President Donald Trump held a rally at the Wildwood Convention Center.

If you believe there are two Americas, the one that’s upbeat, making a buck and happy about the future showed up in Wildwood for the Trump rally this week.

The other America pretty much stayed home. Except for that guy in an antifa-style face mask blasting a profane anti-Trump rap song from his buddy’s car as they inched down Ocean Avenue. That’s the street that parallels the Shore town’s two-mile boardwalk. It’s where Wesley Wilbur stood.

"If you’re a Democrat, I don’t want to talk to you," said Wilbur, 65, of North Wildwood. "We just don’t see things the same way."

Wilbur, in a black leather Harley Davidson jacket, was among the thousands who stood freezing in line outside the Wildwoods Convention Center nearly a day ahead of President Donald Trump’s rally in the South Jersey shore town.

"Trump’s got the economy cooking. It feels good," Wilbur said, despite a steady, 20-knot shore breeze and frigid wind chill.

"We’re here because we love Trump," he said. "The Democrats have become globalists. They’ve ruined the Democratic Party. They’re socialists, and they want everyone to serve their globalist agenda, to become a mindless, easily controlled workforce, a bunch of corporate cogs. We love Trump because he loves America. He loves freedom. He loves the working man."

The crowd skewed blue collar, or, if they had done well, say, running a small business, they were people who kept their trade, immigrant or working-class roots. James Alarcon, from Long Island, sold inflatable Trump figures for $65 near the giant "Wildwoods" sign on the boardwalk. He had the figures custom made.

"I did it because the only other Trump inflatable people know is this one," he said, showing a picture of the floating "Baby Trump" balloon, popular with the president’s critics. "You believe they spent $40,000 on that?

"I was a lawyer and, like a lot of lawyers, was really miserable," he said. "I’m a machinist now. I went to Swarthmore, but I guess I’m more like my father — a hands-on guy.

"If you asked me years ago if I would have ever supported a multimillionaire for president like Trump, I would have looked at you funny. Because I do, people like me are demonized. In 2016, there was a call for transparency," Alarcon said, trying to keep the red tie on his display Trump from flapping hard in frigid winds.

"The irony is with Trump, you now have more transparency than you really want," he said, chuckling. "Sometimes he can be his own worst enemy."

Around the convention center parking lot, it was a tailgate atmosphere. Laughter, food and some drinking. A nearby bar went up and down the line of people, selling shots of Fireball whiskey, three for $10. Vendors crowded the boardwalk with Trump gear. A large video screen played snippets of Trump speeches.

I stood in line with Jared Lavarra, 24, of Bordentown, who sells cars when he’s not serving in the Navy Reserves. He was there with his father, Julio, an immigrant from Argentina.

"I’m really an Andrew Yang fan," Jared said, referring to an array Democrats seeking the party’s nomination for president. "But I’m leaning Trump. No other Democrat resonates with me. It’s just that (progressives) have this condescending attitude, and their embrace of diversity, even to a lot of young people, seems superficial."

On Ocean Avenue, Scott LoBaido, a working-class artist from New York, displayed an immense mural of Trump on a trailer, pulled by a pickup truck.

"I parked it in front of Robert De Niro’s apartment for two hours," he laughed.

He travels across the country, earning a living by painting American flag murals.

"Why did Hillary lose in 2016? The left went too far left," he said. "I’ve worked in the middle of the country; I heard those people say it. What the elites don’t know is that part of the country are the gears that make the America work."

An hour before President Trump rallied, the convention hall was packed, holding 7,400. A glaring characteristic of the crowd, like the media covering the rally, was its Wonder Bread whiteness.

"No, no one (from the media) has approached us," said Sunil Pendse, 59, an Indian immigrant who runs a Dunkin’ Donuts, and other businesses, in New Brunswick. He was with his son, Ameya, 26, a lawyer.

Father and son leaned on a short, metal barrier that divided the press from the people. Both were an arm’s reach from some of the nation’s biggest news organizations covering the rally.

"I don’t know why they don’t approach us," Sunil said. "You look around here, and you don’t see many brown people. If they asked why I’m here, I’d say because the economy is good, I support President Trump. He is a wonderful president."

Ameya said he felt welcome at the rally, despite Hillary Clinton’s infamous slandering Trump supporters as "deplorables."

"You see this hat," he said, pointing to his red "Keep America Great" baseball cap, "I have no fear wearing it here. But in North Jersey, I put it away. I never wear it."

Why?I asked.

"Because I don’t want to die," he said, and he and his father burst into laughter.

Columnist JD Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at jmullane@couriertimes.com.