Inside the Beltway: EPIC: 100,000 Texas Trump fans

NEWS AND OPINION:

EPIC: 100,000 TEXAS TRUMP FANS

President Trump journeys to Houston on Monday for a yet another “Make America Great Again” rally in a local arena that can accommodate 18,000 Texas fans.

The fans are many.

The Houston Police Department will be “fully mobilized” for the downtown rally, reports the Houston Chronicle, which also notes that by early Friday, 77,854 people had signed up to attend the big doings.

That number has since topped 100,000, prompting the Trump campaign to organize a “Big Texas Tailgater” event to accommodate the huge overflow crowd — complete with food trucks, live music from two bands and jumbotron-style screens.

“The excitement at this Trump rally will be as big as Texas — it’s going to be epic,” predicts Michael Glassner, CEO of the Trump campaign.

Mr. Trump will be joined on stage by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz, currently facing a re-election challenge from Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat with considerable support from the mainstream media. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo advises that his department following “unconfirmed reports” of a planned rally for Mr. O’Rourke that could draw thousands more people.

“We will have many, many officers out and about. We will have officers on the high ground, low ground, in the air. We will have officers in plainclothes, we will have undercover officers, we will have react teams,” said Mr. Acevedo, noting that streets around the arena will be closed off in the predawn hours.

This is Mr. Trump’s sixth visit to Texas. Three more rallies follow this week in Wisconsin, North Carolina and Illinois.

CRANKY VOTERS HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal finds that 80 percent of registered voters — including 85 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of Republicans — say that the United States is now “divided.”

A mere 18 percent say the nation is “united,” a sad finding when so many onlookers worldwide look to America to set an example as a “united” United States.

Meanwhile, the drivers for all this discord are virtually the same on both sides of the aisle.

“When those who answered ’divided’ were asked to describe in a few words what is most responsible for the division, top Republican responses were ’Barack Obama,’ ’Democrats’ and ’the media.’”

And of course, the top responses among Democrats were “Donald Trump,” “The Republican Party” and “the media.”

MEANWHILE IN THE GOLDEN STATE

The three-day California Cannabis Business Conference begins Monday in Anaheim, promising to help some 3,000 “cannabis business leaders” learn the fine art of “navigating the world’s largest adult-use market.” This event will be staged in a 60,000-square-foot venue and feature 100 speakers, including Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Democratic Rep. Lou Correa — plus singer Melissa Etheridge, who plans to discuss “mainstreaming cannabis through culture,” organizers say.

The event has been organized by the National Cannabis Industry Association and billed as “the first event of its kind.”

As has been noted before in the Beltway column, such fare would have amazed the ancient hippies of yore. But that is what is out there.

POLL DU JOUR

• 90 percent of registered U.S. voters plan to vote in the midterm elections.

• 48 percent plan to vote on Nov. 6.

• 18 percent will vote by mail or absentee ballot.

• 12 percent will vote “in person” before Election Day.

• 11 percent have already voted; 10 percent do not plan to vote.

Source: A Hill.TV/HarrisX American Barometer poll of 1,000 registered U.S. voters conducted Oct. 13-14.

Stray comments and insight to jharper@washingtontimes.com