Today, when I went to work, I picked a rather serendipitous parking spot. Instead of parking in the main lot, I parked on the side of the building. I promise this is important. (Well, important to the story I’m about to share, not particularly important in the grand scheme of life.)
Had I parked in the main parking lot, I most likely would have turned left when I exited and then driven down Irvine Avenue to get home. Instead, because of where I had parked, it was more convenient to drive in a different direction and take Pacific Coast Highway (PCH to us ~locals~). I typically take the Irvine Avenue route because it feels like it might be slightly faster, but honestly, I think it’s a “six one, half dozen the other” type of situation.
Anyway, as I turned onto PCH, I began to sense a new energy in the air. On one side of the road, there was a large gathering of red, white, and blue-clad men and women wielding their largest “Keep America Great” and “Trump 2020” signs whilst hooting and hollering to the cars that drove past. A few hundred feet later, on the other side of the street, I spotted a slightly smaller, slightly less rambunctious, (yet equally red, white, and blue) contingent of Biden supporters, the most notable of which was holding a large sign pleading “Honk if you vote democrat”.
Shortly after we (I say “we” because my friend Anna was in the car with me, not because I have changed the personal pronouns with which I identify) passed political cohort number two, we rolled to a stop so as to not rear end the long line of cars in front of us. I did not think this long line to be overwhelmingly odd (we were, after all, driving on a main highway in Southern California), but it was a surprising amount of traffic for a Sunday morning and the road was completely empty going in the other direction.
As Anna and I sat in this long line of cars and chatted about our weekend activities, a slurry of police motorcycles headed towards us with their sirens blaring. I still wasn’t overwhelmingly curious, but this activity seemed to pique Anna’s interest, so I decided to follow her lead. My previously-limited curiosity proceeded to grow exponentially as an avalanche of officers continued to crest the hill in front of us and descend towards the groups of opposing political revolutionaries.
“Do you think…” Anna started, “that someone is here?”
It appeared that someone was here; was that someone a local politician? Possibly the governor? What would he be doing in Newport Beach? Would whoever it was really be causing this much raucous? My mind raced with questions as Anna’s thumbs furiously danced upon the keyboard of her phone.
Then she looked up, “Is Donald Trump here?”
What? My immediate thought was “Surely he has more important things to do than drive through Newport Beach on a Sunday afternoon.” But then again, I cannot claim to know anything about the level of importance and priority Donald Trump places on each of his potential daily activities. Anna continued to type as the parade of police officers on motorcycles quickly turned into a large black Cadillac with blacked out windows followed by a troop of white vans displaying small signs with labels like “Media 1” and “Security 2”.
Right as this group zoomed past, Anna’s research revealed the fruits of her labor and she began to read aloud an informative article. According to trustworthy news sources (feels kind of like an oxymoron these days but I still want to believe in the power of the press) Donald Trump was indeed in Orange County and at that exact moment, he was reportedly en route to a private fundraiser at the home of Palmer Luckey, a tech mogul who is credited with reviving the virtual reality industry with his design of Oculus Rift.
As one might imagine, this event was no simple afternoon tea party. According to the OC Register, tickets for the shindig ranged from $2,800 for an individual to $150,000 for a couple. (Mere pocket change for a part-time barista like myself)
After learning about this event (which was supposed to take place on October 6th but was postponed because the guest of honor seemed to have fallen ill with a little bug called the Coronavirus), Anna and I soaked in the energy around us and contemplated how Lido Island (where our boy Palmer lives) might be faring. We figured that we would shortly be back on our way home to digest this atypical interruption to our day. However, Donny and the vans (kind of like Bennie and the jets, but different) were only the beginning of the excitement.
Following the initial entourage was a flood of jeeps, minivans, motorcycles, and every brand of luxury car you might imagine toting every variety of Trump paraphernalia you could think of. Each time the opposing light turned green (which happened quite a few times before we made it through; the traffic engineer in me noted that at that moment, our intersection was operating at a level of service of F) a new flood of Trump evangelists roared to life, zooming down the highway with horns and megaphones blaring. Anna and I telepathically sent sympathetic thoughts to the tiny cohort of democrats who were surely overwhelmed at this point.
As the endless parade of flag bearers continued down PCH, Anna and I wondered where they were coming from or where they were going. Because we were rather confident these supporters were not the ones attending the private event. We decided that there had most likely been some sort of rally further down the road and at this point, the attendees were returning home, making their presence and political affiliation known the entire way back. It was only because I would have had to cross three lanes of stand-still traffic that I decided to turn and go home instead of continuing straight on PCH for further investigation.
All that to say, I drove past Donald Trump today on his way to a private fundraiser on Lido Island. I hope he had a nice time and that he is no longer contagious. It was a fascinating series of events that has opened my eyes to a way of life that is rather different from my own and has reminded me to go drop off my ballot. And just think, I would have missed it all if I had simply parked in the main parking lot. 2020, what a ride.