Newport Harbor teems with flags as GOP faithful stage Trumptilla boat parade

One day after Donald Trump attended a campaign fundraiser at a Harbor Island estate, the harbor itself was awash with boats filled with supporters of the former president.

The Trumptilla boat parade, first conceived in 2020, returned to Newport Harbor Sunday afternoon in support of the former president’s bid to return to the White House. It was organized by a group called SoCal Patriots. Another group joining the parade calls itself Trump Boaters of Newport Beach.

Flags flapped in the breeze atop the flybridge as a boat cruised in the Trumptilla parade Sunday in Newport Harbor.

(Susan Hoffman)

Slightly more than 100 boats decked out in Trump flags and banners made their way around the harbor, starting at Lido Island and cruising along the Balboa Peninsula, Balboa Island and mainland before finishing on Lido.

A large sailboat bearing an equally large American flag navigated the narrow waterway among the moored boats along the South Bayfront of Balboa Island for Sunday’s Trumptilla parade.

(Susan Hoffman)

Felipe Vetter, who viewed the parade from aboard his friend’s boat, which was not in the parade, said, “It was truly an event for the history books to see a hundred boats gather to ‘make America great again.’”

The Escape boat passengers wave to people on Balboa Island as they cruise in the Trumptilla parade Sunday in Newport Harbor.

(Susan Hoffman)

A cluster of Balboa Island residents watched the parade from the seawall at the end of Abalone Avenue.

Two men with in the carrot-top Trump hairstyle riding in a Boston Whaler were a hit with the parade watchers. “They were die-hard Trump fans,” said one onlooker.

Two carrot-top sailors in a Boston Whaler cruised in the Trumptilla parade Sunday in Newport Harbor.

(Susan Hoffman)