The Atlantic

Trump’s New Mexico Rally Teased His 2020 Strategy

Speaking to thousands on the outskirts of Albuquerque last night, the president made a pitch to win over a voter bloc that once seemed a pipe dream.
Source: Cengiz Yar / Getty

RIO RANCHO, N.M.—Long before Air Force One even touched down here, the line of Donald Trump supporters snaked around the suburban Santa Ana Star Center, with thousands of red-capped fans happy and impatient to see the president live and in person.

Traffic in the vicinity of the venue had been snarled for miles and hours. And while many of the president’s signature promises—namely a proposed border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border—are at best works in progress, the rally-goers I spoke with last night weren’t just supportive, but, whatever their walk of life, seemed to see Trump in themselves.

“He’s just like me,” said Richard Tuttle, an attendee in a Make America Great Again hat who moved to New Mexico from Southern California several years ago. “He’s a working man.”

“He’s in our town and so we’ve got to support

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic5 min readAmerican Government
What Nikki Haley Is Trying to Prove
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Nikki Haley faces terrible odds in her home state of
The Atlantic8 min readAmerican Government
The Most Consequential Recent First Lady
This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. The most consequential first lady of modern times was Melania Trump. I know, I know. We are supposed to believe it was Hillary Clinton, with her unbaked cookies
The Atlantic3 min read
They Rode the Rails, Made Friends, and Fell Out of Love With America
The open road is the great American literary device. Whether the example is Jack Kerouac or Tracy Chapman, the national canon is full of travel tales that observe America’s idiosyncrasies and inequalities, its dark corners and lost wanderers, but ult

Related Books & Audiobooks