Mike Briard from Martinez, California, which is known to be a politically blue area, is a Republican and a Christian who has filled his front yard with flags and signs in support of former President Donald Trump.
He told The Epoch Times: “I’m doing this to wake everybody up. I don’t care if the publicity is negative or positive; as long as there’s publicity, that means people are paying attention, and that’s what I want. I want people to pay attention.”
Mike Briard’s front yard in Martinez, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2024. Keegan Billings/The Epoch Times
Mr. Briard is a father, a grandfather, a husband, and a cancer survivor.
He said that he went to sleep on the presidential election night of 2020 with Mr. Trump in the lead and awoke the next day with Joe Biden having received a spike in votes in the middle of the night.
“That’s when I knew right then and there something was wrong, and you would have thought the whole country would have known that,” he said.
Shortly after the election, a lightbulb came on in his head, and he wanted to start telling people what had happened, he said.
“So I bought my first flag that said ‘Trump won, Democrats cheated,’” he said.
He said right now everybody should be paying attention to the 2024 presidential election because we can’t let that happen again.
Mr. Briard said when he first put up the signs he received a lot of negative attention.
“There’s been a lot of stuff that’s been stolen,” he said.
Mike Briard holding a rock that was previously thrown through a window behind him, in Martinez, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2024. Keegan Billings/The Epoch Times
He mentioned that one night a masked individual threw a big rock through his front window and it cost him $2,000 to fix. It was caught on his camera, and to him the person looked like a child. The police took a report, but nothing came of it.
He said that if anyone had been sleeping in that room, they could have been hurt badly.
In response to the incident, Mr. Briard made a sign spelling “Trump” in lights and put it in the front of his yard.
Just recently, someone tried to throw a rock through his front window again, but they did not succeed, he said.
A golf ball that was previously thrown at Mike Briard’s house, in Martinez, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2024. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
He said somebody also went as far as making a custom orange golf ball printed with the words “Trump Lost LOL, He Lost bigly,” and tried to throw it through a window into his garage.
He added that it “just tells you that my yard is becoming very popular, and it’s making the point that I want to make,” which is waking people up and getting people to pay attention to what’s going on in this country.
A banner at Mike Briard’s house in Martinez, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2024. Keegan Billings/The Epoch Times
One of the issues that Mr. Briard finds troublesome and wants people to wake up to is what’s going on down at the southern border. He also mentioned inflation, high gas prices, and how hard it is for younger people to buy a house these days. He thinks these are sure signs that something’s wrong in America right now.
Mr. Briard said that over time he started to receive more and more positive reactions.
He said people used to stop by and say the worst things, but they don’t stop by anymore.
“It was a blue area, but it ain’t no more; this is not a blue area anymore,” he said.
A “MAGA” sign in Mike Briard’s front yard in Martinez, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2024. Keegan Billings/The Epoch Times
He said he gets about 20–25 people coming by every day showing love for his yard.
“I get firefighters, I get city workers, city bus drivers, all kinds of people coming by every day. I have people that drive from different areas of the Bay Area just to come over and look at my yard and come over to film it,” he said.
He said recently a young woman stopped by his house and told him that she had heard Mr. Trump speak about what was going on in the country but she didn’t quite understand. After coming across Mr. Briard’s house and seeing all the signs, she decided to do her own research, and she came to understand exactly what Mr. Trump was talking about.
Mr. Briard said it made his day.
He mentioned another young woman who stopped by his house one night crying and looking to talk to somebody about Mr. Trump because she said that her whole family were Democrats and they abandoned and basically disowned her because she loved Mr. Trump.
“It goes back to communication; you’ve got to have communication,” he said.
He added that they had a conversation, which helped to calm her down, and she left feeling better.
He said it was interesting because “she felt comfortable enough to knock on a stranger’s door to talk about something just because of their yard.”
A greeting card thanking Mr. Briard for his front yard display in Martinez, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2024. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
He said he’s received postcards from Florida, Texas, and the Carolinas thanking him for what he’s doing. As far as he knows, it’s been word of mouth and people sharing about his house on social media that has allowed people in other states to find out about his house.
A greeting card thanking Mr. Briard for his front yard display in Martinez, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2024. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
He added that he also gets some nasty letters, including death threats.
“Whether it’s positive or negative, the fact that I’m getting these letters at all tells you that people are paying attention,” he said.
About six months ago, he said, a man pulled up in front of the house, rolled his window down, and said he would shoot Mr. Briard if he didn’t take down the yard display.
“But as you can see, it’s still up,” Mr. Briard said.
Banners on Mike Briard’s fence in Martinez, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2024. Keegan Billings/The Epoch Times
Mr. Briard’s house is in a residential neighborhood but is located on a street that connects different parts of town and is more frequented by people driving by.
He feels that his signs have contributed to many people in his area starting to question the mainstream media narratives and seek out the truth for themselves.
“I have probably woken up half this population around here,” he said.
Mr. Briard said that if you are only watching news on CNN and NBC, they are not really telling you what’s going on, and his yard makes people go on the internet and look things up.
He said many people every day drive by honking their horns, giving him a thumbs up. Some people stop by and get out of their cars to personally thank him and tell him that they love what he’s doing. Some people have also brought him gifts like money and food and new signs for the yard.
Mike Briard’s front yard in Martinez, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2024. Keegan Billings/The Epoch Times
Mr. Briard’s son Dylan Silva-Briard told The Epoch Times: “I feel like becoming a conservative, becoming a Republican, you kind of start going towards God.”
He said being a Republican and a Christian kind of go hand in hand.
Mr. Briard said his son Dylan was always curious about things even when he was a small child, and his son would break things open just to see how they work.
Mr. Silva-Briard is 23 now, and he said it was in the 10th grade when he started becoming political, but he wasn’t a Christian yet. He said he was seeking truth and knowledge.
He said he was watching Ben Shapiro and “Louder with Crowder,” and Steven Crowder said that you have a right to defend yourself. This really resonated with Mr. Silva-Briard.
“I feel like life’s worth fighting for,” he said. “I do pray, and I pray about the country, and I pray about things getting better.”
Trump flags on Mike Briard’s fence in Martinez Calif., on Feb. 6th, 2024. Keegan Billings/The Epoch Times
Mr. Silva-Briard attributes becoming a Christian to his wife, with whom he has a young son with whom they got baptized. This was important to him because one of his biggest issues is the attack on the nuclear family from the left.
He thinks that another big problem is that people do not talk in person anymore.
“The joke is at Thanksgiving dinner, everybody talks about politics and it’s a bad thing. Why is it a bad thing? Why shouldn’t we talk about how the country is?” he said.
Mr. Briard’s other son, Daniel, who is a Christian too, recently asked him if he’s sure that God wants him to do this, keeping up all the signs in his yard.
His son Daniel told him, “If I was you, I would pray about it and see what kind of response you get.”
Mr. Briard said that night he prayed about it. That same night, he dreamed that there was a big dark dog, and a bunch of other dogs were running by, and that dark dog was pushing the other dogs away. Donald Trump was behind the big dark dog.
“That told me right there, what I’m doing is exactly what I should be doing,” he said. “Now I know this probably sounds kind of crazy, but it’s a dream.”
Just days after that incident, The Epoch Times stopped by and asked him for an interview, he said.
“It actually sent chills down my back,” he said. “I believe wholeheartedly that this is exactly what I was supposed to be doing.”
A homemade sign in support of God, the country, and Donald Trump on Mike Briard’s fence in Martinez, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2024. Keegan Billings/The Epoch Times
He added that he finds strength in God to do what he does.
Mr. Briard said when researching topics on the internet you may not find it right away. You may have to keep searching and go deeper for the truth to finally come up.
“The truth will be there, but it’s not on the surface,” he said. “Do your own research and talk to people about it.”
A sign in Mike Briard’s front yard in Martinez, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2024. Helen Billings/The Epoch Times
Mr. Briard said he had no idea how much attention the signs in his yard would bring.
“I didn’t realize I would wake up the devil and God too,” he said.
An American flag on Mike Briard’s house in Martinez, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2024. Keegan Billings/The Epoch Times
