HARLINGEN — For Democracy, he said.
That’s why Chris Pauley said he showed up Saturday for a pro-Joe Biden parade through town.
“I feel like he’s possibly our last hope to save Democracy,” Pauley said. “He’s not a serial liar and he respects the Democratic process.”
Pauley, 66, and more than 100 other supporters of Biden gathered Saturday amid rainy weather for the “In Solidarity-Riding With Biden” car parade. The Cameron County Democratic Women organized the event, said Diana Young, a member.
“We are doing this caravan to promote our American values,” said Young, 65. “We are standing up for our freedom.”
Young, Pauley and other Democrats drove through the rain waving U.S. flags and bearing signs with pro-Biden slogans such as, “Veterans for Biden,” “Biden/Harris,” and “Black Lives Matter.”
Amie Rankin waved the LGBT rainbow flag outside her car, which bore the sign, “This old lesbian votes Biden.”
“We need to get Trump out of office,” said Rankin, 65, who’d just finished the parade with her wife Marlene Stewart, 73.
“He’s in over his head, he’s incapable of leading this country and handling the issues whether it’s the virus or Gay rights or the national debt, unemployment,” she said.
She and Marlene expressed concern about the loss of rights in many areas including LGBT protections. They recalled a time when LGBT people had to keep silent.
“We didn’t have the privilege to do what we did today,” she said. “We had to stay in the closet to protect our jobs and our kids.”
Young considered the numerous gains in many areas made over the decades and expressed the importance of maintaining those gains.
“We can’t let this president destroy what we have,” she said.
Young expressed dismay over recent reports that President Donald Trump called some military veterans “losers.” Trump says those reports are not true.
“I had an uncle in World War II and a brother who’s in Veterans Hospital because of PTSD,” she said. “The remark offends many.”
Young was referring to a recent article in The Atlantic stating that Trump made disparaging remarks about some of America’s war dead and some Vietnam veterans. However, National Public Radio has been unable to confirm the story, which quotes only anonymous sources. Several White House representatives who were present at the incidents have refuted the claims. Trump himself has strongly denied the allegations.
Young, a retired educator, compared the president to a school yard bully.
As the cars passed through town, the honking of horns cut through the air and caught the attention of many. One heckler shouted, “Trump 2020” and laughed, while another snickered and just honked his horn. There were no hecklers visible at a Trump rally in Harlingen last weekend.
As the caravan drove through the street, one slender masked woman gave a thumbs up while a man shouted, “Biden, Biden.” The caravan had started with about 25 cars, but more vehicles joined until it became a long procession of people winding through the city.
