There is no shortage of Trump merchandise on the market. Former President Donald Trump himself makes money from gold sneakers and Bibles sold under his name. At every Trump rally, opportunists sell MAGA hats and soda can coolers bearing the Trump logo and American flags bearing Trump’s likeness. At last month’s Republican National Convention, an exhibit hall adjacent to the arena was filled with MAGA merchandise: One vendor sold a $75 cutting board shaped like the former president’s Trump cutting board. Another sold a bound volume of Trump’s social media posts titled “Collected Poems of Donald J. Trump.”
And now a business venture is breaking new ground on the Arizona-California border: an RV park dedicated to Trump’s most loyal supporters.
Located on the main drag of Quartzsite, Arizona, MAGA RV Park prides itself on being “a place for free thinkers.” Unlike other RV resorts nearby, some of which have swimming pools and showers, MAGA RV Park is nothing more than a gravel lot with electrical hookups and a communal fire pit. “Our best amenity is that the people are like-minded,” says Cheryl Reid, who lives on site and manages the property with her husband.
On a recent Friday, a faded hat hung from a chain-link fence near the entrance. The words TRUMP WON were clearly visible on the front. Several trucks had stickers bearing Trump’s image. (One read STILL MY PRESIDENT.) The sign welcoming guests to the park features a cartoon image of Trump.
“This is all we do for advertising,” said Michael Cole, the park’s owner, pointing to the sign. And thematically, it’s all he decorates: Cole puts up the sign and lets visitors do the rest. The sign serves as a “filter,” Reid said, for visitors who want to stay close to like-minded travelers. Reid, a Trump supporter, moved to the park in 2021 and has stayed there ever since.
For Cole, the park is less an ideological experiment than a business one. When he bought the RV park three years ago, he read that attaching partisan political views to an existing business would cut growth in half, but starting a new business tied to a political opinion taps into an already existing consumer base and accelerates growth. His first order of business after buying Desert Oasis RV Park in 2021 was to remove the generic name. Within days of putting up the new sign, Cole had 15 to 20 people stopping daily to take photos. Within weeks, the park’s 13 sites were sold out. “A $200 sign goes a long way,” he said, chuckling.
Three years later, the RV park is feeling the effects of an election year for the first time. While Quartzite is in its off-season—the town’s population swells to over 200,000 in the winter months when the “snowbirds” come to RV shows—Arizona is a campaign zone. And while Quartzite’s other, larger RV parks are mostly empty in late summer, the small MAGA RV Park is nearly full: 10 of its 13 sites are currently occupied by long-term renters.
“Most people who come here like the name and want to stay,” said Reid, who runs the park’s day-to-day operations with her husband. “People like having neighbors who think like them.”
Quartzite has a population of 2,000 and can claim to be almost famous in many ways. It’s called the “RV Capital of the World”; but so is Elkhart, Indiana, where one in two RVs is manufactured. It calls itself the “Stone Capital of the World,” a nod to its gem and mineral exhibits, but so do several other towns. And it claims to be home to the “World’s Largest Belt Buckle,” which is displayed outside a trading post on Quartzite’s Main Street. According to Guinness, however, the world record holder is in Dallas.
But nowhere else, not in Elkhart or Dallas or any other city, is there an RV park reserved exclusively for Trump’s most devoted followers. In Quartzite, it works. In the winter months, when the snowbirds arrive, “Quartzsite may be the most eccentric place in the country,” wrote the Los Angeles Times, “a strange western outpost where ‘Tea Party’ retirees mingle with cigarette-rolling rock collectors and white-haired hippies — and where no one bats an eyelid when a bare-bottomed bookseller walks by.”
“It’s a strange city,” Cole told me. “So I thought, ‘Why not?'”
Ironically, the man who stands to benefit most from the park – its owner and founder – isn’t entirely sold on the idea. “I’m not as political as you might think,” Cole told me. He described himself as a Ron Paul libertarian – certainly “on the right side of things,” he said – but expressed disappointment with politicians in general. Does that apply to Trump? “Yeah, I think so,” he told me.
During Trump’s first campaign, Cole was more of a supporter of the Trump regime. He attended several Trump rallies in Phoenix and voted for him. However, he was disappointed when Trump failed to keep some of his campaign promises, including building the border wall.
“I would rather have Trump in office,” Cole said. “But I’m not sure it affects all of us here too much. It’s the lesser of two evils, unfortunately.”
What draws people to his RV park instead of staying at similarly expensive sites nearby that don’t have a Trump sign? What is it about Trump that brings him so many supporters? “They’re all projecting their hopes,” Cole told me. “Look, they’re great people. They secretly and desperately hope that he’s the one who will lead us to the promised land.” He chuckled. “We can all hope.”
