Thousands support Trump in NM rally

ALBUQUERQUE -- Thousands of Donald Trump supporters spent hours in traffic and waiting in line for a chance to see the presidential candidate in Albuquerque on Thursday.

There were so many people eager to attend Trump's last-minute campaign visit to New Mexico that thousands were left outside of the rally, watching Trump's speech on a large screen that initially did not have sound.

Down the road, a group of approximately 40 protesters chanted their objections to the former president.

Vendors with Trump hats and rubber-duckie plushies with Trump's signature hairstyle walked up and down the line offering their wares. A man sold T-shirts of Trump's opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, which read "Say No to the Hoe."

Veronica Lieffring of Albuquerque and Jerome Von Holland of Santa Fe made friends while waiting in line. Lieffring has voted for Trump since his first run for president in 2016. Sometimes her support has been "wobbly," she said, because of Trump's aggressive attitude, but she believes he's the one "we need to go in the right direction."

Nearby, Jason Kinnaman and his wife, Johanna, brought their seven children, aged 5 to 17, from their home in Arizona to the rally.

"No president is our savior, right? Jesus is our savior - but we do need good leadership," Kinnaman said.

Timo Chacon of Santa Fe was wrapped in a Trump flag. He believes a Trump presidency will be better for his wallet, and that Trump could usher in lower grocery prices and inflation rates.

"You can't argue with somebody who's been shot, and vilified by the press and the media," Chacon said.

In an American flag suit, wearing a ghoulish mask and a baseball cap with the message, "Make America Ghouls Again," Brent Morris of Albuquerque said he was there to show the Trump supporters what they will get if they re-elect Trump.

"I don't believe in his policies. I don't believe in his hate. I don't believe in his lies," Morris said.

Trump supporter Chris Flores of Albuquerque stopped to say hi to Morris, shake his hand and ask if she could "give an American a hug."

Not all interactions were so polite. A group of approximately 40 protesters shouted and drummed near the end of the rally line. In an intense moment, some protesters and rallygoers shouted in each other's faces. Tensions calmed when the protesters moved farther away from the parking lot shuttle drop-off.

The protest's chief organizing group was The Party for Socialism and Liberation, which has its own candidates, Claudia De la Cruz for president and her running mate, Karina Garcia, in the 2024 election.

Marisa Sedillo, a PSL organizer, noted her party showed up to protest Trump because his policies are harmful, particularly to immigrants.

Sedillo and her group wanted to send the message that the Republican presidential candidate "is not welcome in Albuquerque."

As members of PSL sent their message to Trump outside the rally, so did Couy Griffin, the former Otero County commissioner who was convicted of illegally entering the U.S. Capitol grounds at a 2022 bench trial at U.S. District Court in Washington while being acquitted of disorderly conduct.

Griffin was sentenced to 14 days and given credit for time served after his arrest in Washington in the days leading up to Joe Biden's inauguration.

Separately, Griffin has been banished from public office for aiding in insurrection at the Capitol under a state district court ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court in March refused to hear an appeal of the ruling.

On Thursday, while riding a horse named Red, Griffin said he showed up, not to attend the Trump rally, but, "I feel like my place for this is more to visit with the people. Being outside in the line, that's good enough."

Griffin, who has attended past Trump rallies and showed off pictures of him with the former president in the Oval Office during an interview, said he believes the 2020 election was "compromised," and that not enough investigations were conducted.

"I pray the truth eventually still comes out," Griffin said. "When you take your oath before God and you honor your oath by voting in a way to honor your oath, there is never anything to be afraid of."

Several Trump supporters speaking to the Albuquerque Journal waffled on whether President Biden won the 2020 presidential election - a fact Trump has disputed since his loss four years ago.

Linda Archuleta of Albuquerque said, "Yes, according to the numbers," Biden won the last election.

"Numbers don't lie - that's the good thing about statistics," Archuleta said. "When he (Trump) brought that up, it was questionable, the numbers; but again, many people did respect the process, and we saw what happened when Biden and Harris were elected and what they did to our country."

Albuquerque resident Jesse Jaramillo, a Republican, said he believes Biden won the last election, but that election officials in numerous swing states, like Arizona and Georgia, "could have done more" to either validate some votes or toss others out.

"That process wasn't done," Jaramillo said. "(Biden) won by changing it. The election was rigged."

But he said he will accept the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, just like he did last time.

"Whoever is in office, that's the person we need to be praying for," Jaramillo said.