News & Politics

A Trump Boat Parade Is Planned for the Potomac on Sunday

The "Nation's Capital Trumptilla" aims to have let support for President Trump be "STRONGLY be heard in our Nation’s Capital!!!"

Photograph via iStock.

A boat parade is planned in support of President Trump on Sunday on the Potomac River. According to a Facebook post from an entity known as “Liberty Rally,” boaters will gather just before 1 PM in the Wilson Bridge no-wake zone and then proceed up the Potomac in an attempt to “show our support of President Trump, the Constitution, Law Enforcement, Fire Fighters, Emergency Responders. Frontline Healthcare and Essential workers and let the voices of FREEDOM and LIBERTY to STRONGLY be heard in our Nation’s Capital!!!”

Screenshot from the event’s Facebook page.

Parades of boaters, sometimes known as Trumptillas, have been a fixture of this odd political year, when land rallies are difficult to organize due to the coronavirus pandemic. President Trump has cited them as a more meaningful metric than polls that show him losing to Joe Biden. One key boat parade organizer, Carlos Gavidia, was charged with threatening someone with whom he had political differences this week in Florida. A Labor Day parade in Jupiter, Florida, is expected to proceed anyway.

If you don’t have a boat, that’s no problem, the event organizer says: A kickoff/watch party will take place at Founders Park in Old Town from 1-5 and spectators are encouraged to watch from Alexandria’s Waterfront Park, Lady Bird Johnson Park, and Memorial Bridge, where the boat parade is scheduled to end. City of Alexandria spokesperson Craig Fifer tells Washingtonian the city hasn’t issued a special events permit for the Founders Park gathering but that no permit is required unless organizers plan to have alcohol, structures, or amplified sound.

Senior editor

Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.