(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Most people go to a Trump rally to see one man only. Even if he happens to be talking about tariffs and tax rates, former President Donald Trump never fails to delight and dazzle his audience with a spectacle of a speech.
While the rallies often will deliver some of his greatest hits, including “My Favorite Chart,” “Fight! Fight! Fight!” and “The Fake News Won’t Show This Crowd Size”—not to mention a few esoteric fan-favorites, such as “Dr. Hannibal Lector”—each is unique in its own way due to Trump’s freewheeling and improvisational style.
For that reason, perhaps, Trump has achieved a rare, if not unique, feat in American politics, cultivating his own Deadhead-like groupies who follow him across the country to nearly every rally and public event.
There are the “Front-Row Joes” and the “Beautiful Ladies from North Carolina.” In fact, by harnessing the power of the social media, some Trump super-fans have become celebrities in their own right.
Among them is San Diego-based Blake Marnell, known to his social-media followers as “Brick Suit,” who has amassed a following of more than 237,400 on his X account since joining five years ago.
He’s been interviewed by many major networks and prominent media figures—as well as being attacked by a few fake-news notables, including alleged RFK Jr. seductress Olivia Nuzzi, who jealously derided his invitation to the VIP section of a Mar-a-Lago event.
Remarkably, Marnell has said he did not vote for Trump in his successful 2016 upset of Hillary Clinton—nor, prior to the 2020 election, had he voted for any presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan in 1984, the Arizona Republic reported.
However, his political activism went into overdrive in 2019, when Trump first called him onstage at a rally in Montoursville, Pa., after noticing his unique sartorial statement.
Or so it goes according to his own canonical “origin story”:
Brick Suit origin story:
Four years ago today President Trump spotted me in the crowd and called me up on stage.
I've been Brick Suit ever since. pic.twitter.com/DVw2aHfYbQ— Brick Suit (@Brick_Suit) May 20, 2023
At a recent rally in Mint Hill, N.C., Headline USA caught up with Marnell before being booted out of the audience section and directed back into the press pen.
He graciously recounted his rise to MAGA fame, his experiences during the July 13 Butler assassination attempt, and the symbolism of his now-iconic suit.
The questions and responses have been edited slightly for clarity and length.
HUSA: What was it like getting called onstage?
Brick Suit: The first time I got called onstage, completely unexpected: It was in Montoursville, PA, and I was on the front row. It was the first time I had ever worn my brick suit to a rally, and he saw me in the front row, he said, ‘Look at this guy. Get him up here. Get him up here.’
People were like, pounding me on the back, saying ‘He’s calling you’ and I managed to climb over the fence, but don’t remember anything about going up onstage or shaking his hand. Don’t remember anything until I got back. And so, all the memory I have of that is watching the video footage of i, because it was really like out-of-body. I was on autopilot.
HUSA: How many Trump rallies would you estimate you’ve been to?
Brick Suit: I don’t count them. Basically, I make it to as many as I can get to, and I get to as many as I can. So, I don’t really keep track.
HUSA: Are there regulars who you begin to know after a while?
Brick Suit: There are the women who volunteer—the ushers—you see them over there, they’re in those wonderful dresses, basically all color. They come out and they do, like the pre-game work of getting the special guests where they belong… And then they get good seating, and they’re wonderful supporters of the president.
HUSA: Tell me about your experiences as a Twitter/X influencer, and befriending other influencers like Gunther Eagleman.
Brick Suit: I have a lot of Twitter friends and people I follow. Gunther is one of them, yeah. I didn’t have any social media after President Trump called me onstage the first time. So all my social media is since then.
HUSA: Talk a little more about the ‘Brick Suit’ persona.
Brick Suit: Well, the suit is a metaphor for the wall and border security. So that’s a big part of it—it’s visible, and Twitter is sometimes a visible medium, so it fits well, but I also, before Elon [Musk] bought the company, I played by the rules, so I never got banned, I wasn’t, like, gone for a couple of years.
I think the fact that my Twitter isn’t my real name, that it’s my just a concept about border security and I treat politics, sometimes, with some humor—I think that’s the reason for the success.
HUSA: What are you hoping to hear from Trump at this Mint Hill event?
Brick Suit: This is a new one for me. I’ve never been in one that’s like this, that’s just [being billed as] remarks, where we’re so close. I’m just really excited to to see him in a much more intimate setting and not to be outside in 95-degree sun and 80% humidity—although, if that’s what it was going to be I would be there too.
HUSA: Can you tell me your experiences being at the Butler rally where Trump was nearly assassinated?
Brick Suit: The easiest way to sum it up, without going into a long explanation, is: 15 seconds of confusion because I didn’t know what the sounds were; 10 seconds of realization that it was actually assassination attempt; and then, from there, like 45 seconds that’s just the most extreme concern imaginable for the life of President Trump—and then, relief when he stood up and pumped his first. I couldn’t tell what he was saying, but I could tell he was conscious and he looked—he looked great. And then, cautious optimism that he didn’t have another wound that he couldn’t see, like in the body or something.
I can tell you this: I’ve fired many weapons before. Gunfire sounds a lot different when it’s just the bullets traveling near you than when the gun’s actually being fired—and that’s why I didn’t recognize it as gunfire on the outside.
If you publish this on the web version, you look at my Twitter, my footage from Butler is on it, but I wasn’t filming when the president was fired at when he was shot, because when I’m in the front row I never film here after he arrives, but I did get my camera out after.
President Trump's Butler PA rally, what I filmed from the front row immediately after the attempt on President Trump's life.
Wasn't ready to post this until today. pic.twitter.com/9CUFwOvY1s— Brick Suit (@Brick_Suit) July 17, 2024
Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.‘
