Donald Trump has garnered tremendous support from the frum community, both during his previous election campaigns and his current bid to become the 47th president of the United States. Interestingly, some of these supporters are getting to do business with him as well.
One of these people is Toivy Binet, whose Lakewood-based company Centristic was contracted to set up the stage and the podium for the former president at a recent fundraising event in Deal, New Jersey.
I called Toivy to hear the backstory. In light of the recent heightened security measures surrounding Trump following the failed attempt on his life, I also wanted to hear more about the security aspect and the relevant preparations.
“On Sunday, the Chera family hosted a fundraiser event for the Trump campaign in their home in Deal,” Toivy told me. “During the previous campaigns, Trump had held similar events at the Chera family home.” (Jewish Syrian philanthropist Stanley Chera, who passed away in 2020 after contacting Covid, was a close friend and staunch ally of Mr. Trump.) “Joel Wohl, who runs Powwow events, wanted to get the Lakewood community involved in the Trump campaign.”
After many attempts, Joel managed to arrange a meeting with Trump supporters in Deal, offering his help in setting up the fundraiser.
“My company designs and builds custom-made party props and installations. We were tasked with building the stage,” Toivy explained. “We had less than a week from the acceptance of our proposal until the event.”
Although Toivy says that he’s been contracted on shorter notice, the approval process was much more extensive than for any other event he had ever done. He speculated that due to the heavy campaign schedule, with the Trump team working on daily and nightly appearances, many of these events are produced with very tight deadlines.
“Last Tuesday, we had a briefing with the Secret Service, the event planners and the audio and visual teams. Two members of the Trump team flew in to join the meeting. We ran through all the safety details.”
In addition to the Secret Service, a plethora of agencies attended the briefing, including the state police, local law enforcement and the Coast Guard, since the property is located on the shore. There were over 50 personnel on site.
Toivy was given instructions on how to construct the stage, which was to be built under a tent. From the moment Trump walked in, all doors and windows along his path had to be blocked to prevent him from being exposed. They tested the various vantage points to ensure that his location wouldn’t be visible from any structure in the vicinity. For additional security, the sides of the stage had to be boarded up and a small piece of bullet-proof glass would cover the lower part of the stage to provide cover to the former president if he ducked down.
“Next, we discussed the technical details. As custom designers, we offered to create an extraordinary stage with back screens and lighting, something that would wow the attendees. While the Trump team liked the idea, they preferred a simple standard design. The center of attention, they explained, should be Trump himself, without any distractions.”
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