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President Donald Trump’s fundraising luncheon today (Sept. 17) ended up being in Los Trancos Woods near Portola Valley, but protesters found out about the location early enough this morning to switch their demonstration to Rossotti Field, a soccer field adjoining the Alpine Inn, the well-known Portola Valley roadhouse.
About 80 to 90 demonstrators showed up at the site, where a “baby Trump” balloon hung over the field.
The Trump motorcade, composed of four cars, thundered by at high speed at 11:30 a.m., turning left off Alpine Road onto Arastradero Road in the direction of 610 Los Trancos Road, the home of Scott McNealy, the former CEO of Sun Microsystems, once located in the Menlo Park building now occupied by Facebook.
“I heard that he was coming, and I felt compelled to make my protest,” said Mark Leather of Los Gatos. Leather was standing next to Arnie Thompson of San Francisco, who was holding the cable attached to the balloon.
Leather said he also participated in the 2016 demonstration when Trump spoke at a fundraiser at a Burlingame hotel, but he said this protest was a lot smaller.
The Raging Grannies, a group dedicated to social activism whose members dress up in outfits that mock stereotypes of older women, were out in force, holding up signs on Alpine Road as drivers whizzed past, many of them honking their horns to indicate support.
Ruth Roberts, a Palo Alto resident and a Raging Granny, said she is particularly opposed to Trump’s policy of separating families at the Mexican border.
“We have the granny attitude, which means protecting future generations,” Roberts said.
“Trump is sneaking in here to solve the homeless problem, but he’s just doing it as a publicity stunt.”
Marcia Plavcan of Redwood City said she was able to come out because she is currently off work taking care of her 6-year-old daughter. She said she was particularly incensed at Trump because she has friends who had to leave the country in fear of being deported.
“A lot of people who could have been here weren’t because they couldn’t take off work,” Plavcan said.
Some of the signs were clever. Jim Burrill of Redwood City held up one that read “Know More Muslims” and was handing out a leaflet that said “Toddlers shoot more Americans than Muslim immigrants do. Send all toddlers back where they came from!”
“There’s not too many opportunities to demonstrate against Trump in California, so I’m taking advantage of this one,” Burrill said.
The Trump motorcade was expected to make the reverse trip at about 1:30 p.m.
“I think I’m going to stay around because I missed (the motorcade) the first time,” Burrill said.
Bay City News wire service cited media pool reports that Trump’s press secretary Stephanie Grisham said that at the event Trump “participated in a roundtable with about 25 supporters, then moved to a larger area and spoke to a couple of hundred supporters about the many accomplishments of his administration.”
It was a brief visit to the Bay Area, with the luncheon being Trump’s only stop before departing for Southern California. He boarded Air
Force One back at Moffett Field shortly before 3 p.m. and is headed to another fundraiser Tuesday evening in Beverly Hills, according to media pool reports.
See earlier story.
That thing ROCKS!So exciting to see a real celebrity in town. Even trump came to see it apparently. So cool!
GO BABY GO!
GO BABY GO!
GO BABY GO!
GO BABY GO!
BABEEEEEEEEH! LOL 🙂
American Values.
Awesome.
Americans value honesty and integrity.
That’s why it’s easy to condemn most all politicians, even this one.
How can anyone support him or his policies? It is beyond me.
News reports say he only collected $3 million in “donations” on this trip. Surely all the logistics and security and disruption to the local economy cost way more than that. I hope the cities that were impacted are billing him for their costs.
” I hope the cities that were impacted are billing him for their costs.”
They can, but they’ll never get paid. Just ask Atherton.
@MenloV that’s not necessarily true:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Leaked-emails-reveal-Atherton-s-bill-for-Obama-8425535.php
Thank you, Mr. President, for visiting California and for all that you are doing to Make America Great Again! This President has done more to benefit the economy, security, trade relations that justly favor our country and to uphold the Constitution than many before him. Here’s to four more years and Trump in 2020 – MAGA! And please help MCGA (California) while we still have a chance.
Bills?
“Donald Trump, who’s going to El Paso this week, owes city more than $500K for his February rally
O’Rourke paid the city $21,000 for his February rally, but the president’s campaign hasn’t paid six city departments, including over $380,000 to the police.”
Scott, a whole lot of people are delighted that minority unemployment is at historic lows under President Trump’s administration.
Mich, you probably meant to write you are happy undocumented immigrant unemployment is low, not minority unemployment. But I guess you are showing your true colors via Freudian slip.
Unemployment is low due to the continued strength of the Obama Recovery from the Bush Great Recessions.
See monthly jobs chart:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JOTbwT7MJz8/XXJS8O6gNrI/AAAAAAAAy70/hJ-hV1PwzosxpXVoVUQl4Wy7YX24B7SkwCLcBGAs/s1600/PayrollAug2019.PNG
Look at that chart, if you dare to spit out your Fox koolaid.
John, no, I meant what I wrote: a whole lot of people are delighted that minority unemployment is at historic lows under President Trump’s administration. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ site shows the African American
unemployment rate is currently 5.5%. Under Obama, it was as high as 16.8%.
Mich – just can’t bear the facts in the jobs chart, can you?
It’s the Obama Recovery, clear as day. Any monthly chart (from 2000 on) will show even a Kansas bumpkin the truth. Trump is riding the Obama Recovery, but his actions (trade wars) are testing it’s elasticity.
Do not fear the actual facts. You can wear your red cap and absorb facts. We think.
Prove it.
Link: https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JOTbwT7MJz8/XXJS8O6gNrI/AAAAAAAAy70/hJ-hV1PwzosxpXVoVUQl4Wy7YX24B7SkwCLcBGAs/s1600/PayrollAug2019.PNG
Every month. Since the Bush Great Recession.
Home of the Brave, we can agree to disagree. Expert’s trace the “Bush Recession” to Clinton’s actions. Thank goodness Hillary was not elected. Shutter to think the state of the country if another Clinton were in the White House.
What a sodding nuisance – My poor dear wife was stuck for an hour trying to get home thanks to all of this. Have decided to rename it Los Trumpos in memory of the visit.
Make America Wait again
I have a question for the Almanac….Why do you only have comments from detractors of President Trump in your article? You also make it sound like there were many protesters out there. I was at the event and there were very few protestors along the road or even at the spot you mention in the article. Why don’t you mention the positive Trump signs along the way? Your biased reporting is so obvious. You are better than that. I just wish you could have been at the event so you would see the very diverse crowd of supporters—diverse in race, age, sexual orientation, etc.
I was back and forth on a Alpine Road a lot during that afternoon,, and I did not see any Pro-Trump signs. Not one. Where were they?
> Shutter (sic) to think the state of the country if another Clinton were in the White House.
Really? Bill Clinton ran a budget surplus. Name the last republican to run a budget surplus.
Or even the last republican to reduce the deficit.
hint: none of them, not a single one of them in our entire lifetime. Not Reagan, Bush the First, Bush the Lesser or definitely not Trump the Short Fingered.
Clinton gave America a budget surplus; Trump is back to running Bush-like trillion dollar deficits.
@pvresident was wrong about job creation – the chart proves it. And she’s wrong about the booming Clinton economy and the superior fiscal management policies of Democrats.
Let’s be clear: Scott McNealy’s shack at 610 Los Trancos Road is over the county line in the city of Palo Alto, in the county of Santa Clara, not in Portola Valley in the county of San Mateo.
We in Portola Valley were worried that McNealy would bring down the tone of the neighborhood. How right we were!
HOTB,
Credit Clinton for sending all our manufacturing jobs to China, preying upon a young woman in the Oval Office and, of course, lying about it.
Too funny. The trumpers give up on economic debate when the facts show that republicans are terrible for our deficit, spending like drunken sailors (no offense to celebratory seafarers.)
So now they want to talk about?
> Credit Clinton for
– US manufacturing is down under TRUMP
– misdeeds about a woman? TRUMP? You guys really want to talk about Trump’s admitted serial sexual abuse? Paying hookers, escorts and acttresses (illegally under FEWC rules, as well)
– and want to talk about a lie? Trumpers want to talk about liars?!?!?
Next thing you know, trumpers will want to highlight Melania’s family chain migration. Or the family values in the fact that Melania’s mother is younger than Trump?
Stick with republican economic failures.
HOTB – interesting that you group escorts, hookers and actresses into the same category. I think you owe Hollywood an apology. BTW, im not in favor of trump – did I defend him at all in my post? I just point out that other presidents ( that you hold in such hi esteem) have failed to pass your litmus test as applied to Trump.
Here’s a good read about Clinton:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-clintons-true-legacy_b_1852887
Trump is so divisive. Half my friends think he is the worst president of all time and the other half think he is a criminal con artist. Can’t we all just come together and agree he is an amoral narcissistic moron?
So disappointed in Scott McNeily.
95% of pro-Trump comments on message boards FB twitter and the like are STILL paid for by Putin and Friends.
Don’t feed the Trolls. Especially the paid ones.
@reality check: you brought up various ‘litmus tests’ and other presidents in a thread about Trump. Nice try shoveling your weak deflection attempts on to others.
> HOTB – interesting that you group escorts, hookers and actresses into the same category.
Yes, I brought them into the same category – women that Trump has either assaulted or slept with during his three marriages.
> I think you owe Hollywood an apology.
Nice to know the fringe right is now concerned with the feelings of ‘Hollywood’. Of course, you are well aware of the type of ‘actresses’ that Trump solicited or assaulted, didn’t come from Hollywood, they’re the ‘type’ that work primarily in the San Fernando Valley.
> failed to pass your litmus test as applied to Trump
Which test?
The “I admitted to serial sexual assault on video tape” litmus test?
The “I admitted to bribing a porn actress with $230,000” litmus test?
The “my campaign manager Corey Lewandowski just TESTIFIED under oath that the Mueller report of Trump’s ten cases of obstruction is TRUE” litmus test?
There are a lot of failed tests by Trump and his swamp full of criminals and grifters.
I’m glad he came to PV. I hope he comes again soon.
Amazing.
Withold 250 million dollars of American aid to the Ukraine, and then hit the ukrainians with 8 requests to help Trump cheat on Biden.
Trump learned a lot from Tony Soprano.
The Sunnis and the Shiites have been at war with each other for 1,000 years; now, in Trump’s enlightened wisdom, the USA will take sides and get involved. Another stupid move.
Next time Secret Service needs to notify residents in advance. Presidents visit PV and Woodside so often there needs to be procedure for it. And protestors need to protest in their own towns, it is already so disruptive when presidents visit. I hope Trumps visit will be his one and only but we can only hope.
To the McNealy’s I have two requests. Should you do this again please give us some warning so that those of us trapped at home could make arrangements in advance to avoid the road closures.
Secondly – if we are to have that much police presence in our community I would suggest we arrest the criminals rather than escort them.