- Many in Paradise Valley, Arizona, regret voting for Joe Biden in the last election
- Residents told Mail on Sunday they would instead vote for Trump if he ran again
- The controversial ex-president’s ‘cult-like’ following could have a comeback
The affluent suburb of Paradise Valley in Arizona is a traditional Republican stronghold.
With multi-million-dollar homes dotting a desert filled with towering saguaro cactus plants, its residents enjoy a choice of more than half a dozen golf courses, discreet upmarket shopping centres and award-winning restaurants, all nestled against the spectacular backdrop of Camelback Mountain.
Donald Trump stormed to victory here in 2016.
Paradise Valley is part of Maricopa County, an area of 2.1 million voters which includes the city of Phoenix and its outlying areas and which has voted Republican for as long as anyone can remember.
Yet in 2020, Maricopa County delivered a bombshell when voters turned in droves against President Trump in favour of Democratic rival Joe Biden.
‘It was seismic,’ says life-long Republican Benny White, who unsuccessfully ran for local office and found himself being chased down driveways by furious residents branding him a ‘Trumper’.
‘People just turned against Trump. He became a visceral figure of hate. I was chased away. People were screaming abuse at me.’
Losing Maricopa County – and, subsequently, Arizona itself – proved fatal for Trump, who continues to insist the election was ‘stolen’ from him, a claim which has been roundly refuted and which his critics have dubbed the ‘Big Lie’.
Yet today in Paradise Valley (population: 14,362), things are feeling rather different. The November 2020 election seems a long time ago. And for the former President, that could be very good news.
Many Paradise Valley voters regret switching their support to Biden. And when The Mail on Sunday visited last week, they said they’d now rather vote for Trump, should he choose to run again.
Many of those we spoke to declined to give their names, saying that because of the toxic nature of US politics, they were fearful of even admitting they voted for Biden, such is the residual anger of Trump supporters who fervently believe his claims that the election was ‘stolen’.
A 64-year-old retired doctor reading the New York Times at the Hava Java coffee shop told us he voted for Trump in 2016, ‘but couldn’t bring myself to’ in 2020.
He said: ‘If it’s Biden versus Trump again, if things are still going so badly, then you’d have to go with someone else, even if you have to put up with a disagreeable character like Trump.’
To many, it might seem outrageous that a man who left the White House in disgrace after hundreds of his supporters stormed the US Capitol building on January 6 last year could ever reappear on the political landscape – let alone run for the highest political office in the country.
YET it increasingly appears that Trump is determined to do exactly that. Politics professor Larry Sabato called Trump’s following ‘almost cult-like’, saying: ‘Almost all of the potential Republican candidates, if not all, will not run if Trump does because they know they will be put in the meat-grinder.
‘He has cult status with a large majority of the Republican electorate. You’d put your money on Trump.’
Certainly in Arizona, many are talking about ‘Teflon Don’ returning to power, and it’s the same in other crucial ‘swing states’.
While Trump has remained uncharacteristically coy about his plans, last night saw the clearest sign yet that he is setting his sights on the presidency when he held a ‘Save America’ rally at the aptly named Thunder festival grounds in Florence, Arizona, just an hour’s drive south-east of Phoenix.
Thousands of his supporters brandishing ‘Trump 2024!’ flags attended the event, which had guest speakers including Kari Lake, billed as ‘Donald J Trump’s endorsed candidate for Governor of Arizona’, and businessman Mike Lindell, known as ‘the pillow guy’ because he made his fortune selling bedding. Lindell has spent $25 million (£18 million) trying – unsuccessfully – to prove that the 2020 election was rigged.
Trump’s new ‘Save America’ slogan was on full display at the rally – emblazoned on the podium and on banners waved by supporters.