How a 13-Year-Old Stole the Show at Trump's 2020 Kickoff Rally
A 13-year-old Florida boy and his grandfather were blown away at the response they received when they brought a Donald and Melania Trump windshield sun shade to the president’s 2020 kickoff rally in Orlando on Tuesday.
Jim Thompson of Dunnellon, central Florida, emailed Patriot Depot, where he purchased the sun shade, to report that his grandson Caden “was the hit of the Trump rally line.”
Patriot Depot is a sister organization of The Western Journal’s parent company, Liftable Media.
Many people wanted to take a picture of the young man holding the sun shade, which depicts the first couple in the front seats of a car, while a crying baby Hillary Clinton sits in the back.
“I could have sold 300 of them,” Thompson wrote.
Caden told The Western Journal, “The highest bid that we got for it is $200.”
(Campaign attendees still interested in getting their own sun shade can purchase one at Patriot Depot … for considerably less than $200.)
Jim recounted that he and his grandson arrived at the event five hours ahead of time and were surprised they were able make it inside the Amway Center with over 20,000 other rowdy Trump supporters, albeit in the “nosebleed section.”
“The five hours went by like a blink of the eye,” he said. “Even though it was hot. It was raining sometimes. It was like a tailgate party that just wouldn’t stop. So many people were laughing their tails off.”
Caden took the sun shade into the arena, where he walked around and continued to get many laughs and requests for photographs.
According to Jim, a total of five television and other news outlets interviewed Caden, including journalists from South Korea and Japan.
The rising eighth-grader likes the sun shade because Trump is in the driver’s seat, “grabbing the bull by the horns,” while Clinton sits in the back seat “where she can whine and cry all she wants.”
“It’s not going to change a thing,” he said.
Asked what he liked about Trump, Caden replied that it was the president’s handling of the economy and his commitment to restart America’s manned space program.
Caden is a huge NASA fan and attended the Explorers Club Annual Dinner with his grandfather in March, which was attended by many astronauts, including Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.
One of his favorite moments at the rally was when the thousands of rally goers sang Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” as the president took the stage.
President Trump launches his re-election campaign with a rally in Florida where he makes his case for a second term. https://t.co/ifgseV64Lv
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) June 18, 2019
Jim loved the rally too.
“Twenty-thousand plus people screaming at the top of their lungs, ‘Four more years and CNN sucks,’ it just doesn’t get any better,” he said.
One of the stand out moments at the event was when Trump joked about the double standard between how he and Clinton were treated in Justice Department investigations.
“If you want to know how the system is rigged, just compare how they came after us for three years, with everything they have versus the free pass they gave Hillary Clinton and her aides after they set up an illegal server; destroyed evidence, deleted and acid washed 33,000 emails; exposed classified information; and turned the State Department into a pay for play cash machine,” Trump said.
The president noted that Clinton’s emails were deleted after she received a congressional subpoena for them.
“Can you imagine if I got a subpoena? If I got a subpoena for emails, if I deleted one email, like a love note to Melania, it’s the electric chair for Trump,” he joked.
President Trump: “Can you imagine, if I got a subpoena — think of this: if I got a subpoena for emails, if I deleted one email, like a love note to Melania, it’s the electric chair for Trump.” https://t.co/pgSdXQO3ZI pic.twitter.com/r0nPqwqLeG
— The Hill (@thehill) June 19, 2019
According to Jim, taking the sun shade from his truck to the rally was a fluke, “but for the rest of his life this 13-year-old’s going to remember that day.”
According to Ryan Tofil, director of Patriot Depot, sales of the sun shade have been unexpectedly high.
“Some products, like the Donald Trump garden gnome, you just know are going to do well,” Tofil said. “Others are a little more experimental, like the sun shade. In this case, we’re having trouble keeping them on the shelves, so, obviously, we’re pleased.
“It’s a great product,” he added. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
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