![]() One woman sitting on the stage as a “VIP” is wearing a T-shirt that says: “Guns don’t kill people. Yet guns are plentiful inside the theatre as fashion appendages. There are signs on the front of the theater pronouncing: “No guns”. ![]() ![]() They are moving to impose a new world order.” America’s general, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia but was pardoned by Trump, tells the rapt crowd that “these people” – unnamed but indicative of global elites – “have a plan to take this country over. There is more dystopian paranoia in the room, too. Almost every hand in the house shoots up. “How many of you believe that Jesus is king, and that Donald Trump is the president?” he asks. “We are ready to go to war with the enemy, to bring this country back,” Clark says as he orders the blowing of the shofar – horns seen as spiritual weapons that herald the unleashing of God’s power. There is less arch humour in the mix than in 2015 – now it’s more resentment and menace The regular tussle between Republicans and Democrats has distilled into a concoction that is far more potent: the fight of good versus evil. The speakers talk about a battle for America’s soul, literally, as though an aspiration that was floated at the start of the Trump experiment has gelled into something concrete. There is less arch humour in the mix than there was when Trump descended the golden escalator in June 2015 – now it’s more resentment and menace. Since then the show has crisscrossed the country like a merry band of minstrels, honing the look, feel and message of Trump 2.0. Together with Flynn, he launched the ReAwaken America tour in April last year, just weeks after Trump supporters staged the January 6 attack on the US Capitol in a desperate yet unsuccessful attempt to keep Joe Biden out of the Oval Office. This heady brew is the creation of Clay Clark, a former wedding reception DJ from Oklahoma turned ThriveTimeShow podcaster who came to prominence protesting Covid lockdowns. It also subscribes heavily to the church of merchandising – there is a large vendors’ tent with several stalls devoted to the peddling of snake oil (“Redox Worx: patented cell-signalling technology. The show is part Trump Stop the Steal rally, part charismatic religious service, part QAnon and anti-vaxxer conspiracy theory all rolled into one. And at the end of the day more than 200 of them will line up by a swimming pool for a full-body immersive baptism in the name of the Lord, spiritual and political. They will give a standing ovation to the beloved leader’s son, Eric Trump, who will fire them up almost to the point of ecstasy with talk of “doing it all again”. ![]() They will listen as Mike Lindell, the so-called My Pillow Guy, launches an incoherent rant about how foreign forces are infiltrating voting machines and using them to subvert US elections. They will hear the former president’s first national security adviser Michael Flynn, who is revered in this setting as “America’s general”, warning that a new world tyranny is approaching. Over the next two days the crowd, swathed in Stars and Stripes T-shirts and Make America Great Again (Maga) hats and paying up to $500 for a “VIP” ticket, will be treated to speeches from the far-right stormtroopers of the Trump revolution.Ī selection of the merchandise on display. So begins the ReAwaken America tour, a Trump-adoring, rightwing roadshow that has come for its 17th and last pre-election stop to Branson, a deeply Christian, deeply conservative town in Missouri. I have looked for a man who would restore the fortunes of Zion.” The audience erupts in a mighty cheer as Clement’s speaking as God is beamed down to them from large flat screens while he says: “Hear me today. There is also palpable expectation that victory next week will be followed soon after by Trump’s second coming. There is excitement in the theater, with talk of a “red wave” at Tuesday’s midterm elections that will set America back on a righteous path after two years in the progressive wilderness. He is one of the brothers, but singled out for presidency of the United States of America.” In a clip from the following year, Clement again purports to channel the word of God: “Hear me, for I have found a man after my own heart and he is among you.
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