CASPER, Wyo— Kristopher Dreww, the self-described “Adorable Deplorable,” beautician, gay Trump supporter and social media influencer, was the headline speaker Saturday Oct. 17 at a “Citizens for Trump” parade and rally in Casper.
Mikayla Olson, who organized a “Patriot’s Rally” on September 11, reached out to the controversial California native on the social media app TikTok. Dreww agreed to come for the price of the plane ticket.
A planned parade of 140 vehicles waving flags was relegated to a highway cruise after organizers were unable to secure support from Casper Police for an in-town escort, Olson said.
“I learned a ton from what he said. A lot of it was brand new stuff… He’s obviously very well studied,” said Kim Walker, chair of the Natrona County Republican Women.
Dreww told Oil City News that his headliner status drew concern from the Natrona County Democratic Party when a poster advertising the rally featured a picture of him flashing an “okay” hand signal that some groups say has been co-opted by white supremacists.
Dreww said the symbol was a reference to the American Revolution and had been used as code among the supposed “3%” of the population willing to revolt.
“I don’t think “white power” is one [of the symbol’s meanings]. I think that’s literally 100% made up.” He added that his mother was half-Black, and in his address said, “I think racism is bad, period.”
He did add that the backlash against the symbol has inspired him to use it “on purpose.” Nevertheless, the event’s organizers removed the image from future flyers.
Dreww posted a live video on social media video of a confrontation with one woman outside the Clarion Saturday. It is not clear from the video what instigated the confrontation.
“I’m in your city and there’s nothing you’re going to do about it. And we’re going to continue to win, and you’re going to continue to lose,” Dreww told the woman.
“You are racist, you’re a Democrat, we literally fought you to end slavery,” Dreww said to the woman, echoing a common theme of his address, which was that the Democratic Party had been on the wrong side of equality and rights issues throughout history, and was disingenuous to now claim to be the party of equality.
“I, on purpose, don’t [cite] a source,” Dreww told Oil City News of his speeches.
“What I tell people is ‘Go home and turn the computer on.’ Once they find it and see for themselves, that’s when they wake up.”
“Why would you ever want to associate yourself with the Democratic Party?” Dreww said in his speech. “The people who locked up the Asians in camps…” (referencing the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII under the FDR administration) “…the people who said gays can’t get married in California, c’mon, they’re all Democrats. Every bad thing that’s happened to us socially in America has been at the hands of Democrats, and they’re trying to throw their whole party history on us.”
“We need to remember these things because we need to be teaching our children,” Dreww said.
Dreww noted that Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery in the Civil War, was a Republican. He said that Republican votes had passed the 15th Amendment to the Constitution in 1870, which granted African Americans the right to vote, though barriers remained until 1965.
“Democrats filibustered the (1964) Civil Rights Act for 75 days,” Dreww told Oil City News later.
“The NRA armed black people in their homes for free to protect them and their families against KKK lynchings in their front yards,” Drew said at one point. “Isn’t it kind of ironic that the left still hates the NRA to this day?”
“They think they have us when it comes to the gays, right? That’s a lie as well. Obama was our President during [Proposition 8] in California, where I’m from. We lost. We lost locally, we lost statewide, and then we lost against the federal government, we were not allowed the right to marry.”
He added: “The first state to give us gay marriage was Massachusetts. [In] a supreme court of seven Republicans and three Democrats, the votes came 6-4, guess who voted against it?”
The crowd answered “Democrats,” which Dreww affirmed.
“We are the party for everybody, we are the party of equality, we are the party of Americans, we are the party of freedom,” Dreww said.
Dreww also said there was a “war” on white men.“The Democratic party never has spent at least 24 hours without standing on the necks of one group in America in order to hold a platform, and right now that’s white men.”
“We Republicans, we don’t thank ourselves enough. We literally ended slavery… We made everyone equal in this country, we built America. And the whole time we fought against Democrats who tried to stop us every step of the way.”
Debbie Bovee, Chairman of the Natrona County Democratic Party, told Oil City News that the Democratic Party of today was not the same as it had been in the past.
“The Democrats are learners, they don’t stay the same as they’ve always been. I think the Civil Rights movement changed society and changed the party,” she said, adding that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was begun during the John F. Kennedy administration and signed by his successor, Lyndon Johnson.
“When people started to see through the media what was going on with people of color in the early 60s, I think that’s when the party started to change and we became the big tent that the Republicans used to be.
She said of her party’s platform: “We support labor unions and a living wage, we support gun control while preserving the Second Amendment, and we support comprehensive and effective immigration reform including DACA.”
