"I am not going to lie you. This has been terrible. This RNC is a joke. There's three groups of people here. There are regular people from Cleveland who just are wandering downtown sightseeing, there's a group of Republicans that are for Donald Trump, and there's a group of Republicans that don't want to say that they don't care anything about Donald Trump. So only a third of this crowd is ours."
Ronnie Rytel is from Buffalo, New York but he's spent the last seven months traveling the country. Wherever The Donald goes, he goes--with his merchandise.
"When we go to Trump rallies all around America those people are 1000% for Trump, I get out of the van and sell more money in hats than I've done in days as a demolition worker. When I go to a Donald Trump rally, it's a bunch of rednecks who are Donald Trump gung ho and they're willing to spend whatever it takes to get a Donald Trump T-shirt."
I spoke to Rydel about the campaign and the booming business of selling Trump paraphernalia.
Trump paraphernalia and the like.
RR: One thing I realize about the RNC is that it's more against Hillary than it is pro-Trump where the rallies we go to you know are strictly pro-Trump. They're against Hillary also but they're also Trump fanatics where this RNC is against Hillary but they're not so much for Trump. They might not love him but they sure as fuck don't like her.
DD: And so this means that for you, you have to get more anti-Hillary stuff out here.
RR: I got a ton of anti-Hillary stuff out there and that's what sells.
DD: Where are you going from here?
RR: I'm going to wait for Donald Trump to post it. As soon as I leave here, I'll go back to Buffalo for a couple days to spend time with my wife and kids. My wife and kids actually surprised me last night and came and visited me in Cleveland. I'm staying in a motel out here and my wife and kids showed up at eleven o'clock last night. It was the first time I'd seen my kids in six days. So I'm in good spirits today.
DD: Do you support Donald Trump?
RR: No, Donald Trump supports my family. I have two children that are six and four, Ronnie Jr. and Riley. Forty-two events this January.
DD: Do you do any Hillary or anybody else?
RR: The thing is, is you go to a Hillary event and if you get five thousand people you're excited about it. Donald trump's a rock star. Everywhere he goes there is at least fifteen thousand to twenty thousand people.
DD: Now tell me, who did you vote for in 2008?
RR: Barack Obama.
DD: And who'd you vote for in 2012?
RR: Barack Obama.
DD: And who are you going to vote for in 2016?
RR: Donald Trump by default. I just don't want Hillary in office if that makes sense. Not because her husband wasn't a great president because Bill was the last real great president we've had in my mind. Not that Barack has done a bad job but Barack has done a so-so job. The last time I can remember a president actually doing things that help this country was Bill Clinton.We didn't have problems, we weren't at war, gas prices were down as low as they've been since I've been buying gas. I'll admit I was sixteen years old when Bill was president and I got my first car. When George W. Bush was president, gas prices were over double when I started to drive.
RR: I don't think Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump should be president of the United States. I told you I'm from Buffalo. Donald Trump tried to buy the Bills two years ago before Terry Pegula did. We got a lovely gentleman in Buffalo named Terry Pegula, he bought the Bills, the Sabres. He's put four hundred million dollars into downtown Buffalo and the waterfront in the last four years. Did you know Donald Trump was turned down by NFL owners to buy an NFL franchise because they didn't trust him with their revenue? I feel like now we're going to give this guy our nuclear codes. Do you get that from my perspective? I get a good look at it in terms of the NFL turning Donald Trump down because if they didn't trust him with the revenue of an NFL franchise but we're going to trust him with the safety of our country.
DD: Well you are getting ready to vote for him in November.
RR: If it's gonna be him and Hillary, I gotta vote for him. I do because I think she's a liar. I think she's deceiving. I don't agree with Trump's policies towards immigrants or blacks or Mexicans and I think he's a little bit extreme when it comes to those situations. But I think he's trying to appeal to one demographic of people - he wants rednecks to vote for him to put it that way. He wants those kind of people to vote for him and he thinks if he gets those kind of votes, then that puts him ahead of the line.
DD: What do you learn about Donald Trump and his supporters by vending stuff?
RR: One thing I do know about Donald Trump is he's not afraid to say what's on his mind. And whether he feels it or not, the man says what's on his mind. If you ask him a question he doesn't hesitate. The first thing that pops in his head, he'll say it to you.
DD: What were doing before you started following Trump?
RR: Listen, I've worked in Buffalo. I've worked at a few jobs. I was a sous chef at a four-star restaurant in Buffalo for ten years. I stopped doing it when I was twenty-eight, I had my son. By the time he was two years old my wife was pregnant with my daughter and I realized how much I missed my son's growing between one and two years of age, those are good years to spend with your children so I didn't want to miss that with my daughter so I packed that up and I started doing demolition. I'm a licensed special supervisor in New York state still to this day. I was doing demolition in the State of New York and it's a good business in Buffalo right now because you know what -they're knocking down a shit ton of houses and buildings and Buffalo is knocking itself down to pick itself back up.
DD: Where did you get the idea to do this?
RR: My father actually. My father's been a vendor for twenty years, best vendor in the world actually. I swear and it's not just because it's my dad. He outsells everybody by double, it's really scary.
DD: And so he suggested it?
RR: Yeah, he said you know why don't you come out of town with me once a week, maybe two weeks at the end of the month and at the end of two weeks you can stay at home with your family, you will make more money than you make doing your job and you'll still be able to do whatever you want with your kids and your girl and you'll be able to spend good time with your family.
DD: Do you feel that selling Trump goods influences you in any way?
RR: Not at all. People ask me all the time do I support Donald Trump. I say no, Donald Trump supports my family. If that makes sense to you. I have two beautiful kids at home, I have a lovely wife at home that I would rather go out of town for a week and sell and make more money than I'd make in a month working 70 hours a week at home. And I can go and spend three weeks with my kids and play on the trampoline and go swimming and go to the lake or Cedar Point and do things with my kids that I don't normally get to do because I'm working my fucking ass off to make ends meet in Buffalo.