Everyone wants a front row seat. The lines can wrap around the venue for days leading up to the event. Outside, people are selling merch, customized pins for each city, and banners.
No, we’re not talking about an Eras Tour concert – this is the usual scene at President-elect Donald Trump’s rallies, and it will amplified at his upcoming inauguration.
On the extreme end of the spectrum, these die-hard Trump supporters are not your typical political supporters. They are fans like Grateful Dead fans; they are fans like Taylor Swift fans; they are fans like NFL fans. When you reach that level of fandom, they will turn your family members (like 18-year-old Barron Trump) into stars in their own right. They will follow you around, travel for you. Stan culture has met politics, with Donald Trump boasting more dedicated supporters than ever.
Among some of Trump’s superfans are the “Front Row Joes,” a community of supporters who travel the country to secure front row seats at the president-elect’s rallies.
Edward Young, 65, who prefers the title of “the world’s greatest Trump supporter,” has been to 107 Trump rallies and hundreds of pro-Trump events across the country since Trump’s first rally in 2015 – and even turned down an invite to join the exclusive Front Row Joes group.
“I’m a lone wolf,” he says. “They almost had a military-style command, where the ones at the top decided where you would go, where you could sit, who you could talk to.”
Young has stood in line for up to three days before a rally to secure a seat behind Trump, often alongside the Front Row Joes. He likes to wear a green MAGA hat rather than a red one so that he stands out in the crowd when seated behind Trump.
“It’s the greatest show on Earth, a Trump rally,” he says. “It’s like the greatest rock concert you’ve ever attended, plus the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Fourth of July, your birthday, New Year’s Eve, whatever it is, everything rolled into one.”
Michael Lewis, a marketing professor at Emory University and host of “Fanalytics,” a fandom and sports podcast, likens these Trump supporters to the most passionate sports fans − and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.
It becomes a problem when a political fandom begins to impact every aspect of a person’s life or turns into an obsession, says CarrieLynn Reinhard, a communication arts and sciences professor at Dominican University in Illinois.
These fandoms can also contribute to the political division we see in our country today, Lewis says. For every fandom, there is an “anti-fandom,” or “out group.” If you view your favored politician to be a winning sports team, there has to be a losing team, too. It breeds rivalry.
‘Trump is our first rock star, superhero president’
Young has been affiliated with both the Democratic and Republican parties throughout his life. He got involved with the Ronald Reagan campaign in high school, but lost faith in George Bush. His wife at the time was liberal, and he shifted left.