SANTA MONICA — Roughly twenty demonstrators jeered presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — and his donors — as they arrived at the candidate’s first official fundraiser on Wednesday evening.
“Dump Trump! You’re supporting a white racist,” one man shouted at a car passing by, commenting to fellow protesters that behind the tinted windows, there was likely a rich white person.
The scene repeated itself several times, as luxury cars and shuttle buses from a remote parking site rolled west down San Vicente Boulevard. “Fuck Trump!” some shouted. “Go home!”
Occasionally, demonstrators accidentally jeered someone who lived in the area.
The fundraiser was Trump’s first of the campaign, after boasting throughout the primary that he had funded his own campaign and was beholden to nobody. A few hours before the event, the Los Angeles Times reported:
The dinner will be held at the home of Rachelle and Tom Barrack, according to an invitation obtained by The Times.
Guests paying $25,000 per person receive a photo and can attend the reception and dinner. Anyone paying $100,000 per couple becomes a member of the host committee and also gets a Republican National Committee Regent membership.
Only some of the money will go directly to Trump’s campaign; the rest will be shared with the Republican National Committee and other campaigns. The legal individual contribution limit for the 2016 general election is $2700.
Barrack is a wealthy investor, and at the time he purchased his $24.5 million Santa Monica home in 2014, it was among the most expensive residential real estate transactions in the town’s history.
The Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) was out in force, in cooperation with the Secret Service. SMPD Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks was onsite, and wandered over to talk to some of the protesters. Local authorities had feared a repeat of the rioting that has been organized in other Southern California communities have hosted Trump events, but a few profanities aside, the demonstration was largely genteel and good-humored.
Seabrooks seemed to stifle a smile as one of the buses rolled by.
Some demonstrators held signs declaring Trump “not welcome in Santa Monica,” or accusing him of being a “racist bigot [and] sexist.” One teenager held up a sign reading: “I’m in high school and I know more about foreign policy than Trump!”
The youth vote. #DumpTrump #SantaMonica pic.twitter.com/Imw85tR946
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) May 26, 2016
Neighbors and curious onlookers strolled by, walking dogs and playing with children. Eventually Trump’s own car, a black sedan, rolled by. There was more shouting — and then, as usual on a Wednesday evening, quiet.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new e-book, Leadership Secrets of the Kings and Prophets: What the Bible’s Struggles Teach Us About Today, is on sale through Amazon Kindle Direct. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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