BYRON — Ron Gordon revved a leaf blower and fanned lawn trimmings from his driveway. The gas-powered gusts were about the only breeze on a 95-degree day.
On a pole near Gordon’s front steps, an American flag sagged. A “Trump 2024″ banner dangled below it, declaring, “Take America Back.”
Gordon wore a “Man of Faith” baseball cap while tidying his yard. He told a reporter who happened by that he had another Trump banner inside that states: “Jesus Is My Savior, Trump Is My President.”
Four days had passed since an assassination attempt on the Republican nominee.
Gordon, a 58-year-old former metal worker, lives in a neighborhood shaded by pecan trees a mile or so west of I-75. It’s a pocket of Middle Georgia where presidential races are historically tight, decided by a few percentage points. But in his stretch of northern Peach County, 65% of the 5,746 ballots cast in 2020 went to Trump.
Sitting in a swivel chair in his carport, Gordon gave some of the reasons he again plans to vote for the former president: fuel prices, inflation, food costs, insurance.
He says it is also important to him — “very important” — that the president embodies an image of strength. For him, Trump does.
Credit: Joe Kovac Jr.
Credit: Joe Kovac Jr.
“He makes you feel good about being an American,” Gordon said. “I mean, the Democrats actually make you think you’ve got to be ashamed to be an American. … I used to vote on who I thought was the best person for the job. I didn’t give a crap if they were a Republican or a Democrat. But nowadays it seems like the Democrats, they absolutely, positively do not care about their constituents.”
Gordon avoids following the news if he can.
“It makes me angry,” he said.
He cannot fathom how a voter with a scintilla of common sense believes Trump is the wrong person for the White House.
“If he’s doing the job right, why do you have anything against him? Personally, you can have something against him, but, my Lord, if he can get this country back on track and get this inflation under control and get this country to where it’s … not hating itself,” Gordon said, trailing off. “You’ve got the patriots and then you’ve got the others. And the others, they seem to hate this country, man. They don’t have no idea just how made they’ve got it.”
His father, Kenneth Gordon, a World War II Army veteran, was a prisoner of war who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. When his father died in 2001 at 77, he was buried about 50 miles southwest of Byron in the Andersonville National Cemetery.
Around that time, Gordon injured his back while employed at a plant that made automobile fan blades. He has been disabled since. He figures some might read this and, as he puts it, think he’s “on the government gravy train.”
“I worked,” he said, “at one time.” He adds he wishes he still could.
He empathizes with those who can’t. “If they’re genuinely disabled,” he said.
Gordon views Trump as a powerful persona, a strong figure.
“He don’t hold back,” he said. “I mean, I know a lot of people say, ‘I don’t like what he put in his Twitters and stuff.’ Hell, I don’t give a (expletive) what he put in his Twitters as long as he does the job. And he did a good job. I mean, he made promises, and the promises were actually fulfilled.”
Upon learning of the July 13 attempt on Trump’s life, Gordon thought, “This is the beginning.”
“Because,” he said, “if things don’t go right — and I’m not saying me, but I am prepared — but if the election don’t get the (Trump victory) that a lot of Americans want, there’s going to probably be a civil war. And I hate to put it that way.”
Credit: Joe Kovac Jr.
Credit: Joe Kovac Jr.
He attributes the Trump assassination attempt to simple hatred.
“I hate to say it, man, but it started with (Barack) Obama. I mean, he just divided this country up. And then, of course, you know, (Joe Biden), when he gets in there, he just seems to take right over right behind him. There was no racial problems or anything until Obama got in there, and then all this political correctness, this wokeness. … It blows my mind, man, just how quick things changed,” Gordon said, snapping his fingers.
Now that Biden has stepped aside and Kamala Harris has replaced him, Gordon sees even more reason for people to vote Republican.
“I wouldn’t trust her taking care of a mouse, let alone the country,” he said. “If they vote for her, it’s only because, doggone, she’s the first Black woman. ... I don’t know. I can’t see nobody voting for her. But that’s me.”
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