dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Coachella

Trump takes Coachella. Why?

politico.com/news/2024/10/11/trump-coachella-rally-00183392

Lara Korte

California

The 2020 election results could hold a clue as to why Trump’s headlining an event in the California desert more closely associated with music festival goers than the MAGA set.

Former President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a rally at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 9, 2024. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

SACRAMENTO, California — Donald Trump has just 25 days left to raise money, court voters in swing states and eek out a victory over Kamala Harris.

So it’s a seemingly curious decision to stage a big event Saturday in the California desert more closely associated with music festival goers than the MAGA set.

It’ll be 100 degrees, the state doesn’t matter for his potential return to the White House and the region’s deep pocketed donors are 150 miles away in Los Angeles.

But the 2020 election results could hold a clue as to why Trump’s headlining an event in Coachella. Of the current six competitive House races in the state, Trump is visiting the only one that he won four years ago.

Top policy rifts exposed at the Harris vs. Trump debate

Trump’s 2020 victory in the district currently held by GOP Rep. Ken Calvert was slim. But that’s exactly the type of race Calvert finds himself in now — a neck-and-neck contest where he needs to turn up every possible Trump vote to fend off a well-funded challenger.

Joy Miedecke, president of the East Valley Republican Women Patriots, is helping organize the rally. Miedecke said the group’s patriotic merch store is getting “mobbed” by Republicans rushing to buy their blinged-out Trump hats and t-shirts before the weekend festivities.

Trump might be at the top of the ticket, Miedecke said, but Republicans are still keeping a close eye on down-ballot contests.