Supporters of Donald Trump began mounting a protest early Thursday afternoon ahead of the former president’s fundraising dinner at a billionaire’s mansion in Pacific Heights.
Tickets for the sold-out soiree at David Sacks’ home start at $50,000 and top out at $300,000 per person or $500,000 per couple.
But admission was free to the protest at Marina Green, which no one in the crowd seemed to know the name of when The Standard visited. The protest was about 250 people strong after growing from around 80 earlier in the day, plus a handful of counter-protesters.
Among the Trumpers was Ben Nguyen, a 54-year-old San Jose resident and Vietnamese immigrant who was dressed head-to-toe in Trump merch.
“Economy is the number one issue for me,” Nguyen said, wearing a Vietnamese for Trump shirt. “I’ve never paid $5 for gas before. Groceries are up. Everything’s crazy.”
Gary, a Marin county resident wearing a large Trump mask, said he supports Trump because he believes the economy was healthier during his presidency, pointing to lower gas prices as proof. Gary also blasted the U.S Department of Justice for Trump’s conviction, even though the 34 counts of falsifying business records were charges filed in New York state court by Manhattan’s district attorney. The involvement of the DOJ has been called a “conspiracy theory” by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“The DOJ is crooked,” Gary said. “They got him for a bookkeeping charge.”
Distrust of journalists was also evident among the former president’s supporters. Gary added that the mainstream media is “corrupt” and said most TV journalists “aren’t even real reporters.”
“They didn’t even go to journalism school. It’s all liberal propaganda,” Gary said. “The only news you can watch is Newsmax.”
‘Drill, baby, drill’
Fremont resident Mary Pelican, 82, said she supports Trump because she wants restricted immigration and expanded oil exploitation and production.
“Drill, baby, drill,” Pelican said, adding she believes Trump “has the balls” to be president and slammed his 34-count felony conviction as “a total sham.”
“They’ve tried to impeach him twice and now they want to put him in jail or make him a felon,” Pelican said. “I bet Hunter Biden will go scot-free.”
Oakland resident Gerald Pechenuk, 73, who ran for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors but lost in March, said he supports the former president because he believes Trump will keep the U.S. out of international conflicts.
“With Trump, we had no wars,” Pechenuk said. “Right now, Biden is flirting with nuclear war, having Ukraine attacking Russia.”
‘Trump loves the poorly educated’
But not everyone on the green was in favor of the orange one.
Dog walker Jeremy Serwer, 53, who described his political stance as “further left than Bernie Sanders,” heckled a flag-waving Trumper, yelling, “Trump loves the poorly educated!”
When asked if he was surprised Trump was visiting San Francisco to raise funds for his campaign, Serwer said he wasn’t.
“Look at who supports him; it’s the wealthy billionaires,” Serwer said. “I imagine he’ll get 50,000 [votes] this year from the city.”
Trump achieved 56,417 San Francisco votes in the 2020 election. He’s expected to raise over $12 million at Thursday’s fundraiser, reports the New York Times.