Up the street from where I live, there’s a small industrial park. There’s a counter top company, a produce company, an aluminum company, and a school bus depot. I pass through the industrial park when I go to work or the grocery store. I’ve been known to go over there at night to set up my telescope; it’s flat, dark, and there are good sightlines for sky observation.
Throughout the summer and fall, the number of signs for Donald Trump and Scott Perry, the Congressman (though he’s more right-wing troll now), in front of the aluminum company proliferated like dandelions — “Bikers for Trump,” “Drain the Swamp,” in addition to the generic signs. For a brief time, there was a small banner, attached by bungie cords, to the entrance awning promoting Scott Perry as “Businessman * Veteran * Patriot.” While that banner came down January-ish, the lawn signs have remained.
I drove home from the office last night, and when I reached the intersection, I saw two new banners out of the corner of my eye. “Did I just see what I think I saw?” I had to stop in the parking lot of the adjacent apartment complex to take a look.
I did see what I think I saw.
These banners — “Trump 2024” and “Trump Is My President!” — were not there in the morning. As I took pictures, cars approached the building on the street, stopped at the sign, and paused far longer than necessary to make the turn.
Life in Scott Perry’s Pennsylvania is strange. I characterized him above as a “right-wing troll,” and his Facebook page, which has become his main way of communicating with his constituents, is all about right-wing outrage — you’re either with him or you’re an anti-American socialist. After the events of 1-6, I would post a one word comment “Resign” on his posts — his support of the former president’s lies about the election amount to a betrayal of his oaths as a military officer and as a Congressman — but the man is without honor. I know far too many people here who think you’re either on-board with Trump and people like Perry or you’re an enemy of America.
I want to have hope for the future, but I look at Aluminum Alloys’ new banners and hope fails me.