Isla Vista rang with the sounds of horns early afternoon on Sept. 28. According to source estimates, about 40-50 vehicles donning pro-Trump flags drove down El Colegio Road, the Pardall loop and throughout Isla Vista for half an hour, honking as they passed through.
Trump supporters drove through Isla Vista honking on Saturday. Photo courtesy Ellie Hand
The action was publicized by the Instagram account @805_patriots, a pro-Trump community based in Ventura, Santa Barbara, Orange County and Los Angeles County, according to its biography. The 805 Patriots regularly organize “Trump cruises” like this one and sent the announcement of Saturday’s event on Sept. 24, a few days before the drive-through.
According to the post, the “[Make America Great Again] swarm” scheduled to meet at Dos Pueblo High School in Goleta at 10 a.m. and begin their cruise at 11:30 a.m., traveling through Isla Vista, Goleta, Montecito and Santa Barbara. For roughly 30-40 minutes, approximately 50 vehicles passed through town honking persistently.
“If You’d Like To Actually Make A Effect On Liberals This Is The Rally For You‼️” the callout post read.
2024 Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump is competing with Democratic nominee and current Vice-President Kamala Harris for the presidency this November. In May, Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in a “hush money” trial — becoming the first former president in U.S. history to become a convicted felon. It is the second time Trump has run for election, after losing the vote to President Joe Biden in 2020. On July 13, he was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Students and residents who responded to an Instagram call-out by the Nexus largely felt that the action was disruptive and ineffective in getting the community to support Trump.
Victor Diaz, a fourth-year physical geography major, described the cruise on Saturday as “pretty terrifying.” He noted how many of the vehicles were trailer trucks.
“These are basically complete strangers. I.V. is a pretty local close community and then you have these strangers coming through our town basically for no reason other than to harass and intimidate,” Diaz said. “It was definitely not just a peaceful show of support for someone. It was definitely antagonizing.”
“We’ve seen what Trump supporters in masses can do. We’ve seen past violence from Trump supporters inspired by Donald Trump’s rhetoric himself,” he continued.
Rebecca Le Jeune, a foreign exchange student from England and a third-year political science major, said one of the flags — an American flag with 13 stars in a circle portraying the 13 original colonies — made her “feel uncomfortable.”
“People can, if they want to, drive their cars and honk their horns, they can do that. And if they think that’s giving them a good image, they can do whatever they want,” Le Jeune said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they did it again. I would actually expect them to do it again.”
Isla Vista Community Services District General Manager Jonathan Abboud, who spoke to the Nexus as a resident of I.V., saw the action on Pardall Road next to the Isla Vista Community Center. He felt that “it was an antagonistic action” for the drivers to come to Isla Vista, where the people are “overwhelmingly Democratic in how they vote.”
“They weren’t here registering voters. They weren’t here talking to voters about their message. They just came and honked aggressively for over 30 minutes and left and caused traffic,” Abboud said.
The 805 Patriots did not respond to requests for comment.
A version of this article appeared on p. 2 of the Oct. 3, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.
