Avid Trump supporter helps raise funds for the president
"I am proud to be 87 years old and standing for our God, our family, our country, and you bet our president, Donald J. Trump.”
October 29, 2020
If you find yourself driving down West Vine street into Vienna, Ill. on any given Saturday. There’s a good chance you’ll see a white house with a white picket fence and a red tent in the front yard. Underneath of this, you’ll find Doris Miller, 87, sitting at a table selling an array of Trump merchandise.
Miller has lived in the same house in Vienna for 52 years where she proudly flies both an American flag and a Trump 2020 flag. Her support of President Donald Trump was ignited when she went to one of his rallies.
“I went to that rally and he said everything I believed in,” Miller said. “He believes in the border, he believes people should come in legally, he believes in saving babies, he believes we should have our guns and just says everything that I believe in.”
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Miller went to more of Trump’s rallies, including one in Evansville, In. on Aug 30th, 2018, where Doris was able to shake hands with the president as he left the stage.
After the rally, Miller said she wanted to learn how she could be more involved in helping Donald Trump.
“So I thought, ‘I’ll go home and join the Republican Women’s Group.’ When I came home, I found out they haven’t met in months. So, they gave me some phone numbers and I got them started back,” she said.
She didn’t think that would be enough to directly help the president, so she had another plan.
“I remembered my son, Bobby, has a red tent that he takes to car shows. So I said, ‘Bobby, I want your red tent in my front yard,’” Miller said.
Ever since then, Miller has spent her Saturdays and some Sundays selling Trump merchandise in
her front yard. All the profits she makes, she sends to Donald Trump.
“I send him all the proceeds,” she said. “So I send it weekly or maybe every two weeks. But, I send it all to him. We
don’t even take our lunch money out of that, because we want every cent to go to Trump.”
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Miller set a goal of $5,000 to help President Trump from the profits made from selling Trump
merchandise. Since then, she has beaten that goal and is now eyeing to raise a total of $7,000 to
send to him before this coming election day.
When asked about the type of feedback she receives from people when selling Trump merchandise, she notes for the most part people in the community are supportive, but she did have an incident with one person.
“I only had one that was bad and he parked in the middle of the street. And he got out screaming just as loud as he could. He called me everything you could think of white supremacist, nazi, he used the f word, everything,” Miller said.
Miller said overall, she has enjoyed raising the funds.
“I’ve met people from all over. And it’s been a pleasure to do it,” Miller
said. “But most of the time, it’s people pumping their arms and thumbs up and all good. Very few
thumbs down do I get.”
With the 2020 election approaching on Nov. 3rd, the current COVID-19 pandemic has
altered campaigns that once held large in-person events and some are choosing to vote by mail-in ballots instead of in-person.
“Well, of course, I don’t get to go to the rallies now. But, the ones I see on TV, he draws big crowds. Their hollering, ‘We love you, Trump!’” Miller said. “I am proud to be 87 years old and standing for our God, our family, our country, and you bet our president, Donald J. Trump.”
Staff Photographer Jared Treece can be reached at [email protected].
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