Blog updates: President Donald Trump delivers speech at Pensacola rally
President Trump speaks at rally
President Trump spoke at a rally at the ST Engineering hangar at the Pensacola International Airport.
Watch the president's speech by clicking here.
Mobile resident to see sitting president speak for first time
Mobile resident Kelly Jones got to Pensacola just after 4 p.m. with one goal in mind: She wanted to see a sitting president speak for the first time in her life.
“I went to two (Donald Trump) rallies in Mobile but he wasn’t inaugurated yet,” Jones said, as she pinned a Trump 2020 button to her American flag T-shirt. “He wasn’t elected the first time and the second time he was elected but not inaugurated.”
It had been well over an hour since guests were admitted into the ST Engineering rally site by the time Jones and the friend she traveled with arrived in Pensacola, so the first-come, first-serve seating was completely filled when she entered.
About two hours before Trump was scheduled to speak, Jones admitted she was a little nervous about the distance between herself and the stage.
“I have vision trouble so distance can be a problem for me,” Jones said. “But we’ll see how it goes.”
Still, through a thin veil of concern, Jones was mostly excited on Friday night.
“I just look forward to hearing him say what he’s going to do the next four years,” she said.
— Contributed by Jake Newby
Nashville veteran makes six-hour trek to Pensacola
Despite coming to the rally decked out in a red, white and blue bathing suit, a Trump bucket hat, red 2020 Trump socks and matching red Skechers, Illinois resident Mike Mullins said his outfit could have been a lot louder had he had more time to plan.
“I wish I came prepared,” Mullins said, half-jokingly. “The rally was here and we didn’t know about it until this morning. We came from Leroy, Illinois.”
Mullins, a veteran, served in the U.S. Navy at NAS Pensacola years ago and now he frequently visits the city with his wife. Mullins strategically aimed to stay the night in Nashville Thursday in hopes of attending the final presidential debate, but he wasn’t able to do so.
He was, however, able to make the six-hour trek from Nashville into Pensacola in time to enter the ST Engineering rally site with thousands of other anticipatory Trump supporters.
“We didn’t even check into the hotel yet,” he said.
Mullins said he admires Trump because he believes the president represents the every-man.
“He tells it like it is,” Mullins said. “I love the man. He speaks a little rough, but it sounds just like when I talk.”
— Contributed by Jake Newby
Brothers hope to meet Trump
Dressed in small suits, one with a red baseball hat and one with silver-painted hair, the Scott brothers were hoping they’ll be noticed and get the chance to meet President Trump.
Seven-year-old Thomas and 6-year-old Gage were heading to Trump’s rally in Pensacola Friday with their mom Crystal Scott form Brewton, Alabama.
She said her boys often dress up as the president and vice president and go campaigning in their local Walmart.
So far, the boys had been stopped "hundreds of times" by fellow supporters to take photos, she said.
“They go ‘Oh, how adorable. They’re so cute,’” Scott said.
If the brothers don’t achieve their ultimate goal of meeting the president Friday, Scott said her boys hoped to get on TV or be invited to the White House sometime to meet him in the future.
Scott said Friday will be the boys’ third Trump rally they’ve attended. She started them learning about politics young to hopefully encourage them to vote later on in life.
“It’s important that everyone gets out and votes and I feel like if I teach them now at such an early age, then that would encourage them to vote when they get older,” Scott said.
— Contributed by Madison Arnold
Attendees begin moving inside
Dana Addison was absent for President Donald Trump’s 2018 rally in Pensacola, but the 76-year-old wasn’t going to miss this one.
Addison sat in her wheelchair just behind the last row of chairs in the center seating section at the ST Engineering area rally site at 4 p.m., about 45 minutes after guests were admitted. Addison said she was settled in and excited for the night ahead.
“He keeps all his promises and he works hard, even though everyone in the world’s against him,” Addison said of Trump. “He works hard to keep up from being a Communist country.”
She wasn’t at all tired or discouraged a few hours into an afternoon filled with travel, transportation and a whole lot of waiting around. In fact, Addison thought she had it made.
“I’m getting wheeled around everywhere,” she said, which got a chuckle out of her granddaughter. “It’s not a problem at all. Just waiting for Trump now.”
— Contributed by Jake Newby
Rally trip was birthday celebration
Friday is Gena Hixson's 72nd birthday and to celebrate, the DeFuniak Springs resident decided to see the president with her two sisters.
She was decked out in an American flag polo shirt and bucket hat with a shiny “It’s my birthday” sash.
“I’m sure President Trump is going to say 'Happy birthday, Gena!'" Hixson said. “And I’m going to go 'Thanks, pres!'"
Hixson said one sister signed up for the tickets and drove her to Pensacola as a present. That’s better than the "cheap card" her other sister got her, she said with a laugh.
Although she’s never spent a birthday with a president before, she has seen Trump speak once, just after he was elected. She said she stood in the poring rain to see him that time, much different than the sun an heat she was standing in Friday afternoon.
Hixson said she appreciates Trump's support of both military and police because her husband is a retired Army Corps of Engineers member and a Vietnam veteran.
She also serves as a poll worker and said she believes it’s important to vote.
"If you don’t go vote, you don’t get a voice," Hixson said.
— Contributed by Madison Arnold
Veterans at rally voice support for Trump
Amidst a sea of Republican-red clothing, there were dots of khaki green — people sporting shirts with hues like those of Army fatigues with the written message, “Veterans for Trump.”
“There are big groups of veterans that support the president around here, particularly in the area between Pensacola and Panama City,” said Stephen Santana, who wore one such shirt while waiting in line Friday to attend the president’s rally.
“I keep in touch with some of them through social media these days,” he said. “Even though we’re spread all over the country, there really are still a lot of use around here.”
Santana, who lives in Fort Walton Beach, spent 12 years in the U.S. Air Force and said there is one big reason why he believes a veterans will, “of course,” support the sitting president.
More:Donald Trump rally in Pensacola: What to know about the president's visit
“I’m a disabled vet, and the VA Choose program, which started under Trump’s leadership, has been fantastic,” Santana said. “It used to be that you would have to pick a doctor already listed in the VA network. “But now I can see whatever doctor I want. I can schedule an appointment with my doctor and not have to wait to get into the VA, and he’s cut processing times for claims, making them way shorter.”
Veteran Stephen Cancellare retired in Pensacola after a 29-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Protecting his face from the midday sun Friday afternoon, Cancellare's cowboy hat cast a shadow on his stately button down shirt, as polished Corn snake-skin boots hugged his feet.
“I might of been born in Boston,” Cancellare said, “but I was raised in Texas.”
And he’s a huge Trump supporter.
“I saw a commercial that said, ‘Republican veterans against Trump,’” Cancellare said. “I thought, ‘How can you be a Republican and not support Trump? That’s why I came. To show my support as a veteran. Trump’s words are always being distorted.”
About 100 yards away, Ryan Rambo stood waiting in line in anticipation of the president’s Pensacola rally.
More:Donald Trump in Pensacola: Devoted fans cross the country to see the president
Rambo, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, spent 26 years in the U.S. Army.
“I’ve served during the George H. Bush era, the Clinton era, through the Bush Jr. era and throughout the Obama era,” he explained. “I’ve seen the roller-coaster of how different administration play with the military — build it up, draw it back down— fund it less, fund it more.
“It’s like the military has been on a yo-yo string for 30 years,” Rambo continued. “I like Trump, because he hasn’t started any new wars, he tried to keep getting us out of wars we’re still in and funded the military well.
“I really think he has been good for the military,” he concluded, “I really do.”
— Contributed by Colin Warren-Hicks
Trump rally is like 'Christmas gift'
Even in a sea of red, white and blue memorabilia, Angel Day stood out.
Day came to the rally in a blue Trump 2020 T-shirt and a red and white striped-dress. In one arm she cradled a baby with an American flag onesie, and with the other she wrangled and directed her other six children as they waved Trump umbrellas.
The family had come from Washington state to visit a friend and tour Dinosaur Adventure Land, a Creationist museum and amusement park in Alabama.
“Then I heard about the Trump rally, which is what I wanted for Christmas or my birthday,” Day said with a laugh.
She said she supports Trump because he is pro-life, pro-Second Amendment and pro-America, and Day said he had made great trade deals for the country and kept the peace globally.
She described Trump as the “all-American president.”
Day said her home in the Olympia, Washington, area is “liberal country” where it was assumed most folks leaned left politically. Still, she said she after working to create dialogue between groups of all different perspectives, she had been surprised how many people in her area were actually Trump supporters.
She said she didn’t understand how people could not support him based on his accomplishments.
Day said after the rally, the next stop on their family vacation was to see her “Biden-lovin’ mother-in-law,” but she added with a laugh, “I raised my kids right. They all say ‘Trump 2020, four more years.'"
— Contributed by Kevin Robinson
Neighbor has front-row seat to Trump action
For the second time since 2018, Jeff Winn has had a front row seat to all the action that precedes a Trump rally at the ST Engineering facility.
Winn lives in the College Heights apartment complex off of McAllister and Langley, so he sees everything from the first police blockade that is set up the evening prior, to the last bunch of Trump supporters to shuttle off to the rally around 6 p.m.
"It doesn't bother me," Winn said stoically from his front porch, just past noon Friday.
Winn noted that both in November 2018 and on Friday, immediately before Trump flew into Pensacola, Secret Service members spent time vetting the area outside of his apartment.
"They were out checking through all these trees here and across the street to make sure no one was in them," Winn said. "They came to just check for anybody who was out and about."
Why Trump is visiting Pensacola:Trump looks to boost voter turnout in Northwest Florida with Pensacola visit
The resident noted that the pre-rally lines always get noisy around 10 a.m. on the morning of the event. He said the first handful of Trump supporters plant their flags on Langley the night before.
As far as the Nov. 3 election goes, Winn said he prefers Democratic nominee Joe Biden, though the Pensacola man doesn’t seem impassioned either way.
"I prefer Biden," Winn said. "Trump’s got problems with everything, and I think Biden shows more curiosity toward regular people than Trump does."
— Contributed by Jake Newby
Trump supporters tout president's debate performance
Dianne Sentek came from Gulf Shores, Alabama, for her first chance to see the president speak live.
She added that she watches Trump on TV every night, and that she was especially excited to hear from Trump following his strong performance during a debate with Joe Biden on Thursday night.
Sentek said he had made a strong case for himself to undecided voters.
"His tone and demeanor were less abrasive," Sentek said. "He had solutions. I think he’s a man of solutions."
Sentek said she is an Air Force veteran and a registered nurse, and that she believes Trump’s efforts to support treatments for COVID-19 were moving at “warp speed.”
She said along with protecting Americans’ health, he was a protector of their free speech, a protector of the free press, a protector of the Second Amendment and of the American way of life.
“He’s the president of freedom,” Sentek said.
— Contributed by Kevin Robinson
Attendees move closer to rally site
At 12:40 p.m. Friday, the long line of Trump supporters was moved from Langley Street to a new line just outside of the ST Engineering rally site.
People were asked to take the 13-minute walk up the road unless they were elderly or disabled, in which case they were transported to the rally site via golf cart.
Those directing traffic and instructing folks to move along said this had always been the plan. Organizers just wanted to make sure the rally site was completely set up and ready to go.
People were sent up the road three and a half hours before the 4 p.m. entry time so everyone wasn’t flooding in at once, according to organizers.
— Contributed by Jake Newby
More than 250 line up by 12:30 p.m.
The line had reached more than 250 people by 12:30 p.m., and at the end of the line was a group of four Asian-American wearing pro-Trump hats and shirts.
Flor Sundberg, Timi Mchence, Nora Sutton and Mildrid Riley all live in Navarre and have been to all four Trump rallies in Pensacola and one in Panama City, making Friday their sixth rally.
"He's an outsider, and whatever he promised he's doing it,” Sutton said. “That's what we like about him.”
Sundberg said she is there to support Trump no matter what, and hopes to hear about the economy tonight, while Riley said she supports Trump for his anit-abortion stance.
“He's pro-life,” Riley said. “I don't want abortion. We're Catholic, and we're very devote Catholic, so we're pro-life.”
Meanwhile, the end of the line had reached some of the vender tents set up along Langley Avenue.
Raven Black worked at largest vender shop run by Represent Freedom out of Gibsonton, Florida, that was selling everything from Trump T-shirts to Trump socks complete with orange hair that you can brush and shampoo.
Black said they arrived in town last night at 1 a.m. to make it to Friday’s rally and set up their booth by 10 a.m.
“We see a whole lot of love, we see a little dislike. But it is, what it is, we keep it moving.
Trump 2020 flags are their best sellers, but one of the items increasing in popularity is Trump for president in 2024.
“I think the 2024 flag is my favorite,” Black said.
— Contributed by Jim Little
Supporters from across the country rally in Pensacola for Trump
Devoted fans of President Donald Trump made the trek to Pensacola from miles away, crossing state lines and coming from as far away as the West Coast to feel part of the collective raucous energy that the president is famous for generating in his supporters.
"I've been a hardcore Republican since I was 20 years old," said Mario Ponce, from Orange Beach, California, as he stood in line in Pensacola to see the president Friday morning.
"I'm 50 now, and I got this when I was 20," he said, as he pulled up his T-shirt sleeve to reveal a large tattoo of the Republican Party elephant symbol with multi-color flames rolling across its back and the letters G.O.P.
Ponce flew from California to see the president speak in Pensacola with his travel companion, David Welde.
"My partner and I got in at 10 o’clock last night, and we fly out at 6 a.m. tomorrow," Ponce said, calling it a "turn-and-burn trip to support the president."
Although the trip was Ponce's idea, Welde quickly got on board.
"We wanted to go see Trump as far on the East Coast that we could, just to do it," Welde said. "We wanted to feel the energy. ... We'd seen on TV that the energy is always high at these.”
Ponce is a retired police officer, and Welde still works in the field of law enforcement. Both men are avid supporters on gun rights.
"In California they've banned assault rifles and high-cap magazines and even took a lot of handguns off the roster. ... That means you can’t buy them anymore," Welde said.
Rally details:Donald Trump rally in Pensacola: What to know about the president's visit
Standing farther down the line, Michelle Presley of Atlanta, Georgia, said she made the four-and-a-half-hour trip to Pensacola Friday morning hoping that she would see a "sassier" version of Trump than she did several years ago at a rally in Chattanooga.
"There were 10,000 to 11,000 people there, but it was right after the election, and he looked a little tired," Presely said. "He wasn’t as sassy as normal. I like it when he has some sass."
Many people waiting in line Friday in Pensacola came from neighboring Alabama. Among them was Dana Crager, who made the two-hour drive to Florida on Friday along with her four boys, mother Kaye Waites and mother-in-law Donna Crager.
"We have four boys here that are as excited as they could be to see Trump," Waites said.
The three women said 11-year-old Dax Crager was the "most patriotic" of his brothers and was the most excited by the chance to see the president in-person.
"I love the country, Trump and everything and guns," Dax said. "Ever since I knew that we were coming, I’ve been super excited."
— Contributed by Colin Warren-Hicks
With time to spare, supporters hold tailgate before rally
To save about an hour on their commute to President Donald Trump's rally Friday evening, friends Allan Bell and Shawn York jumped on Bell's boat in Gulf Breeze to travel to Pensacola.
From there, the duo picked up an RV to tailgate outside the rally and planned to have their children join them before the president's evening event starts.
"We're just here bringing our kids out to experience the president," Bell said. "I know the lines were going to get long and the kids' patience, they're not very focused very long standing in line so we said, 'Well maybe we'll bring this out here and do a little tailgating and kind of make it an adventure.'"
The kids range in age from 9 to 15, and York said he believes November's election will be extremely important for their future. He said regardless of what side of the fence people are on politically, it’s important for the kids to experience seeing the president.
"For me personally, it's just seeing the American spirit alive. Again, it doesn't matter which side you're supportive of, it's just the sheer energy of coming together and celebrating our democracy," York said.
The decision to tailgate at the rally was a last minute one for York and Bell. They decided to grill out a barbecue shrimp lunch and "the whole nine yards" before jumping back in line.
"The media says that everybody in the South is a bunch of dumb, poor rednecks and so we decided to come but here and be a little redneck," York said with a laugh.
— Contributed by Madison Arnold
Heading to the rally? Prepare for sun and possibility of rain
As of about noon, it was alternating between sunny and overcast at the Pensacola International Airport, but so far there’s been no sign of rain.
The National Weather Service in Mobile, Alabama, has forecast a slight chance of thunderstorms for the early afternoon, about 20%, but those chances will rise as the day goes on.
By 4 to 5 p.m., the chance of rain will top out at around 50%, then creep back down to around 30% by the time the event begins at 7 p.m.
Rally details:Donald Trump rally in Pensacola: What to know about the president's visit
Temperatures are expected to hold steady at around 80 degrees in the day time, but dip to around the mid-70s this evening.
Still, there is not much shade to be found in the line for the event, and attendees may want to consider bringing hats, sunscreen and water.
— Contributed by Kevin Robinson
Merchants selling Trump gear hope for banner sales
President Donald Trump’s rally Friday could be a real opportunity for Mabel Mallens' small store that sells patriot-themed products.
Mallens just took over the Passionate Patriot store in Fort Walton this summer after her friend and the original owner died of cancer.
She packed up all the Trump-themed merchandise in her store and drove over to Pensacola Thursday evening in a minivan packed full.
"I said this is a chance for me to put my own products, which are all homemade out into more than just Fort Walton," Mallens said.
Mallens was selling flags, homemade koozies, shirts and flags. She had to send her associate to the store to buy another table to fit all her products.
While it’s her first outing to sell since taking over the store, Mallens said she’s hoping for a busy day and to get more well known. She said her business is small, but “filled with love.”
"This whole country is a passion of mine. We have the best country in the world. The people that complain about it don’t want to leave. That should tell you something,” Mallens said. “I don’t want it to change. I want my children and grandchildren to have the same freedoms, the same excitement and liberties that I had growing up and that I have as an adult.”
— Contributed by Madison Arnold
Two FSU students travel overnight to be first in line for Trump rally
The first people in line to see President Donald Trump speak in Pensacola on Friday were surprisingly energetic for two people who hadn’t slept in more than 24 hours.
Florida State University underclassmen 18-year-old Elisabeth Akerson and 19-year-old Dustin Batchelor said they had not slept since 8 a.m. Thursday as they made the trek overnight from Tallahassee for the president's rally.
"We hail from Orlando, but we traveled here from Tallahassee because we go to Florida State,” Batchelor said. “We got here at 3 a.m.”
Actually, they arrived in Pensacola even earlier than that, but didn't know exactly where to go. It took them about a hour to find the field where rally attendees were instructed to park and then figure out on at which corner of the field they should line up.
"We wanted to be first in line," Batchelor said. "This is our first rally and we really wanted to make it worth it. To really be up here. I think Donald Trump is first and foremost, really a performer. The winner of politics, period — I'm a political science major — the winner of politics is someone who is able to motivate and mobilize people. And you don't do that by not being able to connect with them. Seeing him in person, I believe there is a whole new energy to be found through President Donald Trump."
Akerson said that she hopes to fell a more personal connection to the president.
"He does so well online and through his debate, and I think by seeing him in person, we’ll have a more personal connection,” Akerson said, adding that she was not always a Republican.
"I'm premed," she said. "I'm a neuro science major. I want to be a pediatric neurosurgeon, which is a male-dominated field, and people on the left are like, 'You aren't going to do that, because it’s a male dominated field.' And it's like, 'No, I can, I can do that.'"
— Contributed by Colin Warren-Hicks
About 50 people line up 10 hours before Trump's visit
Ten hours before President Donald Trump was expected to speak at a rally Friday evening in Pensacola, supporters were already lining up outside.
By about 9 a.m., a line of about 50 people — many of them wearing Republican Party-themed shirts and Make America Great Again caps and, in some cases, holding GOP flags and seated in elephant-decaled lawn chairs — already extended down the edge of Langley Avenue.
The president is scheduled to speak at the rally at 7 p.m. at the ST Engineering hangar at the Pensacola International Airport. The president's last rally in Pensacola in November 2018 took place at the same location.
The entrance line begins at the corner of Langley and McAllister avenues on the west side of the intersection, across the street from the airport and adjacent to a field serving as a parking lot for the event.
Pensacola police ask that those attending the event note the entrance into the parking field is on Ninth Avenue, marked by a digital sign and next to the fire station and ask that no one attempt to enter the field from any other direction.
By 9:30 a.m. about 15 vendors peddling shot glasses, shirts, bandanas and all sorts of Trump gear were starting to set up shop just south of the entrance line.
— Contributed by Colin Warren-Hicks
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