Trump Anonymous? Backers say some who support him won’t admit it
Less than a month ago, 56,084 voters here chose Donald J. Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.
A few even still admit it.
“I have lots of friends who voted for him, but they don’t tell anybody,” said North Richland Hills Republican Pat Carlson, a former county party chairwoman.
“I’m one of the few evangelical Christians with the courage to say it in public.”
Trump is saying what 90 percent of Americans think and most people are just afraid to say.
Former county Republican chairwoman Pat Carlson
On the heels of Protestgate, Wifegate and way too many offhand comments, the Great Manipulator has managed to embarrass many of his most prominent voters and supporters.
“I do wish he would think before he speaks,” said Carlson, an Eagle Forum activist along with Eagle founder and Trump backer Phyllis Schlafly.
“But Trump is saying what 90 percent of Americans think and most people are just afraid to say.”
Tarrant County delivered the second-largest mother lode of Trump votes in Texas, behind the 80,024 from Harris County (Houston).
Trump’s biggest victories came in the older suburbs of Haltom City and Richland Hills, along with the Fort Worth neighborhood of Western Hills.
(In Westover Hills, where some of the voters are in Trump’s tax bracket, he drew 107 votes but lost by eight to Marco Rubio.)
But after that came a four-week Trumpnado of perpetual drama.
First, he said he wanted to punch a protester. Then, he predicted “riots” if he falls short of the required 50 percent of delegates but still is not awarded the party nomination.
That hubbub had just started to subside by last week, when Trump sent his 7 million-plus Twitter followers an unattractive photo of Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi.
By week’s end, with supermarket tabloids patrolling Cruz’s neighborhood, Trump was airily denying any connection — “I have no idea whether … the National Enquirer is true or not” — and tagging comments “Lyin’ Ted.”
This nonsense has nothing to do with the campaign or who’d make a good president.
Plano Republican and Trump voter Wayne Richard
Besides Carlson, Plano business executive and talk radio host Wayne Richard (Stand With Wayne) is one of few local Republicans publicly taking Trump’s side.
“I still support Trump,” Richard said Friday.
“This nonsense has nothing to do with the campaign or who’d make a good president. You’ve got super PACs that will send out anything.”
Richard, founder of the Plano-based ICglobal drone services company, said he still wants Trump because “he has the experience running a company and an organization.”
“Trump is the one drawing attention to issues,” Richard said.
“He’s the one who got people talking about building a wall. He’s the one who talked about limiting the number of Muslims we let come in.”
Richard said he wished Cruz and connected Tea Party figures hadn’t been used as tabloid fodder: “It’s insulting that even got printed. … That’s a rag.
“I just wish everybody would step back and take a breath.”
Hold your nose.
Bud Kennedy: 817-390-7538, bud@star-telegram.com, @BudKennedy. His column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 2:20 PM with the headline "Trump Anonymous? Backers say some who support him won’t admit it."