So, this is how my Friday morning started:
My stepdad woke me up around 1 a.m. — not on purpose, but you know that thing where people who are trying to be quiet are actually louder than they would be if they weren’t trying to be quiet? Well, Daddy Deke is a bull in a china shop on his best day. One of his fishing buddies tipped him off that folks from out of town were already starting to line up at the Daingerfield State Park gates, so it was either lay in bed and listen to him cuss and moan getting the camper out of the back garage or help him while he cussed and moaned getting the camper out of the back garage.
He hasn’t missed a Rudy Rally in years — a fact he shares with anyone who will listen, and many who have already heard it a thousand times, yours truly included — and wasn’t going to miss what would presumably be the last one. I rode with him over to the park (the aforementioned fishing buddy was not kidding about the late-night line) and then hitched a ride to town to get in another line, this time outside New Life Church, where President Ruiz’s funeral was scheduled for mid-afternoon Friday.
The scene I found was one of carefully controlled chaos, with thousands of folks trying to find the end of the queue for a shot at getting into the service. If you’ve never been: the New Life complex occupies the former Gallum County Junior College Campus and then some. The sanctuary capacity is about 20,000, and anyone who’s tuned into a Sunday broadcast knows they fill it up every week. (I suppose it’s possible some of my readers have actually been to a Sunday service … out yourselves! I have questions!) But their overflow space can reportedly accommodate about 15,000 more folks between the gym, the Family Life Center, and the theater.
Unsurprisingly, members of the press were formally barred from entry into the sanctuary, making Ruiz’s the first presidential funeral in modern history not to be broadcast on any of the major networks or cable news. (Obviously none of us are likely to forget what happened on the OANN feed when Trump was lying in state at the Capitol, and of course, the aftermath.) The service was aired (but strangely, not archived) on the New Life YouTube/PatriotWire channels, and we’ll have to wait until the now-former Ruiz Administration releases the “official” photos of the event to get a good view of the VIPs (more on that in a second).
I did manage to capture a screenshot of the Youth Gospel Squad marching into the sanctuary, which was one of the most surreal moments in my career covering politics, even with < gestures wildly > everything that’s happened in the last few years. I’ve seen the regular Gospel Squad at all kinds of rallies (and I even went to high school with a few members), but the combination of young women carrying rifles and flowers really threw me.
I ended up making it into the theater with the rest of the tail-end of folks in line. I won’t rehash the service — it was pretty short, clocking it at just under 40 minutes, with remarks from the usual suspects (former Trump advisor/embattled YouTuber Steve Bannon, former Iowa Congressman Steve King, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley) and a fiery eulogy from Pastor Kathy Donaldson. The crowd around me went wild for Morgan Wallen’s national anthem and the “all-star” rendition of “Amazing Grace” featuring Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, and Kid Rock.
Notably: President Ashleigh Grantham Jr. was not among the speakers, and the White House didn’t release his schedule for the day, so there’s no way of knowing whether he was even at the funeral service at all. I imagine he has his hands full in D.C. with the ongoing demonstrations there; the public reaction to his national address last Wednesday has been, let’s say, lackluster at best.
I do want to highlight one thing before we move off of the funeral stuff: What in the world was the world’s most famous atheist, Carron Nielsberg, reportedly doing there? Especially when Grantham seemed to be out of pocket? I’m not the only one asking:
It’s legitimately bizarre that the Austin-based biotech magnate — who has repeatedly said he neither wants nor will ever seek U.S. citizenship — attended the funeral of a deeply religious president. My M.O. has been “okay, roll with it” since HazMedia put me on the politics beat back in 2016, but I am really struggling to wrap my brain around this one. (Don’t worry — I’m digging into it.)
I spent last night back at home, but I’ve made my way back to Daingerfield SP to talk to some Ruiz Ralliers through the weekend — most are taking turns watching their campsites while their friends and family wait to pay their respects to Ruiz at New Life. Presently, I’m set up at Daddy Deke’s campsite, where it smells like like hot dogs and sounds like KNUE.
The atmosphere right now is more subdued-cookout than funereal, but we’ll see what happens after the kids go to bed.
Night, y’all! Stay safe out there.
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