Fights erupt as Trump backers rally at beach in California

Trump’s constituency still overwhelmingly backs his agenda

Supporters of President Donald Trump holding a rally on a popular southern California beach clashed with counter-protesters on Saturday and four people were arrested, law enforcement said.
Multiple fights broke out and at least one Trump supporter was doused with pepper spray when pro-Trump demonstrators marching along Bolsa Chica State Beach encountered a small group opposed to the Republican president who had gathered to denounce the rally.
Four counter-protesters were arrested, three for illegal use of pepper spray and one for assault and battery, Kevin Pearsall, a spokesman for the California State Parks Police said on Saturday evening.
The fights appeared to start in the early afternoon when around a dozen anti-Trump protesters dressed in all black refused to move from a bike path to allow a larger group of pro-Trump supporters taking part in the Make America Great Again rally to pass.
The confrontation escalated into a fight with more skirmishes quickly breaking out.
At least one person was pepper-sprayed by an anti-Trump protester, Pearsall said.
Park police estimated that 2,000 Trump supporters flocked to the stretch of coastline located south of the ocean-side community of Huntington Beach.
Around 20 counter-protesters attended, Pearsall said.
Known as Surf City, USA, Huntington Beach is located some 64km south of Los Angeles.
Video footage from social media uploaded to the Los Angeles Times’ website showed a chaotic scene with men fighting in the sand and a group of around 20 Trump supporters, some carrying Trump flags, chasing a man in a black mask away from the beach and on to a freeway.
The man was stopped by members of the California Highway Patrol, the newspaper said.
The masked man had used pepper spray on a female rally organiser and was set upon by a group of Trump supporters, the newspaper reported.
Demonstrations denouncing the Trump administration have drawn hundreds of thousands since he took office in January.
Smaller rallies have been staged across the country in support of Trump.
On Saturday, Trump praised his supporters. “Thanks you for all of the Trump Rallies today. Amazing support.
We will all MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” He said in a message on Twitter.
l The day after the flaming out of US President Donald Trump’s first major legislative initiative, his supporters across America were lashing out — at conservatives, at Democrats, at leaders of his Republican Party in Congress.
Only Trump himself was spared their wrath.
Many voters who elected him appeared largely willing to give him a pass on the collapse of his campaign promise to overhaul the US healthcare system, stressing his short time in office.
“Being a businessman, he’ll not take ‘no’ for an answer,” said Tony Nappi, a 71-year-old from Trinity, Florida, one of the many disappointed Republicans on his weekend softball team. “He’ll get the job done.”
Support for Trump appeared unflagging, from the playing fields of a Republican stronghold in central Florida to the small town diners of North Carolina, the suburbs of Arkansas and the streets of working-class Staten Island in New York City.
Rebellion among members of his own party sealed the failure of Trump’s effort to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act — known as Obamacare — the signature domestic policy achievement of Democratic former President Barack Obama.
Despite casting himself on the campaign trail as “the best dealmaker there is”, Trump could not save the healthcare bill yanked by Republican leaders in the House of Representatives on Friday in an embarrassing turn of events for them and Trump.
Objections among Republican moderates and the party’s most conservative lawmakers left leaders short of the votes needed for passage, with Democrats unified in opposition.
“He can’t wave a magic wand,” said Ramona Bourdo, 70, a retired nurse, eating breakfast at a McDonald’s in suburban Little Rock, Arkansas. “I’ve not lost confidence in him.”
Still, the barista at the Grind Cafe in Morganton, North Carolina, who cannot afford his own insurance and remains on his parents’ plan, felt Trump shared responsibility in the debacle.
“I think it’s partially his fault,” said Joel Martin, a 21-year-old Republican and Trump supporter. “I don’t think he has enough personal knowledge to do what he needs to do to get a healthcare bill through Congress.”
His hometown, population 17,000, sits within the heavily rural congressional district of Representative Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican whose opposition as the head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus helped sink the bill.
Sharing in the frustration of loyal Republicans was 82-year-old Jeanette Madison, a registered independent in the New York City borough of Staten Island, who voted for Trump.
“I blame the Democrats and Republicans in Congress. They are a bunch of b*******. I’m just fed up,” she said, apologising for colourful language as she walked her dog down a city street.
In Florida’s Pasco County, where Trump’s stronger-than-expected showing helped to seal his victory in the largest US battleground state, some fans seized on the silver lining.
Neighbors Patti Niehaus, a Democrat, and Margie Hahne, a Republican, agreed that Trump may have needed last week’s crash course in governing, having never before held elected office.
“You can’t just go and tell people what to do like he’s used to doing,” said Hahne, 74. “Trump’s got to learn a lot.”
Bridging Tampa’s booming suburbs and still rural parts of central Florida, Pasco County lies in a politically decisive swing region of the state along the Interstate 4 highway corridor linking Tampa and Orlando.
Trump won 58.4% of the vote in the mostly white, working- and middle-class county, surpassing the past two Republican presidential candidates by tens of thousands of votes.
His pledge to end Obamacare helped to sway Kelle DeGroat, a 37-year-old nurse, a Republican who is open to other parties.
“I thought there was a good plan the way he talked,” said DeGroat, still confident in Trump’s ability to make reform happen.”I was shocked that it didn’t pass.”
Other Republicans applauded their leaders for returning to the drawing board, with polls showing the derailed healthcare plan to be unpopular following predictions that it would jeopardize or increase the cost of insurance for millions.
Lisa Collins, a 53-year-old teacher with two adult children benefiting from Obamacare, for the first time started calling the region’s elected representatives to voice her opposition.
“This is a success that the party listened,” said Collins, a Republican who did not support Trump.”
To me, that’s amazing. They represented the average normal guy, the small guy.