The goal, organizers said, was to convince Navajo Republicans \u2014 a minority within a minority \u2014 to vote according to their conscience, not registered party.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Navajo Nation is probably 85 percent Democrat,\u201d said Gary Bernally, of Hogback. \u201cFor decades and decades, Democrats have run the show. Look at what we have: no jobs, no development. What do we have to show? Nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bernally, who spoke ahead of Trump, challenged fellow voters to help end the status quo.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Din\u00e9, we have an obligation to our people,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s get out and get things changed.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The turnout of more than a 1,000 people in Farmington surprised Trump, which he joked about shortly after stepping on stage.<\/p>\n
“You know it was me, not my dad, who was coming here, right,”\u00a0Trump said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There were protests. “Small crowds gathered outside both venues to protest against the candidate, including a group in Shiprock that repudiated the elder Trump in the Navajo language,” the Daily Times reported.<\/p>\n
But protesters\u00a0weren’t necessarily supporting Trump’s main opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re out here to protest the Trump campaign,\u201d 25-year-old Jordan Steele, of Teec Nos Pos, was quoted by the Navajo Times as saying. \u201cHe\u2019s on our homeland, so we have the right to say he\u2019s not welcome. His campaign doesn\u2019t favor people of color. He doesn\u2019t protect women or the LGBTQ group and his campaign is one of xenophobia.\u201d<\/p>\n
However,\u00a0\u201cWe want to make it clear that we\u2019re not supporting Hillary here,\u201d Steele said. \u201c…We\u2019re just taking a stance against Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Navajo Times also quoted U.S.\u00a0Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., a member of the Cherokee Nation and one of two Natives in the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
Mullin was with Trump Jr. at his rally in Shiprock, and said, “It\u2019s time to break tradition. It\u2019s time to start questioning whether the Democratic Party of today is the same as your father\u2019s father\u2019s party.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Donald Trump may not understand all the Indian issues, but he\u2019s smart enough to surround himself with people to get the answers,\u201d Mullin was quoted as saying. “He has an open ear and he\u2019s willing to listen to wise counsel.”<\/p>\n
Following the rallies, New Mexico GOP spokesman Tucker Keene said the “turnout and enthusiasm… were both fantastic and emblematic of the strength of Trump’s support\u00a0in New Mexico.”<\/p>\n
“The polls are tightening in our state because Donald Trump’s message is resonating with voters in every corner of New Mexico,” Keene said. “Hillary Clinton is taking New Mexico’s voters for granted, and\u00a0this sixth visit from the Trump campaign shows that only Republicans are working to earn the support of New Mexican voters.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Donald Trump Jr. told crowds in San Juan County on Friday that his father will bring the change they need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":210285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[708,3307,2258,709,226,3314,116],"class_list":["post-210279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-election","tag-donald-trump","tag-farmington","tag-native-americans","tag-presidential-race","tag-san-juan-county","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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