Crowds brave long lines, cheer Trump's Melbourne visit

MELBOURNE — Braving steamy weather, Donald Trump's supporters spent hours standing in snaking lines that stretched thousands of people long outside the Orlando Melbourne International Airport's AeroMod hangar.

Many guzzled bottles of water to stay cool, wiping sweat from faces and brows, and EMS crews treated a few attendees who fell ill in the heat.

Then a nasty-looking storm packing thunder and lightning blew in by early evening, and when the rally ended, people had to trudge back to their cars through rain.

Mike Krajic of Melbourne Beach said he had never been to a political rally before Tuesday but you wouldn’t have known by all the pro-Trump, anti-Clinton stickers on his sport-utility vehicle. One of the stickers read “Proud Deplorable — Trump 2016."

“I consider that I might fall under that ‘deplorable’ division,” said Krajic, a letter carrier, referring to Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton's controversial remark about some Trump supporters earlier this month.

Beverly Germain and Joanne Carlson made the drive to Melbourne from Port St. Lucie, wearing identical tie-dye Trump T-shirts that Carlson purchased at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

“Hey it’s Trump,” Carlson said. “We just wanted to show our support.”

Punta Gorda retired middle school teacher Susan Wohlfeld and her husband, Bruce, left Florida's Gulf Coast at 9:30 a.m. to attend the rally. She spent $10 buying three Trump buttons: "Build the Wall: Deport Them All," "Deplorable Me" and "Lock Her Up."

Susan Wohlfeld voted for Ted Cruz in the primary.

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"I will vote for Trump. But this is a vote against Hillary Clinton," she said, standing in the entry line. "We've had issues with the Clintons from as early as the mid-'80s.

"I'm sick of her. She should be in jail," she said.

Tim Deatrick was an Indiana University campus coordinator for Dan Quayle during his 1980 Senate campaign. In 2008, Deatrick voted for Hillary Clinton in the Indiana primary.

Now a Port St. Lucie resident, Deatrick supports Trump. He said Trump won Monday night's debate.

"I think Donald Trump really drew out a clear difference on trade and border security and terrorism," he said while walking to the rally, carrying a Trump sign.

Scottwood Ivers of Indian Harbour Beach was one of the first in line Tuesday for the Trump rally, leaving periodically to get water for people in line.

Asked if he was more of a hopeful Trump supporter vs. an anti-Clinton voter, Ivers said he was definitely the former.

"There's no anger or animosity," he said.

Tommy and Ariel Dastamanis from Bradenton were probably among the most seasoned Trump rally attendees. The couple travel from community to community across the United States and sell Trump memorabilia. They set up a stand at the Apollo Professional Center across the street from where Trump was to speak.

They’ve talked with Trump a few times, which was exciting for them at first, but now they’re more focused on selling hats and T-shirts than they are getting their mugs next to Trump.

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Ariel Dastamanis said she came up with the line “If Hillary can’t please her husband, she can’t please the country.”

“Trump tweeted it,” she said. “It just came to me when I was driving.”

Actually, Clinton did the couple a favor by calling some supporters “deplorables," they said. It has opened a whole line of T-shirt sales that they and other vendors were hawking Tuesday.

“It’s taken a negative and making something positive out of it,” she said.

Contact Neale at 321-242-3638, rneale@floridatoday.com or follow @RickNeale1 on Twitter.