HILLSBOROUGH, N.J. – Having witnessed the "Baby Trump" balloon making waves at protests in London, New Jersey activist Didier Jimenez-Castro thought the presidential prank could make a similar statement in the U.S. – particularly in Bedminster, where President Donald Trump spends some summer weekends at his Trump National Golf Club.
On Friday, Jimenez-Castro created a GoFundMe page to have a "Baby Trump" blimp shipped here. In one day, the campaign surpassed the goal of $4,500 and on Monday afternoon stood at $7,949 with 372 individual donations.
"I got together with local organizers and we agreed we need to bring 'Baby Trump' to Bedminster where he plays golf," Jimenez-Castro said. "Within 22 hours, we reached our goal. I contacted the manufacturer again and we will have our balloon by mid-August. The order is going in Monday."
Jimenez-Castro is working directly with Jim Girvan, the chair of the Branchburg Democratic Party and founder of the People's Motorcade, a local grassroots group. The People's Motorcade holds protests on the road between Trump's golf course between and Bedminster's Clarence Dillon Public Library, which they refer to as the "free speech zone," every Saturday in the spring and summer months. Jimenez-Castro reached out to Girvan on Thursday and the two are spearheading the "Baby Trump" campaign and running the GoFundMe page together.
"I thought we could bring it here and mess with him," Jimenez-Castro said. "It's humorous and funny. But, this needs to be as transparent as possible. It's a group effort and every job here from graphic designer from helping to blow the balloon up is a volunteer. It's grassroots."
Plans include initial stops in Bedminster and then a Tri-state tour. Jimenez-Castro said the balloon is an excellent catalyst to attract people to act, whether it be a protest, voter registration or policy discussions.
"We won't do just protests, but use the balloon as a tool to bring people together and talk about candidates running in your district and if are you registered or do you need help registering to vote," Jimenez-Castro said. "Do you want to talk about policies? We need not to be just anti-Trump, but we have to work together in the community and change the broken system that we have."
Jimenez-Castro noted that Trump has said that he does not feel "welcome" with the "Baby Trump" on display.
"We need to get under his skin as much as we can," said Jimenez-Castro, who is working with local grassroots leaders. "It will be a great tool to undermine him. He hates it because he has a huge ego. At the end of the day, the balloon is not just a balloon, but it represents all his bad policies when it comes to immigration, when it comes to climate change, when it comes to his policies overseas, war and all the domestic issues we have here like hate, Nazis and all those subjects that are coming back from the shadows."
Jimenez-Castro, who works full-time at a local family homeless shelter and part-time at a local ShopRite, said he has seen directly how Trump's policies impact the "poor and vulnerable."
"That gives me a lot of fuel to keep going and say 'No, we are not going to cower to this clown,'" Jimenez-Castro said. "We are going to keep going."
This is not Jimenez-Castro's first foray into advocacy or activism. He regularly works with and volunteers for nonprofit organizations and previously hosted a water balloon fight to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Of the hundreds who donated to the cause, Jimenez-Castro is grateful for their generosity and support.
"We would like to thank everyone who got together to raise the funds to bring Baby Trump to America," Jimenez-Castro said. "We will be using the page to update everyone about the order status and delivery date of Baby Trump. I will try my best to document the adventures of getting it delivered and the process to get it up on the ground. I am beyond proud of everyone's hard work on this project and we will continue to work hard to bring this big baby to the public."
Follow Cheryl Makin on Twitter: @CherylMakin
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