Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 22 – A group of anti-Trump protesters sets up shop on a prominent corner near Belmont University prior to the final presidential debate. (Photo: Ray Di Pietro)
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- A Metro Nashville Police office outside the J. W. Marriott, site of a fundraiser for President Donald Trump. (Photo: Ray Di Pietro)
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- The Climate Cow arrived with a group from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. (Photo: Ray Di Pietro)
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- Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 22 -Volunteers with Workers Dignity and the Metro Nashville Education Association lead a Central Labor Council march to join other protesters. (Photo: Ray Di Pietro)
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- Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 22 – Dezerae, of Spring Hill, said she got her outfit online – “From China!” (Photo: John Partipilo)
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- Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 22 – The presidential motorcade turns onto 15th Avenue, S. as the president arrives just prior to the debate. (Photo: John Partipilo)
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- Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 22 – Belmont University, site of the second 2020 presidential debate. (Photo: Ray Di Pietro)
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- Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 22 – Supporters of former President Donald Trump ouside the final presidential debate of the electoral cycle at Belmont University. (Photo: John Partipilo)
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- “Four more years!” chants a group of Trump supporters. Photo: Alex Kent)
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- Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 22 – A banner displays a caricature of Trump pulling puppet strings on U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn. (Photo: John Partipilo)
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- Preparing for the president’s arrival at Belmont. (Photo: Alex Kent)
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- (Photo: Alex Kent)
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- (Photo: Ray Di Pietro)
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- (Photo: Ray DiPietro)
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- Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 22 – Be Better Belmont urges the university to cut ties with CoreCivic and its president Damon Hininger. (Photo: Ray DiPietro)
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- (Photo: John Partipilo)
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- (Photo: Ray Di Pietro)
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- (Photo: Ray Di Pietro)
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- (Photo: Alex Kent)
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Attendance at Thursday’s presidential debate was strictly limited out of deference to the risks posed by COVID-19, but hundreds of revelers and protesters lined the streets of Nashville to air their political opinions.
President Donald Trump arrived in Nashville around 3 p.m. and went first to a $250,000 per person fundraiser at the downtown J.W. Marriott. Guests included singer Kid Rock and Damon Hininger, president of private prison company CoreCivic.
Following his mid-afternoon walk through at Belmont University, the site of the debate, Democratic nominee Joe Biden retired to a private house in Green Hills. Sources said the Biden camp viewed a private home as more secure than a hotel.
Just off the Belmont campus, Indivisible Tennessean, a non-partisan activist group, had organized a anti-Trump protest that drew several hundred people, including representatives from progressive groups that included labor unions and Our Revolution, a spin off from Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaigns. On the opposite side of the street, an organic crowd of Trump supporters thronged, wearing clothing emblazoned with Trump’s face and waving Trump 2020 flags.
On one corner, a shirtless man gyrated to dance music while waving a Gadsden flag. A few feet from him, a man decrying abortion yelled through a bullhorn at the PETA representatives: “Thank you for not eating meat!,” he said. “It makes steaks cheaper for me.”
Photojournalists John Partipilo, Ray Di Pietro and Alex Kent captured the scenes.
(Featured photo by Ray Di Pietro.)
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