Protesters disrupt former President Trump's rally ahead of New Hampshire primary
A rally held by former President Donald Trump ahead of the New Hampshire primary was disrupted Monday night by protesters, who repeatedly interrupted his speech to bring up fossil fuels.
"Every day, the Republican Party is becoming more and more unified," Trump told the crowd shortly after he took the stage. "We had a very good competitor, Ron, as you know, Ron DeSantis, and he fought hard and he fought well."
"We started off with 13 and now we're down to two people, and I think one person will be gone probably tomorrow, and the other one will be gone in November," Trump continued, referring to his own former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and President Joe Biden.
But shortly into his address, a protester addressing fossil fuels interrupted the former president. Security quickly intervened and escorted the protester out, and the night appeared to be returning to normal with Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Burgum, and South Carolina Sen. Scott joining Trump on stage and working the crowd.
Not long after, the event was interrupted by another protester, who shouted, "Oil sellout!" as she was being kicked out of the resort where the event was held.
Additional protesters then repeatedly interrupted Trump's speech one by one throughout the night. Trump carried on with his address and worked to turn his supporters' attention back to his speech.
While protesters at Trump's campaign events are not unheard of, such interruptions haven't been a frequent occasion over the past few months. Monday night's protests marked the third Trump campaign event in the past week in New Hampshire that was interrupted by protesters. Rochester Sunday night and Manchester Saturday night both saw protesters speaking out from the crowd.
Adah Crandall, 17, an activist from the Sunrise Movement and one of the protesters who interrupted Trump in Laconia, New Hampshire, Monday night – and to whom Trump jeered, "She's going home to mommy," as she was escorted out – explained to ABC News later that she and other Sunrise Movement activists have been attending presidential candidates' campaign events across the aisle to "demand that they answer for" campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry.
One of Trump's major campaign messages this cycle has been "drill, baby, drill" – a push for an expansion of the oil and gas industry for what he calls "energy independence."
"The goal here is not to persuade Trump supporters," Crandall said. "The goal here is to show the general public … that our generation deserves better."
"We are going to be continuing to show up through the general election, holding politicians accountable, making sure that we end up with someone in office who is ready to fight for our generation," Crandall continued.
Monday night's rally was Trump's final pitch to Granite State voters ahead of the first in the nation primary – a show of the Republican Party finally beginning to unite behind him in what's become a two-person race between Trump and his former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign and immediately endorsed him on Sunday.
