Numerous accidents are said to have occurred at the boat parades organized for Donald Trump. Trump himself only loses positive words about his unofficial campaign festivities.
Frankfurt / USA – It has now been around a year since numerous boat parades in the USA, organized to support Donald Trump’s election campaign, got out of control and caused serious accidents. Boat parades are officially not political election campaign events, but were used as such by former US President Donald Trump.
Numerous Trump supporters gathered at the boat parades, which were also a main source of income for many boaters. According to new information from the American newspaper The Daily Beast, many more boat accidents are said to have been caused during Donald Trump’s presidency than was previously known.
Political boat parade in the US: A third of all boat accidents involving Trump fleets
In Tennessee alone, the state database is said to show that Trump fleets were involved in a third of all water accidents in the past year. National accident numbers involving Trump fleets across America are not available, but a state review of incident reports in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Texas showed that most accidents never made the news, according to The Daily Beast.
A particularly accident-prone boat parade took place on July 4th, 2020, American Independence Day. Trump fans held a parade with more than a hundred boats on Old Hickory Lake, near Nashville in the US state of Tennessee, that day. The large number of boats is said to have created strong waves on Old Hickory Lake, so that some of the water sloshed into the boats.
Boat parade for Donald Trump in Tennessee – “It was really disorganized”
Tommy Gravelle, a Trump supporter who had found his boat on his way to the parade on Old Hickory Lake, told The Daily Beast that he had never seen such chaos on the water before. Even though he is an experienced boater: “If I had known that there were such big waves, I would never have left the dock.”
Waves that came too quickly for a simple pontoon boat to come to rest on the water are said to have broken over the front of the boat almost as far as the captain’s chair. Gravelle then decided to turn back. “It was really disorganized. I think these people all meant well, they didn’t understand what was going on, ”Gravelle told The Daily Beast about the boat parade. His boat is said to have suffered a total loss as a result of the events.
Boat parade in support of Donald Trump – the reason for accidents is the waves that are triggered
The boat parade on Old Hickory Lake was neither the first nor the last boat parade held for Trump that resulted in accidents. At an election parade in support of Trump on Lake Travis in Texas in September 2020, the boats are said to have filled with water due to the strong waves caused by the boat traffic. At least four boats had sunk and several people had to be rescued.
George Birdwell, an investigator with the Wildlife Resources Agency in Tennessee, told The Daily Beast that law enforcement officials are increasingly afraid of such events as boat parades. “You sit in your boat and get tossed around. It’s not a pleasant part of our job, ”he said. “Big boats are showing up and they are trying to go slowly. But they still throw a big wake, and small boats appear too, and they have to deal with those big wakes. “
In contrast to the average holiday regatta, where accidents occur due to alcohol consumption, for example when people jump from moving boats or fall off the boat while peeing, the main reason for the chaos at the Trump boat parades is the large boat traffic and the resulting resulting Swell.
Trump Parade: Numerous people had to jump off the board on the Fort Loudoun location
According to an accident report requested by The Daily Beast, which was not reported in the media, dozens of people jumped over a boat on September 5 in a parade in support of Donald Trump on Fort Loudoun Lake, near Knoxville, Tennessee . The boat the people were on had been overtaken by a series of wake waves, according to police reports. First aiders and other parade visitors are said to have helped the people out of the water. The boat damage is said to amount to $ 22,000.
According to a police report, 66-year-old Rana Beasley injured her back in a boat parade on Tims Ford Lake on September 12 when waves from the parade hit the boat, causing her to be violently tossed around. An ambulance took the injured woman to a nearby hospital, according to a police report, The Daily Beast reported. “There was significant boat traffic in the area due to a legal boat parade that had taken place earlier in the afternoon,” the report said.
US Politics News
Don’t want to miss any news on US politics? Then subscribe to our newsletter.
USA: Accidents during boat parades in support of Donald Trump across the country
Other boat accidents at Trump parades are said to have happened on South Holston Lake in Tennessee, on Eufaula Lake in Oklahoma, as well as in Florida, California, Texas and Minnesota. According to The Daily Beast, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact number of accidents as some government agencies claim they have no records of publicly reported disasters.
The vast majority of parades reviewed by The Daily Beast are said to have taken place on pent-up waters. These in turn are to be administered by the US Army Corps of Engineers, a main command of the US Army that carries out civil engineering services. The main command must issue permits for events such as boat parades. However, the US Army Corps of Engineers is said not to have responded to questions or provided data.
Boating accidents at Trump festivals across the United States: Particular risk of accidents at boat parades
In response to the many accidents, Captain David B. Mackey, a professor at the Mass Maritime Academy, emphasized that boats should travel at 5 miles per hour or slower – alternating between idling and turning off the engine completely. Furious parade visitors are also to blame for the fact that the rental boat of one of his family members was recently damaged in North Carolina. People weren’t paying enough attention while cruising their boats, according to Mackey.
Other parade goers are said to have tried to take precautionary measures to avoid accidents, according to The Daily Beast. Austin Collins, who drove a Trump fleet at Lake Tenkiller, Oklahoma on Sept. 12, said he had strict rules in place to keep the boats going individually and slowly. But as the lake got wider, the boaters are said to have started racing around each other. This is said to have caused waves that crashed against the other boats.
According to Rob Crafa, director on the shores of the State University of New York’s Maritime College, political boat parades are particularly prone to accidents. “When you have boat parades like rallies, the energy there creates a different atmosphere. People standing in areas of the boat where they don’t belong, flags that obstruct the operator’s view, loud music, bright sun, maybe alcohol … all of these factors contribute to dangerous situations, ”says Crafta.
Donald Trump is enthusiastic about boat parades
Donald Trump, on the other hand, seems to be extremely enthusiastic about his boat parades and the many visitors. He is said to have used the many Trump fans at these parades as an argument why it could not be that he received fewer votes than Joe Biden, said two Trump confidants, according to The Daily Beast. This Trump argument joins a number of other wilder conspiracies surrounding Trump-led election fraud during the 2020 US presidential election.
The boat parades were never formal campaign events, but Trump encouraged the celebrations several times on his now-deleted Twitter account. Also on his 75th birthday on June 14, 2021, numerous fans celebrated the former president in California with a boat parade and thus organized an election campaign that was almost free of charge for Trump and almost early. Because he already made hints at an appearance in North Carolina at the beginning of June to plan a renewed candidacy. Steve Bannon, right wing commentator and former chief strategist of Donald Trump, was already certain in January that Trump would celebrate his comeback in 2024. (Anna Charlotte Groos)
