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Skywriters at Rose Parade: "America is great! Trump is disgusting,"
It is not yet known who was behind the jab at the GOP front-runner
Skywriters stole the show at the 127th Rose Parade in California on Friday, dashing out a message for Donald Trump just as the last float left the gate.
“America is great! Trump is disgusting,” were the words dotted clearly across the sky on what appeared to be a mostly cloudless morning.
Sportswriter Molly Knight also caught this image, of the words, “Anybody but Trump.”
CNN’s Sara Sidner, who is on site in Southern California, counted six skywriting planes.
The Huffington Post’s Ariel Edwards-Levy, tweeted she saw a link also written in the sky to a site called Anybodybuttrump.us, which uses the same language as the message as seen over the parade route.
The scene is already causing a minor craze on social media and along the Rose Parade’s 5.5-mile route.
The man who says he was behind the skywriting is Stan Pate, 57, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
“I’ve listened to this Donald Trump over the past several months, and I’m the guy that believes you ought to respect the office of President, it doesn’t matter who holds it,” he told CNN. “You respect the office of the most important person in the country.”
Pate said he could see himself voting for Hillary Clinton but hasn’t decided yet. He’s more determined to stop Trump right now.
“The idea that you can hate your way to the presidency is disgusting to me,” he added. “I’m tired of hearing it, he’s in the way of us selecting the right person for the job. It’s time somebody stood toe to toe with him. I’m encouraging people across all of America to get involved and tell Donald Trump exactly who he is and what he is.”
Pate, who showed CNN a contract with the skywriting company to prove he funded the effort, was confident he got his message out far and wide.
“Skywriting is a huge billboard and its grabs people’s attention,” he said. “There were probably a million people in the street. You can see this thing for 15 miles.”
On Friday, Iowa, a team from the first caucus state which votes in a month, played Stanford in the 102nd Rose Bowl game.
Looking for a leg up in the Hawkeye State, Stanford alumna Carly Fiorina has already declared she will be switching allegiances for the game.
“Love my alma mater,” she tweeted, “but rooting for a Hawkeyes win today.”
They lost, 45-16.
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Artemis Moshtaghian contributed to this report
