given New Orleans’ strong Democratic tilt.
“Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go,” the protesters chanted at one point.
“I just want to worry about the economy, not the fact that my trans friends can’t live like they want to live,” said Suzanne Ward, a New Orleans resident who held a sign that read, “Guilty! Impeached Twice. Convicted of 34 Felonies. Found Liable for Sexual Assault. We had enough. Yes?”
Colleen Peterman, a New Orleans homemaker, stood nearby with a Trump hat and expressed her allegiance to the former president.
“He won’t keep funding the Ukraine war,” she said. “Our money should stay here in our country. We don’t need to keep funding endless and needless wars that enrich global elites.”
The pro-Trump group chanted “USA! USA! USA!” when the former president’s motorcade arrived at Bollinger’s home at 6:30 p.m. A rain shower soon scattered most of the crowd.
Trump’s visit, his last expected campaign event before Thursday’s 90-minute debate, coincided with the two-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling that outlawed abortion in states that haven’t legalized it.
That order banned abortion in Louisiana, after three justices appointed by Trump – including Amy Coney Barrett of Metairie – joined three other conservative justices in overturning the Roe v. Wade decision.
Trump has taken credit for the federal prohibition, saying that the six justices who voted for it showed “wisdom and courage,” as he put it Saturday in speaking to the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington, D.C.
But Biden and Democrats have seized on the ruling to galvanize voters.
The ruling “ripped away the fundamental freedom for women to access the health care they need and deserve,” Biden said in a statement on Monday. “The consequences have been devastating: In states across the country, Trump’s allies have enacted extreme and dangerous abortion bans — many with no exception for rape or incest – that are putting women’s lives at risk and threatening doctors with jail time.”
Biden now enjoys a narrow 50-48% lead over Trump for the first time in a Fox News poll since October, the network reported last week, driven in part by more voters favoring Biden’s pro-abortion rights position and a growing belief that the economy is strong.
Trump came to New Orleans nearly four weeks after a jury in New York convicted him on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump has said repeatedly since then that the case was rigged against him, and his followers agree.
Biden also suffered a legal blow when a jury in Delaware convicted his son Hunter Biden two weeks ago of lying about his drug use on a federal background check form when he purchased a gun and for possessing the gun while addicted to or using illegal drugs. Biden has said he accepts the decision.
He has holed up at Camp David in recent days to prepare for the debate.
The Trump and anti-Trump crowd stood within close proximity along St. Charles Avenue on Monday, but no harsh words were exchanged, as police looked on.
At one point, a white-haired Kenner resident named Judy Bauer walked in front of the anti-Trump group while waving a giant flag that read, “Trump Save America Again.”
A man leading the anti-Trumpers in chants called out, “Geriatrics can march around with their Trump flags all they want.”
Responded Bauer after walking back to her side, “We’re not geriatric. We just care about our country.”
The anti-Trump crowd was led by two groups, the Queer and Trans Community Action Project and New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police. At one point, while they were chanting, “F*** Donald Trump,” an 8-year-old boy stood nearby holding a sign. It read: “Love, not hate.”
Email Tyler Bridges at tbridges@theadvocate.com.
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