Trump's 'Front Row Joes,' superfans and the obsession, explained
Everyone wants a front row seat. The lines can wrap around the venue for days leading up to the event. Outside, people are selling merch, customized pins for each city, and banners.
No, we’re not talking about an Eras Tour concert – this is the usual scene at President-elect Donald Trump’s rallies, and it will be amplified at his upcoming inauguration.
On the extreme end of the spectrum, these die-hard Trump supporters are not your typical political supporters. They are fans like Grateful Dead fans; they are fans like Taylor Swift fans; they are fans like NFL fans. When you reach that level of fandom, they will turn your family members (like 18-year-old Barron Trump) into stars in their own right. They will follow you around, travel for you. Stan culture has met politics, with Donald Trump boasting more dedicated supporters than ever.
Among some of Trump’s superfans are the “Front Row Joes,” a community of supporters who travel the country to secure front row seats at the president-elect’s rallies.
Edward Young, 65, who prefers the title of “the world's greatest Trump supporter,” has been to 107 Trump rallies and hundreds of pro-Trump events across the country since Trump's first rally in 2015 – and even turned down an invite to join the exclusive Front Row Joes group.
“I’m a lone wolf,” he says. “They almost had a military-style command, where the ones at the top decided where you would go, where you could sit, who you could talk to.”
Young has stood in line for up to three days before a rally to secure a seat behind Trump, often alongside the Front Row Joes. He likes to wear a green MAGA hat rather than a red one so that he stands out in the crowd when seated behind Trump.
“It’s the greatest show on Earth, a Trump rally,” he says. “It’s like the greatest rock concert you’ve ever attended, plus the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Fourth of July, your birthday, New Year’s Eve, whatever it is, everything rolled into one.”
Michael Lewis, a marketing professor at Emory University and host of “Fanalytics,” a fandom and sports podcast, likens these Trump supporters to the most passionate sports fans − and there's nothing inherently wrong with that.
It becomes a problem when a political fandom begins to impact every aspect of a person's life or turns into an obsession, says CarrieLynn Reinhard, a communication arts and sciences professor at Dominican University in Illinois.
These fandoms can also contribute to the political division we see in our country today, Lewis says. For every fandom, there is an "anti-fandom," or "out group." If you view your favored politician to be a winning sports team, there has to be a losing team, too. It breeds rivalry.
“That’s one of the darker aspects of political fandom,” Lewis says.
‘Trump is our first rock star, superhero president’
Young has been affiliated with both the Democratic and Republican parties throughout his life. He got involved with the Ronald Reagan campaign in high school, but lost faith in George Bush. His wife at the time was liberal, and he shifted left.
But Trump, he says, is unique.
“Donald Trump is our first rock star, superhero president,” Young says. “He’s like the real-life Tony Stark, he’s President Iron Man.”
Young believes in “almost everything” Trump stands for – from abortion to illegal immigration.
“I was in a state of despair politically before he rose to the surface,” Young says. “I truly believed this country was on the verge of dying.”
Trump’s rallies are community events for his biggest fans
Outside Trump’s sentencing in Lower Manhattan on Jan. 10, Joey Narvaez was among a small group of supporters waving MAGA flags and adorning matching hats in an adjacent park.
Narvaez says Trump rallies feel like “a big family reunion," adding that he plans to travel from the Bronx to Washington, D.C., for Trump’s inauguration to witness history in the making.
Another supporter, Ariel Kohane, 53, a modern Orthodox Jew who has traveled around for Trump’s rallies since 2015, says the “camaraderie is wonderful” and “infectious” within their community. But it's not without drama. As he's speaking, a verbal fight breaks out between a Trump supporter and two bystanders. “I’m used to it,” Kohane says.
Young has even met the “love of his life” and now-girlfriend at a rally.
But touring the country with Trump is no easy feat. Young has withdrawn money from his savings account to book travel for rallies – almost declaring bankruptcy three times over the past three elections. He’s lost touch with his sister and has been blocked on social media by his three nieces, but he says it has all been worth it to “save this country.”
He had a VIP ticket to the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally, where Trump was shot, but he had to stay home for emergency eye surgery. The friends he would have sat with were directly in the line of fire, he says. But still, he regrets not attending. He likes to think he may have noticed something was awry.
“I often feel like a warrior,” he says. “It’s not just fun, I’ve done this at great sacrifice.”
Fandom can bring people together but also cloud judgment
Lewis defines a fan as someone who is engaged, passionate and part of the team mentality. In marketing terms, a fan is the best consumer possible – and Trump megafans aspire to be the best political supporters possible.
“Getting into the seats behind Trump was very much something that people were geared up to do,” Lewis says. “They're almost like the NFL or the collegiate sports fans that are dressing so that someone puts them directly behind Trump.”
At a basic level, “people who are going to see him multiple times, like the Front Row Joes, are exhibiting fan behavior,” according to Reinhard, the Dominican University professor. Adding in the purchasing and wearing of merchandise, even outside of a political campaign season, she says fandom can start to shape identity and attitudes.
The rise and growing acceptance of fandom, which Reinhard attributes in part to online fan communities, has allowed fan culture to be a de facto part of any marketing campaign.
“If you can tap into the emotional aspect that drives people's political activism and participation, you can connect that to identity,” she says.
At a time where some voters are less trusting of government regulators and the media, people are looking for a hopeful future to latch onto. Some voted for Trump to lower grocery prices; others turned to him for answers to the country's fentanyl crisis; and some voted for him because he won them over a long time ago and they are − simply put − fans through and through.
Front Row Joe Rick Fraizer said in a YouTube video that if the border was closed, his daughter, Kali, who died from fentanyl, would still be alive. The drug policy and public health experts we spoke to cautioned that Trump’s plan may not reduce overdose deaths, and could divert resources from research-driven initiatives like harm reduction. But Trump gave Fraizer something to believe in.
"People see their world falling apart, and they're very scared," Reinhard explains. "That type of emotional reaction is what Trump is tapping into."
Trump's fandom will likely evolve and shift throughout the course of his second term. Some fans may stick with him, while others might lose some of their gusto as the election cycle fades in the rearview mirror.
But Young believes no matter what, there’s not going to be an act to follow Trump – not for a long time, at least.
“I like to think that I was doing more than just voting,” he says. “I fought as a warrior in my own way, with words and ideas and showing up. And yes, it was worth it. It was worth every sacrifice I made.”
(This story was updated to correct a typo in a quote.)