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Bay Area couple builds elaborate 'MAGA carnival' for Halloween

3 84
01.11.2024

There's an election-themed Halloween display in Alameda that's likely to stop people in their tracks. But Cathy and Dan Balsam didn't erect a MAGA carnival in their yard because they're fans of Donald Trump. In fact, the two detest the former president, and the decorations in their yard are meant to mock Trump and his cronies.

“There's so much going on — so much bullsh—t, so much stress, so much chaos — that just looking at this stuff and laughing, you know, is an escape,” Balsam told SFGATE. “The way to deal with bullies is to laugh.”

Dan Balsam stands with his Anti-Trump Halloween display outside his house in Alameda, Calif. on Oct. 29, 2024.

Carnival games are part of an Anti-Trump Halloween display.

Dan, a consumer protection attorney with a background in theater, spent weeks with wife Cathy, a nurse, designing the satirical exhibit in their yard at the corner of San Antonio Avenue and Union Street. It includes a prize table, a massive spinning wheel and nine elaborately decorated booths meant to represent traditional carnival games, with a political twist.

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Whack a Socialist, Pin the Crime on Hunter Biden and Knock Down a Migrant are all games featured in the Balsams’ pretend carnival, but the largest attraction — and one of Dan’s personal favorites — is the MAGA Fun Happy Wheel.

A contraption made from plywood and PVC pipe, the multicolored wheel includes faux “prizes,” such as........

© SFGate


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