BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA — Despite years of promoting his brand on the MAGA outrage circuit, Nigel Farage is not a household name among Donald Trump supporters.
“Is he Iranian?” asked one Trump fan, Gary White, about the Reform UK leader as he waited for Trump to take to the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The Republican presidential candidate drew tens of thousands of devotees this weekend for his comeback rally at the scene of his July 13 assassination attempt.
“I could be in Monte Carlo, but I’d rather be in Butler,” Trump mused to a cheering sea of MAGA caps as he delivered a speech in his trademark rambling style.
The sun beat down through cloudless skies as the presidential candidate announced a moment of silence for Corey Competore, the volunteer firefighter who was killed when a would-be assassin sent a stream of bullets into the crowd when trying to kill Trump in July.
X and Tesla owner Elon Musk appeared at the event to shower praise on Trump, as did vice presidential candidate JD Vance and numerous other mini-MAGAs.
But the face of one Trumpian comrade was missing: Farage.
Stuck with responsibilities
The Reform UK boss would love to help his friend campaign for the White House, but finds himself stuck at home in Britain after finally winning a parliamentary seat during the July general election.
The new MP has already faced accusations of shirking his local duties. He has made three visits to the United States within weeks of being elected and devotes hours to the GB News show he hosts on British TV four nights a week.
Farage appeared alongside Trump at his Republican rallies in 2016 and 2020 and was the first international politician to meet the businessman following his 2016 presidential win. He has interviewed Trump on his own TV show and frequently popped up as a cheerleader for Trump on Fox News.
Yet even among the most ardent Trump fans, Farage remains largely unknown.
“I’ve probably seen him, but I don’t pay much attention to other countries,” said 69-year-old Doug Campbell.
The former welder and maintenance man had been at the Butler event when Trump was shot, and was eager to return for the second coming.
Trump fans from central casting
Like every attendee POLITICO spoke to in Butler, Campbell was warm, friendly and happy to chat with a reporter despite professing an intense dislike for the media.
Wearing a bright red Make America Great Again sweater, he voiced a stream of disproven conspiracy theories as he professed his devotion to Trump.
He argued, for example, that Democrats ship hordes of illegal immigrants into the U.S. as extra voting fodder.
Multiple Trump supporters at the rally peddled conspiracies that their candidate was robbed of the 2020 election, and many insisted it must be true — as Trump has claimed — that immigrants in Ohio are eating people’s pets. Others were convinced Democrats are forcing kids to change their gender and snatching them from non-compliant parents.
“They want our guns, they want our bibles, and they want our heads,” said White — the supporter quoted at the top of this article — about his political enemies.
“We are fighters,” he enthused. “We are warriors. We have guns and bullets. We don’t want to use ‘em. But we will.”
The 72-year-old real estate broker (who has a “one punch knock-out that never fails”) was not the only Trump supporter who warned of civil war if the candidate is not declared the winner.
We need our overseas allies
White was happy to send a message to Farage as a fellow Trump-loving comrade, despite not knowing who he is. “Thank you to Nigel for being a friend of Trump’s and taking a stand on what is right,” he said, urging the Reform leader to join the U.S. battle if he can.
Real estate agent Charlie Jenkins, 52, also agreed to send a message to Farage despite having never heard of him.
“It’s so important for our overseas allies to support what’s going on as the Republican party is changing,” she said, wearing a black flat cap backwards and handing out Trump stickers.
As the darkness fell and Trump continued to speak from the stage, supporters started to leave in order to avoid the inevitable traffic gridlock. One woman in a sequined cowboy hat searched a stack of camping chairs for the set she left in the pile. “I’m voting for the felon,” her t-shirt read.
Before Trump disappeared and the homeward rush began, POLITICO at last found one person, hobbling along in the twilight, who had heard of Farage: Patrick Mangan.
“His movement in getting out of the European Union was the same kind of populist movement we’re having here right now,” said the 66-year-old former political adviser.
Mangan’s “Keep America Great” polo shirt stretched around his stomach. “Jesus is my savior; Trump is my president,” his cap proclaimed. He leaned deep on his crutch and warned about the threat of civil war if the election is “stolen” from Trump.
But his message to Farage was one of reassurance: “The great populist movements of Trump, in South America, and in Europe, are alive and well.”
Donald Trump fans ask: Where’s Nigel Farage? (And — who is he, again?)
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