“They’re eating cats!” yelled a woman in a darkened UltraStar Cinemas theater at Mission Valley’s Hazard Center, referring to the debunked claim of immigrants dining on pets in Springfield, Ohio.
“Oh my God. They’re so guilty,” a woman shouted when the exonerated Central Park Five came up during the presidential debate.
When the former president was decried for calling climate change a hoax, a man screamed: “It is!”
Donald Trump was cheered and Kamala Harris jeered Tuesday night at a debate watch party hosted by the Republican Party of San Diego County and San Diego County Gun Owners PAC — with admission starting at about $34.
Summoned in just a few days thanks to work by GOP Central Committee member Amy Reichert, about 140 mostly middle-aged and older fans of the former president obeyed her admonition to “hoot and holler.”
While many hissed or laughed (as when Trump jibed “run, Spot, run”), catcalls emerged from only a dozen or so audience members in 214-seat Theater 7, renting for $1,500 (split by the co-sponsors).
One of the most animated was Kelly Ramirez, 39, of San Carlos, a registered nurse wearing a straw cowboy hat who said she didn’t want to sit alone in her hot house and yell at her phone.
“Tonight very well could have been the last presidential debate we ever see,” Ramirez said in the lobby afterward.
Calling herself a “cheerleader at heart,” she said she whooped for the right side.
“Donald Trump is a man. And the Bible says that we’ve all fallen short,” Ramirez told Times of San Diego. “So he is a sinner, but I have watched his transformation. I’ve watched God qualify him.”
She added: “His life has been threatened. They wanted us to see his head explode on live TV with our children. … He has risen above that, and he gives the glory to God … and I have specifically heard him say the name of Jesus.”
Corey Gustafson, elevated to chairman of the local Republican Party in April after Paula Whitsell was ousted, opined that the widely seen debate would help GOP candidates in San Diego County.
“Well certainly, I think so,” he said. “I mean … President Trump’s closing statement was exactly right. He said for the last 3 1/2 years Democrats have controlled this country” to little gain.
“Same thing in San Diego County — we’ve had Democratic rule at least the last four years. … So San Diegans have a choice. Do they want more of the same failed Democratic policies? Or do they want to have successful Republican policies as demonstrated during the Trump Administration?”
Gustafson, who said he saw Trump running mate JD Vance at his recent foray in Rancho Santa Fe, credited Trump for changing the GOP into the party of blue-collar workers, while the Democratic Party “has become the party of the elite.”
He said: “We’re working hard and mobilizing here in San Diego County. … I’m very happy with the [theater] turnout and I think if we do more of this as Republicans, we’re going to really do well this November.”
Not doing so well was the person in charge of projecting a computer screen.
The audience missed about the first four minutes, including the reading of the rules and the vice president walking over to shake Trump’s hand while announcing “Kamala Harris.”
(“Whoever is trying to work that thing is sweating right now,” one man said during the delay as people pulled up the debate on their phones amid a blank theater screen.)
Michael Schwartz, executive director of San Diego County Gun Owners PAC, was asked if the debate moved the needle locally.
Not much, he said.
“I think that people are pretty set.… I think they know who they’re going to vote for. I think there are very few people that are undecided,” Schwartz said.
But he disputes the notion that the City of San Diego is completely blue — or that rural areas are all red.
“There are cities and neighborhoods in cities [where] supporting Trump is a huge help” to Republican candidates, “and I think that there are neighborhoods in various cities where supporting Trump might hurt,” he said.
Such a schism showed up in microcosm as I spoke to nurse Ramirez in the lobby.
During our chat, a man leaving the theater after viewing a movie shouted: “Trump is a piece of sh-t.”
Ramirez turned toward him and yelled: “Would you like to come and debate me on that?”
The man continued up the outdoor stairs and was shooed away by local GOP executive director Jerry Sirotnak.
Ramirez yelled after him: “Would you like to come back, sir? Are you a man or a woman? I want to make sure I properly give you your pronouns.”
