Posted on 03/11/2016 10:00:06 PM PST by Marie
At 2:30 p.m., I arrived at the Donald Trump rally located at the UIC pavilion in Chicago, IL. There was light police presence at the Blue Line station, and the pavilion was short walk away. There I waited in line for about an hour until making it to the front doors, going through a security scanner, and finding a seat in the main hall.
For nearly two hours the pavilion filled until it neared capacity. It was clear that protesters were seated around the room, given easily away by their manner of dress. Most of the Trump supporters, being suburbanite or small town white people from outside of Chicago, were dressed strikingly normal—jeans and t-shirts, yoga pants or dresses, and the occasional suit.
The first protestors began around 5:30 when two young white males pulled off their coats to reveal t-shirts with anti-Trump slogans. At this point I noticed the police presence inside the rally was a mere 8 police officers, bolstered with hands-off event staff.
Before 6:00 p.m., a man spoke on the microphone and requested that rally attendees do not touch or harm protesters who interrupt the event. He reminded the protesters that Donald Trump supports the first amendment as much as the second.
Following this was a string of smaller incidents, such as people holding up improvised signs and shouting. One entire bleacher row was filled with protesters and they began chanting and throwing around torn up signs.
A few people who began standing up and screaming, and were slowly escorted out by police. The police kept leaving the protesters unattended throughout this, taking 4-8 officers to escort protesters out one at a time.
A black man in a black jacket ran up to the front stage, bumped into the podium, and attempted to speak, but was wrestled down by two men in suits. As they escorted him through the crowd, he took a swing at a Trump supporter. The men escorting him were incredibly gentle and restrained themselves from using any force.
Then voice came on and declared that the event was postponed. A few minutes later, they informed us that Trump had landed in Chicago and spoken to Chicago Police officers, and that due to safety concerns, the rally was canceled.
At this point, the protesters began to descend into chaos. Aside from a few mild “TRUMP” and “USA” chants, the Trump supporters were mostly quiet and bewildered as the protesters began to scream, chant, and run around the main floor area in a huge pack, flipping off the rally attendees and swearing at them. There were a few tense altercations between the two groups, but from what I saw at this point, no violence.
The rally was instructed to leave the pavilion, and I have to admit, the Chicago Police messed up bad here. We walked straight out of the building and into enormous packs of protesters screaming at us, with little police presence to protect the Trump supporters.
Following this, I wandered the protest grounds to see what was going on. My memory is a bit jumbled at this point because I was so pumped up, but let me string together the events as clearly as possible:
Many of Trump propaganda signs, most commonly depicting him as Adolf Hitler, but others showing him with a small penis, simple signs of text English and Spanish, signs. Young women shouting anti-white racial epithets.
“THE PEOPLE ARE UNITED. WE WILL NOT BE DIVIDED” being shouted at Trump supporters who holed themselves up in a parking garage, quietly fearing for their safety.
Another good one by the protesters was “FREEDOM FIRST! FREEDOM FIRST!” Strangely enough, there were a good amount of signs calling for peace and freedom. Lots of peace signs being flashed with the fingers.
A single white Trump supporter who held up a sign and stood quietly as three dozen people surrounded him, smiling and screaming, snatching and pushing at him until he had to run for police cover. Someone grabbed his American flag and threw it on the ground and he fought to recover it. The police escorted him away.
Two young men, perhaps 17-19, standing quietly as they waited for a ride home. They were wearing their MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN hats, looking terrified as people cursed and swore at them, and occasionally threw furious challenges for debate. The two young men held their ground. Only once did one of those hats come down, and it quickly went back on again.
A general atmosphere of pleasure and happiness from the protesters. A common chant was “WE WON!” and “WE STUMPED THE TRUMP!” It honestly felt like a social event for the protesters. There was plenty of mingling
Plenty of shouts at Trump protesters that Trump and his supporters are not welcome in Chicago. I challenged one on the first amendment. He said he does not consider himself an American and continued insulting the grizzled old white man he was arguing with.
Extremely inefficient police presence. The cops were lined up on their horses or standing behind barricades, but generally were not present where Trump supporters were being hounded and occasionally struck by protesters. The protesters were primarily composed of millennial-aged: white hipsters, African Americans, Hispanics, and Muslims. Some of the protesters were teenagers below voting age.
The protesters flew a big set of American, Mexican, and Puerto Rican flags. There were lots of small American and Mexican flags too. *The Trump supporters mostly fled for safety immediately. You have to understand, they were outnumbered by thousands of protesters.
There was media presence, but not as much as you’d think. Plenty of areas where chaos was going on had no media nearby. The reporters were mostly getting people to talk to them off to the side where nothing was going on, or focusing ongoing debates between Trump supporters and rally members.
A small amount of the protesters were smoking weed. (I have nothing against this personally, just included for accuracy.)
Plenty of chants for “BERNIE! BERNIE! BERNIE!” Some Trump supporters looked at each other in bewilderment. “But Bernie Sanders isn’t even running against Donald Trump,” was the common sentiment.
Edit: The Trump supporters had a general trust for the police, while the protesters saw their presence as antagonistic. This is especially interesting to me, because as a foreigner and person of color I am generally afraid of police.
Closing statement:
Obviously I did not see everything that occurred as I wandered the protest grounds outside the cancelled Chicago rally. What I did see, however, was fear. Fear from the rally attendees for their immediate safety, and fear of Donald Trump from the protesters.
More than that, I feel that I experienced today, for the first time in my life, true totalitarianism and authoritarianism, expressed laterally from citizen to citizen, in order to silence opinions from being shared. This enforcement was shared through sheer numbers and intimidation, and in a few cases, violence.
People brought their children, loved ones, and friends to attend the Trump rally. I saw an older Asian man and his white wife in attendance, and the looks on their faces when the rally was declared cancelled almost broke my heart. I saw scared children clinging to their parents’ sides as they exited the building to the screams of protesters. I saw a quiet, but excited crowd of Donald Trump supporters get thrown out of Chicago. Worst of all, I saw the first amendment trampled, spit on, and discarded like trash.
This cannot go on. As I finish this, I feel a sense of utter dread and hopelessness for what is becoming of the youth in this country, particularly those of the regressive left. So polarized has political opinion become, that dissenting thoughts on college campuses are now seen as hateful. These people deal in absolutes. They are right, and whatever means they must take to achieve their ends, they will do it. They will not stop themselves from violence or censorship. They will do it, and they will call hell down upon you if anyone dare does upon them the same.
Tonight I went to the Trump Rally to hear the thoughts of not only the man who was supposed to come and speak, but the people who support him. I found respect. I found calmness. I found peace.
The truth is, I am a legal immigrant, not a US citizen. I am not American. I am not white. I cannot vote.
After tonight, I support Donald Trump.
Lastly, for anyone who thinks the protesters didn’t incite violence tonight, I offer you this.
https://imgur.com/gallery/gokd2dv/new
this article rings of truth. I am severely disappointed that the other candidates are blaming Trump for this. Does Ted think that exactly the same thing would not happen to him should he win the nomination and try to hold a rally there too?
Yep, expect more, probably dems and pubs together,
“It honestly felt like a social event for the protesters. There was plenty of mingling.”
Womdering who paid to ship them in
Glad you are safe. Troubled times ahead I think.
“Richard Lowrie (National Review) who actually said that Trump is too controversial to be GOP Presidential candidate...can’t have riots breaking out at every function, etc...unbelievable!!!!”
They’ve given up trying to reach voters with intellect, economics, and foreign policy arguments. Establishment in final death throes.
I really don’t consider Mormonism part of Christianity. It’s just another moonbat religion/mental disease.
Summer is coming.. They will do their usual acts of violence. I find it strange trump praised China’s response to tianamen square, evidently he is into violent oppression also. I guess it’s typical of every tyrant to get upset when they run across another tyrant. What an interesting development.. Trump, the angry oppressor versus the usual Che crowd. Sounds like he just isn’t progressive enough for them. So who paid the rent a mob?
“I find it strange trump praised China’s response to tianamen square, evidently he is into violent oppression also”
Well he didn’t.
But hey, Cruz supporter, so as long as you can say it, then its true, amirite?
Hey bud. As we all know, Marxist can never admit they were wrong (Ex - no emails I sent or received were marked classified, cold weather is more proof of global warming, yada yada yada). Trump proves they were wrong. They will have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the white house. Cruz should be playing the long game and reject the GOPe. He has controlling money strings however.
That’s right; nobody is willing to stand up to the petulant spoiled sh!ts - just like the 60s (and how did that work out?). These demonstrations show the results of decades of open borders and half a century of paying people to breed bastards for cash - nothing less.
bushwon encountered the Brown Shirts as well ...
[quote]
I cannot tell you how angry I was to hear that quote from Ted on the news when I had just returned from the Chicago Rally ...
and those people, the 200 that ambushed our car, hated me...screamed at me and pounded on our windows because I was White...and I was exiting a parking garage next to a trump Rally...I had no bumper stickers, no buttons, and no beef with these rent-a-thugs...
They believed they had a right to hate whether based in reality or not...just like protesters in Ferguson
Ted, on the other hand, sought sanctuary in the safety of a suburban fundraiser, with $120+ dinners...
So easy for Ted to come out and make outrageous smug statements...he did not have the guts to hold an open, free rally in Chicago...and now he states it is Trump’s fault that mobsters want to squash Trump’s speech because it is not PC. Some ‘Constitutionalist’ coward Cruz is! Shame on Ted!!!!!!!!!
[unquote]
— bushwon
Cruz, Rubio and Kasich criticize Trump for creating ‘environment’ for Chicago protest
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3408169/posts
All reading from the same ‘How to Be a Wimp’ Manual. Clearly coordinated, and clearly unfit to be Commander in Chief.
Brown shirts go out into the public and party-crash to enforce submission. Cruz, Rubio and Kasich sided with the Brown Shirts.
I was surprised to hear Rush Limbaugh talk empathetically about Trump supporters being villified because one man punched another. Rush did not condone assault, but he had a far better perspective than I did.
Being ‘text only’ on the internet, I’m almost as cloistered these days as the Beltway when it comes to visual news. So THIS is what could happen if Trump supporters don’t keep order? And other republicans don’t even risk these kinds of rallies? No wonder.
BTW ... Clintons behind the ‘brown shirt’ smears. Link will be posted to ‘all’.
How Clintons are behind the Trump KKK/Nazi Smear Campaign
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3406497/posts
‘ ... The [NYT] article reported that Bill Clinton and others argued against those inclined to underestimate Trump ‘that Mr. Trump clearly had a keen sense of the electorate’s mood and that only a concerted campaign portraying him as dangerous and bigoted would win what both Clintons believe will be a close November election ...’
Anti-Defamation League
‘On February 25, the Anti-Defamation League issued a press release in which ADL National Chair Marvin D. Nathan and ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt called upon Trump ‘to distance himself from white nationalist and former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, as well as other white supremacists, and publicly condemn their racism’.’
On March 7, Greenblatt’s ADL predecessor Abraham Foxman renewed the attack on Trump, telling Times of Israel reporter Eric Cortellessa that Trump was deliberately inviting his audience to make a ‘fascist gesture’ by raising their hands to pledge to vote for him.
[How the Anti Defamation League is now Clintonista and Soros]
Greenblatt, who recently replaced Abraham Foxman at the ADL’s helm, had previously been described in 2014 by Daniel Greenfield of the David Horowitz Freedom Center as ‘a Clinton official who bummed around NGOs during the Bush years and then became Obama’s director of the White House’s Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation’. Greenfield’s article exposed Greenblatt’s association with the Aspen Institute, funded by former Nazi collaborator George Soros, who had previously been condemned as a bigot by the ADL. In September 2015, Greenblatt had painted Ben Carson as a bigot, saying, ‘Dr. Ben Carson’s statement that a Muslim American should not serve as president is deeply offensive, un-American and contrary to the Constitution.’ In December 2015, after several months of the ADL sparring with Carson, Greenfeld had issued a press release condemning Trump’s call to seal the border against Muslims.
Even Rush Limbaugh let himself get confused about Tianamen Square.
Trump merely mentioned a moment of history. He called it ugly, brutal, etc. But he ACKNOWLEDGED ...
He ... acknowledged ... that strength overcame the popular uprising.
That’s the hard truth. The suppression worked. A commander in chief needs to be able to acknowledge the strength of evil military might.
I’m tempted to say ‘Duh ...!’ But need to remind myself how little most people know about military history. Even Rush.
It’s up this morning.
More from their article of 07 March...
“... This is part of a process that could create an opening in which a force that is going for revolution, and willing and able to lead people to do that, can make tremendous gains and possibly even open up the chance to go for it all.”
Go for it all = revolution.
These mutants, society’s losers with no future (not due to the economy, but due to their lack of education, skills, and work ethic) will do this to whoever wins the Republican nomination...guaranteed.
Rallies held in areas away from mass transit routes should be fine; our ferals aren’t very mobile unless they steal cars.
I saw one guy take a video where he started a chant of "Free sh*t! Free sh*t!" and got some Bernie supporters to join in. He walked away laughing and they all seemed confused, realizing only too late that they were duped. I hope this person uploads the video because that was damn hilarious.
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