President Donald Trump spent his second day at his Bedminster golf club this weekend. Watch video
FAR HILLS -- As President Donald Trump spent his second day cloistered away at the private club he owns in Bedminster, a group of New Jersey residents gathered in a much different environment just five miles away.
Saturday was the Visiting Nurses Association of Somerset Hills spring rummage sale at the Far Hills Fairgrounds -- and the attendees had a wide array of opinions about their weekend neighbor.
After spending many of the initial weekends of his presidency at his private Mar-A-Lago club in south Florida, Trump is making is first weekend visit as commander-in-chief to Trump National Golf Club, a sprawling club in Somerset County's horse country that many have labeled "Camp David North."
It's the first of about a half dozen visits Trump is expected to make this summer to the club, which is considered his favorite summer getaway.
That's no problem to Max Evans, 25, of Boonton, a visitor to the rummage sale.
"If he wants to come and spend a summer weekend in New Jersey, who are we to tell him no?" Evans asked. "I understand some people are against him, but people posting negative things are just making things worse.
"Why are people caring now?" he continued. "He has been coming here for years. ... Even if people who protest have good intentions, the way they're going about it is making things worse."
But for Lola Elliott of Washington Township, things can't get any worse.
"I can't say anything positive about him." she said. "I turn the television off when he speaks. I feel like we're going backwards. I don't like the way the country is going. I'm disgusted. I was hoping he would be out of his job in less than 100 days instead of us looking forward to at least 200 more days."
Perfect tail gate at Far Hills Race
Despite Trump's visit, Saturday was relative quiet outside the club. There were no traffic issues in Bedminster, a rural town in the western part of the state. There were no traffic issues and police presence was minimal on the roads. Plus, most protestors were gone by midday.
It was also a seemingly quiet day for Trump. He had no public schedule and reporters were told of only one piece of official business: a phone call with President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of Peru.
Trump will spend early Sunday at the club before returning to Washington D.C. later in the day.
Back at the rummage sale, Richard Galek of Middlesex Borough, proudly says he voted for Trump. Galek is a former Marine who is now in a wheelchair because of his combat injuries. He served in Vietnam, Okinawa, Taiwan, and Korea.
"In his first 100 days, he's fulfilling his promises," Galek said. He's addressing trade. He has stopped a couple of companies from leaving the country. As far as ObamaCare is concerned, I want to see how that goes."
Trump's trip to Bedminster came just after the U.S. House passed Republican-backed legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare -- something Trump promised to do repeatedly on the campaign trail.
But estimates say about 24 million more Americans -- and 500,000 New Jerseyans -- would be without health care if the plan becomes law. The U.S. Senate still needs to pass the bill before Trump can sign it into law.
Kim Naman of Warren Township says she knows exactly where the new Trump health care reform is going. She works as a physician's assistant.
"People are going to lose a tremendous amount of benefits if Trump's new health care act passes," Naman said. "And a lot of those people are people who voted for him. They didn't have a clue what they did. People in states like Mississippi and Alabama, which are very unhealthy states, are going to suffer. If they think they're living in a trailer park now, they're going to be on the street pretty soon."
Naman said she believes none of Trump's executive orders have done much for Americans.
"At this point, there's not much we can do except impeach him," she said. "Then, we're stuck with (Vice President Mike) Pence. We just have to wait until the Democrats can regain Congress."
NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.
Dave Hutchinson may be reached at dhutchinson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DHutch_SL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.