'Baby Blimp' to meet Trump in Texas after protesters raise thousands on GoFundMe

The baby Donald Trump blimp is making its way around the globe after protesters raised enough money to transport the giant balloon to El Paso, Texas ahead of the president’s first campaign rally of the year on Monday.

A GoFundMe page, set up by activist Laura Valdez three days ago, exceeded its $3,500 goal to help bring Baby Trump over to take its first steps in a city falsely branded as “one of the most dangerous in the country” by the US president.

Valdez, who raised $4,086 as of Saturday, said the remaining funds will be donated to the Annunciation House in El Paso, a non-profit that provides support to immigrants, adding that the 6-meter-high blimp was “already on its way from California”.

The president is expected to centre his rally on his demand for border wall funding, tactfully choosing El Paso for its crucial position along the southern border. But residents of the Texan city have already made it clear that the president is not welcome, especially after he called El Paso “dangerous” during his State of the Union address, where in fact the city has been one of America’s safest places for decades.

Republican Congresswoman Veronica Escobar sent Trump a letter on Thursday demanding an apology for his statement, attacking the president's “outright lies” and “cheap attempts to use our community as a political prop”.

Former congressman and El-Paso native Beto O’Rourke, who made waves during his almost-successful run for Senate in a state that has been voting Republican for decades, will be leading a protest march in the city, speaking at the “Celebration of El Paso” rally as Trump delivers his address just north of the Mexican border.

O’Rourke, who has been very outspoken about his views on the border wall, took to Twitter to express his thoughts

Meanwhile, a campaign manager for Trump tweeted:

HT HuffPost

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