Update at 10:45 a.m. — “At this time, ACPD is not aware of any large events in Arlington being planned between now and next Tuesday,” Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage said Thursday morning, in response to an inquiry from ARLnow.
Earlier: President Biden reportedly repeated Donald Trump’s name 24 times during his gubernatorial campaign stop in Arlington last night, and it might have summoned the former president to come back for a visit.
Trump, apparently pleased by chants of “We love Trump” during the Biden event, released a somewhat cryptic statement this afternoon.
“Chanting, ‘We love Trump’ in Arlington, Va. Thank you, Arlington, see you soon!” the former president wrote.
It’s unclear whether Trump actually intends to come to Arlington in the near future. His last known appearance here was on Election Day last year, when he visited his re-election campaign headquarters in Rosslyn.
The statement today was greeted with surprise on social media, with many wondering whether Trump will counter Biden’s campaign stop for Democratic candidate for governor Terry McAuliffe with an event for GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin. That would be unexpected, given Trump’s relative unpopularity here and the fact that McAuliffe has staked his campaign on linking Youngkin to Trump.
https://twitter.com/pete_p4n/status/1453450605696008195
McAuliffe said in a tweet that Trump is, in fact, planning to campaign for Youngkin in Virginia.
Donald Trump is coming to Virginia to campaign for his handpicked guy Glenn Youngkin. Enough of this MAGA nonsense. We will defeat Trump once again this November!
— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) October 27, 2021
There were other theories as well.
Be Smart: Arlington-based media property Politico has asked Trump to guest-author tomorrow’s edition of Playbook https://t.co/bN1eMDje7g
— Matt Negrin, HOST OF HARDBALL AT 7PM ON MSNBC (@MattNegrin) October 27, 2021
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), meanwhile, said Trump “should be prepared to hear from Arlingtonians” about the Jan. 6 pro-Trump violence at the Capitol should he visit.
As Arlington's Congressman I can say its residents are still furious about Donald Trump's attempts to steal the 2020 election and the violent insurrection he incited at the Capitol on January 6th. If he comes here he should be prepared to hear from Arlingtonians about that.
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) October 27, 2021
Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, established an official office in Arlington earlier this year, after Biden took office.