‘Great Group Of People:’ Long Valley Mayor Welcomes Trump Parade

LONG VALLEY, NJ - Flying a red Trump flag bigger than he was, Washington Township Mayor Matt Murello welcomed a group of more than 100 supporters of President Donald Trump and the Washington Township Police as they participated in a parade around town on Sunday.

"I had a chance to welcome a great group of people assembled today in town for a parade to show support for our town, our police, President Trump and our country," Murello said in a Facebook post.

The parade happened the same day Trump, who has been battling a COVID-19 infection, paraded around Walter Reed Medical Center, to salute supporters from his motorcade, a move that drew criticism for disregarding basic precautions to contain the virus that has killed more than 209,000 Americans.

Hours earlier, Trump's medical team reported that his blood oxygen level dropped suddenly twice in recent days and that they gave him a steroid typically only recommended for the very sick. The doctors also said his health is improving and that he could be discharged as early as Monday.

"It's been a very interesting journey. I learned a lot about COVID," Trump said Sunday, standing in his hospital room in a video posted on social media. "I learned it by really going to school."

In Long Valley, the parade brought out Trump supporters not only through the community, but on social media where they touted the event as patriotic and a wonderful way to show their love for the local police.

But not all commenters were feeling the love.

Kate Munning said on Facebook those involved in the parade were giving the middle finger and shouting obscenities at any house that had a Biden sign.

"They don’t sound great at all, and it’s pretty disrespectful to the law enforcement that these folks claimed to be supporting," she said.

Melissa McSharry Waskis said that was what not what she experienced.

"From what we saw it was actually the Biden supporters giving us the middle finger as we drove by. And some lovely gentleman decided to moon us too," she said. "I smiled and waved at everyone we passed."

Hope Fleming told Patch that the cussing and disgusting behavior that was in the parade were "those of the BLM who cut into the procession trying to cause accidents and antagonize the people after a 'counterattack' was called for."

Yvonne Deehan said that the event was a peaceful parade backing the blue and "our tremendous president and country."

Ursula Berg noted that while it was billed as an event in support of the police, it was hard to tell.

"No one that experienced this 'parade' from the outside looking in would have any idea this was in support of the police. The mayor himself is flying a Trump flag," she said. "'Back the blue' should not be synonymous with 'Trump Rally' but today, in Long Valley, it was. Unacceptable."

Lauren Bederka-Huston posted that she would have liked to see a non-partisan rally for police.

"I think we have the greatest police department in our town and I have great respect and support for them. This could’ve been a great opportunity to bring everyone together in unity to support our very valued police," she said. "Unfortunately, by making it synonymous with Trump support, it further created a divide and the opportunity for which it was intended was missed and overshadowed. Thank you to our police men and women for all that you do."

John R. Holt said the Murello is the mayor for the entire town, not just Republicans.

"It is praiseworthy of Mayor Murello to support and celebrate our police, whether or not some of them may identify as Democrats. For him publicly to connect support and celebration of a Republican President with support and celebration of our local nonpartisan police department during election season, however, is ethically inappropriate," he said. "His endorsement of the President’s re-election during a public occasion celebrating our non-partisan police is an affront to those police and those citizens who support another candidate. By all means, our local police should be celebrated for the good work they do, but not in a politically partisan fashion."

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