Trump Campaign Rallies Are Hot Spots
Trump campaign rallies are where you want to be.
Ryan Lizza writes:
Trump has a rule at his rallies: for the fifty minutes before he takes the stage, the only music that can be played is from a set list that he put together. The list shows a sensitive side, mixing in Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” and music from “Cats” and “The Phantom of the Opera.” But it’s heavy on the Rolling Stones—“Sympathy for the Devil,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” and the famously impolitic “Brown Sugar.” The young volunteer in charge of music for one rally sent me the full Trump-curated playlist and asked for requests. “Remember,” he said, “the more inappropriate for a political event, the better.”
Trump Campaign Rallies
Lizza goes on to detail how a small segment of the audience at Trump Campaign rallies has little interest in politics (not us), or even in voting for him (us). They come to see a free live show by a famous political performance artist (definitely).
Hundreds of police officers, Secret Service agents and private security guards in cars, on foot and on horseback blanket the area. Protesters are routinely ejected. This is the new normal for Trump campaign rallies.
If you want to “Make America Great Again” by reinforcing white nationalism, or have a sense of racial adventurism, how could you not go? This is history, and I honestly never thought I’d get a chance to attend a good old fashioned white supremacist meeting. They aren’t usually open to the public.
Not everyone is down with white supremacy though; and increasingly, Trump campaign rallies have turned into events where chaos is expected. The clashes almost always feature a racial component with black or Latino protesters clashing with Trump’s crowds of almost entirely non-Hispanic whites. Can’t wait.
Dayton
A protester rushed the stage at a Trump rally forcing Secret Service agents to leap on stage and form a protective circle around him. The man was charged with disorderly conduct and inciting panic by the Dayton Police Department.
Kansas City
Anti-Trump protesters interrupted his speech several times. Trump accused Bernie Sanders supporters of being behind the protests and had them removed.
Outside the event, police used pepper spray two times on demonstrators. Four people were arrested but there were no serious injuries nor property damage.
New Orleans
A steady stream of demonstrators interrupted Trump’s speech, including a huddle of Black Lives Matter activists, who locked arms and challenged security officials to remove them. There were skirmishes throughout the speech, mostly pushing and shoving, although one man was captured on video biting someone.
North Carolina
This week, an older white Trump supporter was caught on video punching a younger African-American protester as police led the protester out of a rally in North Carolina. The officers threw the victim to the ground rather than the assailant. The supporter, later charged with assault, told an interviewer the next time he confronted a protester, “We might have to kill him.”
Louisville
A young black woman holding an anti-Trump sign was violently shoved by several white men while people around her called her a n*gger and a c*nt. Shiya Nwanguma, who was engaged in a silent protest, was hit, pushed, and verbally assaulted by people in the crowd. She and other activists briefly held up signs as Trump spoke, before they were confronted by other audience members.
Orlando
Trump’s appearance of just more than an hour was interrupted at least a dozen times by protesters, who were taken out of the arena by security and police. As they were removed, many were surrounded by Trump supporters pointing and yelling “Trump! Trump! Trump!”
An announcer had suggested doing that before the rally began, saying Trump supported free speech but “some people have taken advantage of Mr. Trump’s hospitality.”
“Get him out of here!” Trump said several times of protesters.
One protester behind Trump was pushed and shoved, while after another was removed Trump said, “He’s lucky it’s not 10 years ago. Ten years ago it’d be a different situation for him.”
St. Louis
At least 32 people were arrested in protests both inside and outside Trump’s rally at the Peabody Opera House. Thirty-one people were charged with disturbing the peace, and one was charged with third-degree assault.
Cleveland
Brandon Krapes said he was punched repeatedly after he held up his sign, which said, “Trump: Making America Racist Again.” His 17-year-old son Logan had a freshly bruised cheek from what he said was a punch in the face he received while trying to help his father.
We’re definitely going when he comes to New York. The man is putting on a show playing with people’s emotions. I’m not one normally for walking into volatile situations with a heavy police presence, but we’ll make an exception to become “apart of the movement”
