WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Supporters of former President Donald Trump lined the streets of Southern Boulevard on Saturday evening to celebrate his return to Palm Beach.
Among the supporters was Bobby Francis.
"From the moment he stepped on that escalator down Trump Tower in 2015, I said, 'There's our next president,'" Francis said.
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He said he attends just about every Trump rally in South Florida, but this one hit differently.
"The man loves our country and I have never cried since JFK died — I'm that old — for a politician," Francis said. "But when I saw him on the ground with blood on his face, I had tears in my eyes."
This comes a week after the assassination attempt on the former president.
Heightened security measures are now in place around his Palm Beach home.
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Where Southern Boulevard ends at Mar-a-Lago, South Ocean Boulevard is closed from the traffic circle to the northern edge of the club property. It'll stay that way until the election.
Tim Miller, a retired Secret Service agent, told WPTV that the agency will ramp up security in the area after the shooting at Trump's rally last weekend.
"We're going to see in Palm Beach County the same kinds of things we saw when he was in fact the sitting president because we learned on Saturday that whatever it was we were doing did not work, and my hope and prayer is the Secret Service gets it right," Miller said.
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However, the political climate and recent threats against Trump didn't keep the crowd from welcoming him home.
"Any time when he's coming down to West Palm Beach, we're here," Trump supporter Elaine Fandino said.
"That's why we're here because we don’t want fear to get in our way," added Trump supporter Michele Reval.
Trump's next scheduled campaign stop is Wednesday in Charlotte, North Carolina, another battleground state.
