Several hundred horn-honking golf carts adorned with messages in support of President Trump paraded through Lake Sumter Landing and Spanish Springs Town Square late Wednesday afternoon.
The parade, which was organized by Villagers for Trump, departed Lake Miona Recreation Center around 4 p.m. and snaked its way through the two town squares. The participants shouted messages that included “Four more years!” to show their support for the president is his re-election bid against Democratic challenger former Vice President Joe Biden.
Longtime Villagers Pat and Greg Sawulski spent about an hour Wednesday afternoon waving at the long line of golf carts rolling through Lake Sumter Landing. The 13-year residents of the Village of Ashland were flying their own Trump flag and were thrilled to take part in the event.
“We’ve got to get him in,” Pat said of Trump, as cheers for the golf carts roared across Market Square. “We’re Republicans and we think he’s done an excellent job.”
Greg said both he and his wife are big Trump fans and have been for many years. He said both were very excited to be in Lake Sumter Landing to show their support for the parade, the likes of which have become staples in The Villages.
“When I heard there was a Trump parade, there’s nothing that could stop me from being here,” he said. “We just got out of a boat parade in Michigan that had 900 boats. Everything was excellent and we all loved it.”
Pat, while taking time to wave to passing carts, said she’s fed up with the mainstream media’s treatment of the president.
“They don’t give him credit for anything and only try to destroy him,” she said. “He’s a very, very strong man. I think Trump is the only one who could have put up with all of this.”
Both of the Sawulskis agreed that the upcoming presidential election in November could be the turning point for the United States between freedom and socialism.
“There’s no doubt about it,” Greg said. “That’s right on the money.”
Pat agreed.
“That’s scary,” she added. “We’re 100 percent for freedom.”
The long line of golf carts sporting patriotic colors and a plethora of pro-Trump signs also paraded through Spanish Springs Town Square later Wednesday afternoon. They made their way down Morse Boulevard as passing vehicles honked and motorists used their cell phones to take videos of the procession.
Several people wearing Trump shirts were spotted sitting in front of the now-closed Demshar’s restaurant while waiting for the carts to come by. Others camped out along Paige Place to see the parade roll into The Villages’ original town square that’s going through a tumultuous time right now with closed businesses and an abundance of second-floor apartments possibly on the horizon.
Wednesday’s parade was a marked difference from a similar event that was held in June that was punctuated by shouting matches between participants and Democratic protesters and a male golf cart driver almost coming to blows with a woman who was blasting Trump with foul language. That event also gained worldwide attention after a Villages-News.com video that included a participant shouting “White power!” was retweeted two weeks later by President Trump. He took the tweet down a short time later but the story and the controversial video became the main headline for news stations across the world for the next several days.
Notorious Trump basher Ed McGinty also was absent from Wednesday’s event. In fact, no protesters were present at the corner of Lake Sumter Landing and Old Mill Run near Panera Bread where they normally set up shop. Instead, McGinty, who filmed a segment with CNN earlier this year, reported being attacked after a Blue Lives Matter parade and has received several threatening notes, was parked all alone along Morse Boulevard not far from County Road 466A shortly before the event started. Among the anti-Trump signs on his golf cart was one that included the words, “Burn in hell.”
