About 50 individuals affiliated with the Long Beach Area Republican Party (LBARP) met and dined on the patio at Forbidden City Chinese restaurant on the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 19. Before the debate began, two local candidates addressed the crowd and asked for support: Andy Whallon, who is running to replace Alan Lowenthal in the House of Representatives for the 47th District; and Martha Flores-Gibson, who is opposing incumbent Patrick O’Donnell for the 70th District of the California State Assembly.
Even the two leading presidential candidates made an appearance at the event— thanks to one couple who were dressed as the political opponents, complete with Clinton and Trump masks and business suits.
One attendee, who identified herself as Amy Reed, said she is a registered Republican who once supported Bill Clinton. She said she had watched the previous two presidential debates this year with LBARP.
When asked why she is voting for Trump, she said she had originally been registered as an Independent but changed to Republican after seeing how corrupt the government is, particularly President Barack Obama.
“I think he is against white people,” Reed said. “He wants to change this country to a Muslim country. [The people in his administration] don’t respect our Christian religion. On top of that, they already took so much money from the Middle East— some of [those] countries don’t respect women.”
Reed’s criticisms were not only focused on the Obama administration; she also reprehended the Clintons.
“I watched the impeachment of Bill Clinton,” she said. “I felt so embarrassed for our nation, where the whole world is watching the TV, about Bill being impeached. It was the most embarrassing moment for America.”
Asked why the former president’s misconduct would prevent her from voting for Mrs. Clinton, who was purportedly the primary victim in the affair, Reed said she does not respect the former secretary of state for staying in the relationship.
“If I was her, and my husband did that to me so many times, I’d ‘fire’ him, especially if I was an attorney, able to make money to support myself,” Reed said. “You don’t need a man like that. The reason she wanted to stay is either she’s a fool or she’s hungry for the money.”
Reed said she also believes Secretary Clinton is hungry for power. When asked if she thinks Trump also craves power, she said he already has it and is running for other reasons.
“I think Donald Trump is a wealthy man who doesn’t really have to do this. He has a good life,” she said. “He [is running for president] because, I really personally feel, he is worried about his children’s future. He is worried about America’s future.”
The Signal Tribune asked Reed her thoughts on having a president who uses vulgar language when speaking about women. She said that sometimes she herself will utter comments such as, “Hey, look at that fat girl” or “Look at that fat guy.”
“We all say stuff like that sometimes. You know? But we didn’t mean it to hurt somebody,” she said. “We just— sometimes our mouths [work] faster than our minds… Maybe it’s because he always has beautiful women around him, and maybe because he’s a rich man… he says, ‘I can have any woman I want.’ If you were a rich man, you’d probably have the same attitude.”
Reed was not alone in her distrust of Secretary Clinton. As the debate began, it seemed there was nothing Clinton could say that the crowd of Republicans would buy. Almost every remark Clinton made was followed by groans or laughs from those in attendance.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”300px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-27-at-5.33.41-PM.png” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”A man wearing a Donald Trump costume mingles with attendees during an Oct. 19 debate-viewing party at Forbidden City restaurant in Long Beach.” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off”] Michael Mantong was among those Trump supporters. He said he’s also a registered Republican who believes Clinton does not deserve to be president because of her handling of a coordinated attack against two US government facilities in Benghazi, Libya by members of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sharia in 2012, as well as her subsequent deletion of Benghazi-related emails on a private server.
“She didn’t act in the best interest of the Americans who were there in Benghazi,” Mantong said. “She did it for political reasons— postponing getting them out. I also believe the emails— she deleted them. I believe that. I believe that she used her private email server for the sole purpose of avoiding scrutiny by the American people and the Freedom of Information Act.”
Mantong, who is a financial analyst, said that, even though Trump “has flaws” and “all of us do,” the Republican nominee has a strong business perspective.
After Mantong praised Trump’s business sense and his ability to get a return on investments, the Signal Tribune asked him if he trusts his choice for president with the nuclear codes. He said yes and was asked why.
“He has never fired a nuclear weapon before,” Mantong said, then a server appeared to take his drink order.
As soon as he was finished placing his order, the Signal Tribune pointed out that Trump has never had the authority to fire such a weapon and pressed him for why he believes Trump can be trusted.
“Well, I think if anybody had been raped or killed by Donald Trump, it would have come out by now, and it hasn’t, until three or four weeks before his election, and that’s very suspect,” Mantong said, referring to numerous accusations against the millionaire that he had acted inappropriately toward women.
Again, the Signal Tribune pressed Mantong for an explanation, asking what his statement has to do with trusting Trump with the nuclear codes.
“The same thing with Hillary,” he said. “People have been killed [under her watch], and she has never had experience with her hand on the nuclear code either. So, as far as looking at that, they are both at the same starting point. They both have the same temperament.”
Asked what he thinks about Trump’s derogatory remarks about women, Montang said, “Irrelevant.”
When asked if he feels comfortable voting for someone who has used vulgar language about women, in the way he has been shown to do so, Mantong said yes.
“Democrats have never had a problem with it before,” Mantong said.
The Signal Tribune pointed out that Trump has never run for president before and that, until recently, he has largely been known for being a millionaire and TV personality.
Mantong clarified that he was referring to the misconduct of John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton.
“I think if he was running as a Democrat, [Democrats] would have no problem with it,” he said.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”400px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-27-at-6.10.11-PM.png” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”A woman wears a Hillary Clinton costume during the Long Beach Area Republican Party’s debate-viewing event on Oct. 19.” captionposition=”right” revealfx=”off”] The Signal Tribune then asked Reed, who was sitting nearby, if she agreed with that statement.
“Yes,” she said, citing Hillary Clinton’s rise from being a small-town college student to becoming secretary of state.
The Signal Tribune asked what her career path had to do with Trump’s remarks about women.
Mantong explained that Trump’s leaked remarks about grabbing women by their genitals was part of a private conversation, not meant for the public to hear, and that if the tape had been released more closely to the time he had made those remarks, he would have given the comments more weight.
The Signal Tribune asked both Reed and Mantong if there has been anything about Trump that has given them pause and made them reconsider voting for him. Both said no.
“If anything like this had come out when the events happened, for example, 10 years ago or 11 years ago, and things came out then and were reported then, and people accused him then— absolutely,” Mantong said. “But when I wait to accuse somebody right before they’re being elected— I don’t care who it is— if it’s a Republican or a Democrat, I [am] suspect [of] that, heavily, because all the timing is just really convenient for the other person.”
Just then, an individual shushed Mantong, as the room had quieted and the focus was on the man and the woman determined to become the 45th president of the United States.
This Saturday, the Signal Tribune will meet up with local Democrats departing Long Beach at 6:30am on a bus to Las Vegas to canvas for Hillary Clinton. Read the story in next week’s issue.
