Last week, Rob Calabrese launched a website offering up Cape Breton as a refuge in the event of a Donald Trump presidential victory.
This week, his tongue-in-cheek project has picked up more steam than he could have ever imagined.
鈥淚 couldn't have possibly expected it to take on the life that it has,鈥� the Sydney, N.S. native said.
Calabrese said he鈥檚 had about 600,000 unique visitors to his website since its launch.
And that boom in traffic seems to be spilling over to other parts of Nova Scotia鈥檚 digital landscape. Real estate pages that usually see around 200 hits per day have seen tens of thousands of visitors pouring in.
鈥淚t seems pretty coincidental but I don't think it is,鈥� said Jacquelyn Bauer, a real estate associate. 鈥淩ight after that website went live that's when we saw the spike. In fact on Friday that number jumped up 50,000 visits a day.鈥�
David Johnson, a political science professor at Cape Breton University, said the fact that Trump has a realistic chance of earning the Republican nomination is in line with the current American political climate.
鈥淭hey're angry at the economy, they fear the world, they fear immigration, they fear terrorism, fear for their jobs,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 an awful lot of fear in the land, in the United States. And Trump taps into that.鈥�
He added that if the majority of Republicans want to select another candidate, they鈥檇 better act fast.
鈥淭he anti-Trump vote might still be able to coalesce around somebody like Marco Rubio, but time is of the essence and the anti-Trump vote has to get organized very quickly.鈥�
Back in the land now being touted as a Trump-free sanctuary, it鈥檚 not difficult to find someone who disagrees with The Donald鈥檚 viewpoints.
鈥淗e's got too big a mouth for one thing. I don't think he's diplomatic enough to get along with a lot of these countries,鈥� said local resident Gary Burke.
鈥淗e's so rude. So outspoken,鈥� said another woman, Jesse Moulins. 鈥淲hat if he talks like that to the Russian president? Or anybody like that? That's scary.鈥�
But regardless of people鈥檚 politics and how the race pans out, Calabrese said there鈥檚 a very real boost in people鈥檚 interest in Cape Breton.
鈥淎 lot of people who write in have never heard of Cape Breton before. And they say, 鈥榃ow, it doesn鈥檛 matter who wins, I at least would like to visit,鈥欌�� he said.
鈥淭hat's a common thing -- 鈥業t doesn鈥檛 matter who wins, we want to come and see it.鈥欌��
With a report from CTV Atlantic
