It felt like a rock-and-roll party with a president serving as the maestro.
For most of the day on Wednesday, fans of President Donald Trump waited outside, and then inside the gymnasium, at Wheeler High School, eager to get a glimpse and take part in in a program touting the American economy and a new investment program for children.
Those who don’t like the president showed up in droves too, in multiple locations, to register their displeasure that Trump’s appearance was nothing more than a partisan political rally conducted on the grounds of the Cobb County School District.
Several prominent Georgia Republican candidates running for statewide office this fall spoke—no Democrats did—as did two of Trump’s cabinet secretaries in a jam-packed Wildcat Arena.
Not far away, at Eastvalley Elementary School, and the Pavilions at East Lake Shopping Center, Trump foes hoisted signs and chanted their opposition.
There were no reported signs of trouble or incident at any venue during the day-long event. Parking lots at Wheeler and Eastvalley opened at 8 a.m., and traffic was still filing out near 6 p.m.
There was a heavy law enforcement presence at two schools, with a full force of Cobb County School District police officers and Cobb Police, in addition to te U.S. Secret Service protecting the president.
Hundreds of attendees lined up hours before the event began Tuesday and as the weather began to turn hot. Several food trucks offered some quick food—a television correspondent wolfed down a hamburger before heading through the press entry.
And there were numerous black armored vehicles surrounding the Wheeler campus as a security sweep was conducted mid-morning.
The attendees waiting hours for Trump to arrive, entertained by an eclectic playlist ranging from Elvis Presley to disco tunes to “How Great Thou Art” and Trump’s signature rally song, “YMCA.”
Inside the arena
“This is the Golden Age of America,” Trump proclaimed as he began his nearly wide-ranging, nearly hour-long remarks, after arriving nearly an hour late.
He repeated familiar themes since his return to the presidency, saying that the “whole world” was laughing at the U.S. under “Sleepy Joe” Biden, “but now we’re respected like never before. This country is rocking and rolling.”
Trump’s visit was to tout the programs and initiatives that are forming the core of a national Republican election campaign message this fall—”Powering the American Dream,” and that went heavy on affordability issues.
He said it was fueling “the next generation with the power of freedom and capitalism.”
Among those measures are “Trump Accounts,” investment accounts for children born between 2025 and 2028—the years of Trump’s second term, seeded with a $1,000 government payment, and with a maximum of $5,000 each yea until that child is 18.
“We’re finally giving money back to our children,” Trump said, and he introduced two families after that were taking advantage of the new program to sign up for the accounts.
As did the warm-up speakers before him, Trump attacked Congressional and other Democrats and the “radical left” for pushing Communism, which he called “the single-greatest threat that we have ever seen to our country.
“The United States of America is not and never will be a Communist country,” he said, as the hundreds of attendees inside the gym rose to their feet, chanting, “USA! USA!”
Trump took aim at Georgia Democrats, including incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is up for re-election in November, referring to him as “PeeWee Herman.”
His Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, was in Washington with voting sessions in progress.
But other Georgia Republicans were front and center at the Trump rally, including gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson.
Jackson said he wanted Georgia to add to the Trump Accounts by matching the $1,000 federal payment, and if he’s elected governor and the legislature doesn’t do it, “I’ll personally donate it myself.”
Battleground Cobb
In recent election cycles once staunchly-Republican Cobb has gone Democratic, with only the Cobb Board of Education in GOP hands, by a 4-3 edge.
The only Republican up for election in November is David Chastain of Post 4 in Northeast Cobb, who is being challenged by Democrat Micheal Garza, a frequent critic of the Cobb school district.
Chastain was among the six of the seven current board members who attended the Trump rally on Wednesday, including two of the three Democrats. Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, a Republican from District 3 in East Cobb, also was in attendance.
Cobb school district Superintendent Chris Ragsdale began the speeches by saying it was “an awesome honor to have the president of the United States.” He also was loudly applauded later when Trump referenced him.
In addition to Jackson, GOP nominees for statewide office who spoke were Greg Dolezal (lieutenant governor), Brian Strickland (attorney general) and Tim Fleming (secretary of state), who also emphasized the affordability and “American Dream” themes.
So did two of Trump’s cabinet members, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who got one of the larger ovations even before he said that “Cobb County is Trump Country.”
He said the Trump Accounts program wasn’t a “government handout” but rather “a triumph of capitalism over socialism.”
Protesting ‘this farce’
Several hundred people turned out Wednesday near Wheeler to oppose the president’s visit.
They included Virginia Pasquarelli, who showed up at the Pavilions at East Lake “No Kings”protest organized by Indivisible Cobb, a liberal advocacy group that has held several “No Kings” protests in East Cobb since Trump’s return to office.
“Ashamed Wheeler would play host to this farce,” she said. “We know Trump came to drum up GOP enthusiasm for the elections.”
Across from Wheeler at Eastvalley Elementary School, the Cobb County Democratic Committee also set up a protest, with people lining the fences behind Holt Road for most of the day.
At both venues, some of the messages were rather frank, and even profane. But another East Cobb News reader, Ray Dafrico, sent us a photo he took of someone he identified as a Trump supporter who was holding a sign with an anti-Semitic message.
Cobb Democrats posted photos of the same man, with a social media message asking “Cobb Republicans sent their best today. Is this what you think is acceptable Cobb County Schools?”
The Democrats also refuted claims about Cobb being Trump Country, noting he’s lost the county in all three of his presidential race.
Early Wednesday night, Georgia Democratic Party chairman Charlie Bailey said “Trump tried and failed to do damage control” in his East Cobb speech, calling it “a disaster for Georgia Republican candidates at every level of the ticket.
Among those in attendance at the Cobb Democratic protest was Michelle Schreiner, who is challenging veteran GOP State Rep. Sharon Cooper.
“Thirty years after graduating from Wheeler High School, I came back to stand with neighbors speaking up for our public schools, our families, and the future our children deserve,” she said on her campaign Facebook page.
“This is what democracy looks like.”
East Cobb News will have more coverage and photos in future posts over the next few days. If you attended and would like to share your photos/videos/experiences, please e-mail us: [email protected].
Thanks to all of you who sent in your items today! We appreciate all of our East Cobb News readers!
Please click the middle button below to view more photos, and under that are some videos from inside the rally venue.
Related:
- Trump to make East Cobb visit to Wheeler HS
- 2028 Cobb SPLOST referendum put on November ballot
- Redistricting dropped from Ga. special legislative session
- Cowan, Jackson, Collins win GOP primary election runoffs
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- Early voting underway in Georgia primary runoff elections
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- East Cobb News explainer: How we cover politics and elections
- MORE: Visit the East Cobb News Politics & Elections Page
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