Nearly 300 people rallied in West Hollywood around noon today to begin a #WalkAway protest against the Democratic Party.
The #WalkAway event is one of a number that have taken place around the country to rally members of the Democratic Party who have “walked away” from it to endorse Donald Trump and condemn what they call the “radical Left.”
The event began on the southeast corner of Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards. People were gathering there shortly after noon, waving American flags and Trump re-election banners, holding up #WalkAway posters and National Rifle Association signs and cheering when those driving by honked their horns in an apparent sign of support.
Around 1:30 p.m. people began marching west on the sidewalk along Santa Monica Boulevard to rally at Beverly Garden Park in Beverly Hills. The main speaker there was Drew Hernandez, creator of the LivesMatter social media campaign that purports to call out “fake media” to support Donald Trump.
Starting the march in West Hollywood might seem unusual given that the vast majority of voters in West Hollywood are registered as Democrats, and the city got a lot of attention in 2016 when Mayor Lindsey Horvath said Donald Trump was banned from coming to West Hollywood.
However, there are Republicans in the community. Daniel and Simon Mani, who are among the city’s biggest real estate tycoons, are major donors to Donald Trump’s re-election campaign (and to the campaigns of incumbent West Hollywood City Council members). And the Log Cabin Republicans of Los Angeles, an organization of gay Republicans who are avid supporters of Donald Trump, lists West Hollywood as its address. The Log Cabin Republicans have announced to their members what sounds likely to be a very crowded pool party this weekend at a location disclosed only to members who confirm they are attending. A promotion sent to the members was dismissive of COVID-19 regulations and jokingly described the event as “lawless.”
The crowd at today’s march and rally was peaceful and predominately white and middle-aged. However there were some Black #WalkAway supporters, some who clearly were gay and lesbian, and some in their 20s and 30s. One supporter held a sign calling out the names of Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean, Black men who died of methamphetamine overdoses in the Laurel Avenue apartment of Ed Buck, a white man known for his donations to Democratic Party candidates.
Despite the fact that they were gathered close together and cheering loudly and shouting, relatively few of those at the rally wore face coverings, which are required by law to reduce the transmission of the COVID-19 virus.
One of the crowds’ biggest cheers came on the arrival of Brandon Straka, the founder of #WalkAway. Straka’s #WalkAway campaign took off in 2018 when he posted a video ahead of the midterm elections in which he explained why he walked away from Democratic Party. He has been a regular guest since then on various Fox News shows and in October 2018 he led a #WalkAway march in Washington, D.C., that attracted more than 5,000 participants. Donald Trump praised the movement in a Tweet in 2019.
Questions have been raised about who besides Strake is behind the #WalkAway movement. The website Hamilton 68, a product of the Alliance for Securing Democracy that tracks Russia’s interference on U.S. elections, says there is evidence that WalkAway is connected to Russian bots that promote the movement as more popular than it really is.
Another #WalkAway celebrity was Joy Villa, an Argentine-American singer-songwriter with a Black mother who is notorious for wearing the sort of dresses to Grammy Awards events that put Villa on Huffington Post’s “Most Outrageous Looks for the 2016 Grammy’s” list. In 2017, her Grammy outfit feature Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” and the name “Trump.” She showed up at today’s rally in a similar outfit with the letters T R U M P down the front of her body.
…also, so received to see people are NOT wearing masks. The science does NOT back it up – but you will never know this unless you do your own research – mainstream media barely touches on it and supports on Drs. Evil in command of our lives….Fauci and Birx. Don’t be fooled, Fauci hits pay big time with his patents/investments in vaccines (just like Bill Gates). They want you to wear masks to keep the fear going; it’s all about fear and conformity for our government.
I think this is terrific. Good for everyone. I’ve always been a liberal democrat and everyone I am close to in my life is liberal as well, including my husband. I’ve been defecting from the dem party. Not completely sure about being conservative – but it sure looks better to me in this horrible climate (SARS Covid imprisonment & the rioting) that were currently living in. I have woken up to the fact that people should be able to express their beliefs, show the flag proudly without being threatened and pigeon holed for being a conservative.
Love real people looking for the truth, step up and listen to their hearts! Our Republic, our Bill of Rights and our Constitution are for all Americans! Politicians can only come and go based on our understanding from research of the facts they produce in office! Thank you for all of the #WalkAway Americans that will not be led and choose to know the truth! Never been a Democrat since I entered the military 35 years ago when I learned what it meant to sacrifice yourself for others so we all have the opportunity to be FREE! Signed by a… Read more »
That was the day of breath of fresh air blew through our city. #WalkAway
Why wasn’t our illustrious Mayor Lindsey Horvath, who banned Trump, out there issuing citations for not wearing masks? She can supervise painting a flag on the street illegally during the night but not deal with these fools?
JOY VILLA IS A SCIENTOLOGIST – https://tonyortega.org/2018/01/15/joy-villas-former-manager-scientology-destroyed-everything/
I think that says everything about the quality of these losers and their “protest.”
300????? I think not. There were at least 1K people. Why can’t the media tell the truth? What is there to be afraid of? We all have different ideas and opinions, they should be celebrated. Add to that all the positive support from the passing cars. It was certainly something to be proud of and thankful that many people do want the world to be a better place. Rescue America from the radical left. To drive by with your middle finger waving, wow now there goes an intellectual. Saw that and had nothing but pity for an individual who is… Read more »
It did look like at least 1000 people.
My friend David was in Roccos eating lunch when the pseudo-protest of narcissists occurred. He said 300 people tops.
Lie. Hundreds marched from SVicente to the BHills park where we were met by hundreds more. Countless locals pulled over parked their own cars, joined us as hundreds more trailed in throughout the afternoon for our rally and special speakers. #WALK AWAY
I wasn’t there but I am told that a lot of people met the marchers at the park in BH. Two WeHo people who did that and were at the park early said there was quite a crowd by the time the marchers arrived.
Good for them. Biden isn’t coherent enough to run the country and the once great democrat party doesn’t care about liberals anymore. They have embraced violent socialism.
Saturday (yesterday) the Turner Classic Movie channel had a Charlie Chaplin retrospective, a sixteen hour delight – but I could watch only a few hours. His most profitable film – both in terms of money earned and Oscar nominations – was The Great Dictator. I was doing other things while attempting to watch it, but I was moved to remember a scene from my childhood in South Boston (Mass.) when the last KKK march was held in that town. The marchers with their torches and white hoods, their foot-stamping march and chanting scared the beejaysus out of me – I… Read more »
And we thought there was a mental illness problem with the homeless. Apparently, these people drank the Kool Aid from the Trump fountain. Mercifully, sanity prevails among the group known as Republicans Voting Against Trump (many, many videos on YouTube). But no matter what happens on Election Day, I fear there may be blood in the streets.
What a joke! This is obviously a stupid ploy by the Struggling Actor to get publicity. Probably doesn’t even know he’s being controlled by Russian bots; probably doesn’t even care. I would love to see his voter registration records. Don’t get me wrong, peacefully demonstrate as much as you would like, but just try to be aware of exactly who is behind this ridiculous movement. Apparently not enough WeHo people showed up for this “demonstration” (big surprise) so bots had to be imported. Hope you had fun!
How many fines were handed out? Why not? Masks cannot be an arbitrary whimsical decision