To Trump or Trump not: Two camps receive former president in Wyoming’s bluest enclave

JACKSON—Valley residents and visitors sought to catch a glimpse of former President Donald Trump as he twice traversed Jackson Hole in a motorcade to attend an expensive invitation-only fundraiser at the Four Seasons Resort on Saturday.

The Republican presidential nominee made no public appearances, but handsfull of people waited along streets and roads to watch his procession of some 15 vehicles drive by. By all accounts, Trump remains deeply popular in Wyoming, having won the state by wide margins in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

He landed at the Jackson Hole Airport very early Saturday morning after attending a rally in Bozeman, Montana. He then went from his lodging at the Rusty Parrot Lodge to Teton Village for the luncheon fundraiser, then back to the airport to depart at 3:40 p.m.

Flight tracking services said the Gulfstream 550 twin jet with “Trump 2024” painted on the side was headed for Aspen, Colorado.

“I came here to see my president,” said Margie Aeckerle, a 50-year Jackson resident who was roadside near the airport Saturday afternoon sporting a patriotic blouse, MAGA cap over her sun bonnet, and waving two American flags.

“I’m so excited my mouth is dry,” she said.

Aeckerle was hoping her red, white and blue would attract Trump’s attention.

“If I had my flags out,” she said, “he might roll down the window.”

But police asked her and others to move along before the motorcade arrived.

On the square

Trump’s private appearance was counterbalanced by a public rally supporting the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.

About 200 people assembled on the Jackson Town Square on Friday evening to wave signs at passing motorists and pedestrians for about an hour.

Leslie Petersen, a longtime Democratic party member, office holder and activist in Teton County and Wyoming who attended the rally, said her party’s “return to joy” theme was not just a slogan.

She characterized the sentiment as “an honest to God fact,” in a text message sent after the rally. “The joy and conviviality in the crowd was evident and the number of hugs uncountable.”

Drive-by supporters honked horns regularly as they passed the rally, which took place in the heart of one of Wyoming’s few left-leaning communities. A group of about five Trump supporters briefly shouted their views from across the street. Rally goers reported at least one instance of being flipped off.

“The number of honks and thumbs-up from cars and passersby was further evidence of widespread Harris support,” Petersen said.

Diehard Democrat and Hawaii native Brian Tanabe couldn’t pass up the chance to try and get a photograph of Trump’s plane in front of the Tetons on Saturday afternoon. After being rained out of a hike in the hills, he and companion Rick Knori hung out on the access road to the airport hoping to snag a picture of Trump’s big jet with a mountain backdrop.

“We just thought it would be special – for his wife,” Tanabi said, pointing to Knori. She’s a Trump fan, they said.

“Nothing like a Trump keepsake,” Tanabe said.

Trump’s big jet, a Boeing 757, had a mechanical problem Friday and landed in Billings instead of Bozeman. After his rally there, he took the smaller jet to Jackson Hole. The Gulfstream presented a less impressive scene than its larger cousin presumably would have.

That didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of Greg Falk, 82, who was roadside north of the airport when the plane took off. He was returning from the Bozeman rally with two friends.

A Star Valley resident who has operated an outdoor guide service in Jackson Hole for 30 years, he was still high on the excitement from the night before.

“He was fantastic,” Falk said of Trump. “The crowd was fantastic.

“He’s our kind of person,” Falk said. He’s strong. He cares about our country.”

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