{"id":10049,"date":"2024-01-24T16:34:19","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T16:34:19","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"Trump-GOP-thoughts-53786659\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=10049","title":{"rendered":"In Pittsfield and Loudon, support for Trump remains strong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Kendall
Kendall Cote outside the Pittsfield Middle High School on Tuesday, January 22, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"New
New Hampshire State Representative and Trump supporter Clayton Wood outside the Pittsfield Middle High School on Tuesday, January 22, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Dick
Dick Tasker outside the Pittsfield Middle High School on Tuesday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Chris
Chris Shaw outside the Pittsfield Middle High School on Tuesday, January 22, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Chris
Chris Shaw shows his Donald Trump tattoo on his left calf outside the Pittsfield Middle High School on Tuesday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Doug
Doug Clasby stood outside the Loudon polling place a the Loudon Fire Department on Tuesday, January 23, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"New
New Hampshire State Representative and Trump supporter Clayton Wood outside the Pittsfield Middle High School on Tuesday, January 22, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Trump
Trump supporter Ken Park, Jr. stood outside the Loudon polling place a the Loudon Fire Department starting at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, January 23, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Perry
Perry and Anita Wise outside the Loudon polling place at the fire department in the center of town on Tuesday, January 23, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Perry
Perry and Anita Wise outside the Loudon polling place at the fire department in the center of town on Tuesday, January 23, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>

There was no question who Chris Shaw would be voting for when he pulled up the leg of his pants. On his left calf, former President Donald Trump\u2019s face is front and center \u2013 tattooed in black ink with the Statue of Liberty in the background.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Pittsfield resident voted Tuesday for Trump for a third time, showing off his tattoo to fellow supporters as he entered the polls. With or without the ink on his leg, though, it was never a question of who he was backing in this race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got the Trump tattoo before COVID,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And in the aftermath of the pandemic, he added a new face to his shin \u2013 Dr. Anthony Fauci, with devil horns.<\/p>\n

In Pittsfield and Loudon \u2013 two towns that turned out with nearly 60% of the vote in favor of Trump in 2020 \u2013 enthusiasm for the former president remains strong.<\/p>\n

For some voters, deviating from Trump was never a question with paraphernalia, policy pitches and a strong personal purpose rooted in supporting his campaign. And for others, the more they learned about former South Carolina governor and ex-UN ambassador Nikki Haley \u2013 and her campaign funding \u2013 the more they stayed loyal to their roots.<\/p>\n

\u2018He\u2019s the man\u2019<\/h2>\n

With a large blue and red sign leaned up against the back of his open trunk, Clayton Wood, 70, staked his spot in the parking lot outside the Pittsfield Middle High School. He arrived shortly after 8 a.m. and planned to stay late in the afternoon \u2013 packing up in time to hit the road to Nashua, in hopes of attending Trump\u2019s campaign watch party that night.<\/p>\n

Standing at the polls means a few things for Wood. At its surface, it\u2019s a chance to support Trump. But at a deeper level, it\u2019s paying homage to a politician who he feels wrote the script for his own political involvement.<\/p>\n

On the day after the 2020 election, Wood vowed to become more involved in state elections. He\u2019d always cast a vote in primary and general races. But that was no longer enough, he said.<\/p>\n

He put his hat in the race to run to represent his district in the State House. And now from the parking lot, he waved to the constituents he now represents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI joined the local Republican Party to try to figure out what is going on and I didn\u2019t like what I saw,\u201d he said. \u201cI saw a handful of people that are conservative and I saw a group of Republicans that could go either way, so I decided to run. I decided to finally do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

His continued support for Trump can be summed up on a small business card-sized handout he gave to voters as they passed his car.<\/p>\n

With an image of Trump morphed into the Man on the Mountain, Wood listed his reasoning below \u2013 \u201cSeal our border, fight real crime, drill baby drill, restore our country, the right man for the job, Trump!\u201d the card reads.<\/p>\n

And presenting the former President as a famed New Hampshire icon is intentional.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New Hampshire way is MAGA. What MAGA is, is we put people first. There\u2019s nothing magical about it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about making America great again at the expense of everybody, it\u2019s about making everybody better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terese Bastarache would agree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI truly believe everyone should have the freedom to live free or die,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we could all just come together, I think we could do great things and I pray\u2026 I pray that we can figure this out.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her that comes in her unwavering support for Trump. Standing outside the polls in her hometown of Loudon, Bastarache, 50, passed out bumper stickers for the former president and wallet-sized voting cards, reminding town residents of the five elections this year \u2013 Tuesday\u2019s primary, school budget, town meeting, state primary and the general election.<\/p>\n

But regardless of the candidate, Bastarache sees commonality between her mission and that of the \u201cWrite-in Biden\u201d supporters across the parking lot \u2013 she adopted two boys, who are 7 and 8 years old from DCYF. They\u2019re now her motivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not giving up on their future now and I think that resonates with people across party lines,\u201d she said. \u201cWe all just want to go to work, make an honest living, be able to pay our bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Dick Tasker, 37, in Pittsfield, voting for Trump for a third time can be summed up in three words.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the man,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Haley never a consideration<\/h2>\n

From day one of her campaign, Haley lost the support of Anita and Perry Wise of Loudon.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Haley said that she would not challenge her former boss in a 2024 matchup if he decided to run again. Then on Feb. 14, 2023 she doubled back on that statement and announced her candidacy \u2013 the first challenger to do so.<\/p>\n

From the get-go, the Wises were out.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, don\u2019t fib, don\u2019t lie. I got no use for you. If you can\u2019t tell me the truth I have no use for you at all,\u201d said Perry, 67.<\/p>\n

To them, Trump has a proven record of strengthening the country. They now think of their two children, who are in their late 20s and early 30s, trying to save and build a life of their own.<\/p>\n

During a town hall in Iowa<\/a> last March, Haley discussed raising the retirement age for younger generations to match life expectancy, as a way to curb spending in the country.<\/p>\n

In an advertisement<\/a> unveiled earlier this month \u2013 Trump\u2019s campaign capitalized on this comment, telling voters that Haley would threaten their retirement benefits.<\/p>\n

Now, the Wises fear that will be the case for their kids\u2019 generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt their age, it\u2019s time to put money aside but if there\u2019s no money to put aside, you have an issue,\u201d said Perry.<\/p>\n

At 74-years-old, Kendall Cote feared the same, as he pushed his wife in a wheelchair into the Pittsfield polling location to vote for Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wants people to not get Social Security until they\u2019re my age,\u201d he said. \u201cImagine that.\u201d<\/p>\n

To him, her policy proposal is rooted in decisions based on money \u2013 a theme of Haley\u2019s campaign he detests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink of all the money they\u2019re saving. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd she\u2019s for the people? Who is fooling who?\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was no question who Chris Shaw would be voting for when he pulled up the leg of his pants. On his left calf, former President Donald Trump\u2019s face is front and center \u2013 tattooed in black ink with the Statue of Liberty in the background.The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":10050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"by [Author id=427]Michaela Towfighi[\/Author] Monitor staff","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[526,19],"tags":[24,505,25,328],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[509],"class_list":["post-10049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homebox4-cm","category-politics","tag-facebook","tag-paywall","tag-primary-2024","tag-two-new-hampshires","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/42760810-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10051,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10049\/revisions\/10051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10049"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=10049"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=10049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}