Posted on 03/28/2019 5:48:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!” a crowd of more than 200 protesters chanted at President Donald Trump supporters as they entered Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids Thursday afternoon to hear the president speak.
“I came here to stand up for what I believe in,” said Grand Rapids resident Cam Deen, “and that’s anti-racism, anti-bigotry and anti-sexism. I feel Trump embodies the opposite of those things.”
The protesters on Fulton Street in front of the arena were contained within a city block by salt trucks on either end and were separated from Trump supporters by barriers and police officers on bicycles.
Protesters gathered at 4 p.m., just as doors opened to allow people in for the president’s remarks scheduled for 7 p.m. The line to enter the Van Andel stretched numerous city blocks, and some die-hard supporters staked their place in the early-morning hours.
Another counter rally, staged by the Michigan Democratic Party, was held nearby in Rosa Parks Circle.
“We want to show Trump that there’s strong opposition in Grand Rapids,” said Philip Snyder, the branch organizer for Socialist Alternative that staged the Fulton Street protest. “I want him to reconsider coming back. I want people to get organized, get involved, and not just every election cycle: I want people to have their voices heard.”
Snyder said Trump is representative of the right-wing billionaire class that attacks immigrants, working people and people of color.
The rally is Trump’s first since the U.S. Special Counsel investigation cleared him of collusion with the Russian government. It’s his second in Michigan since becoming president, although he visited multiple times during the 2016 campaign.
Though some moments between Trump supporters and protesters were heated, the atmosphere was generally calm.
A number of Southern rock classics, with some Queen, Village People and Rolling Stones sprinkled in, comprised the soundtrack played over the outside speaker at Van Andel. When Village People’s song “Y.M.C.A.” played, numerous people on both sides broke into the choreography.
At times, a PSA told Trump supporters not to “touch or harm” protesters that crossed the divide. Instead, the PSA announced, supporters should hold their rally signs above their heads and say, “Trump, Trump, Trump,” to alert police to the matter.
One Trump supporter, Sand Lake resident Steve McBride, walked the protest lines with a megaphone.
Having seen Trump twice before, this time around he decided to let “other people take it in” and try instead to communicate with protesters.
McBride said although he doesn’t agree with everything Trump does, the country is “coming to a crucial breaking point” with mass shootings and immigration at the border shared with Mexico.
“Just like the friend that’s on heroin, crack, fentanyl, I know how hatred can be an addiction,” he said. “I refuse to crucify him for the small matters that have been exposed about his attitude, his brashness, his lack of political correctness.”
Dee Holton, an Eaton Rapids resident, looked on at the protesters before getting in line for the rally. He and a friend held a flag that read “Donald Trump / Make America Great Again.”
“Everybody is entitled to their own opinion,” he said of the protests.
Mary Byrne traveled from Wayland with a group of eight friends to join the protest, hoping those on the other side of the dividing line “wake up” and realize the middle class is being squeezed out, because “they’re going to lose everything we’re going to lose,” she said.
“We have a dishonest president,” Byrne said. “He’d love to be a dictator, and those people are following him like a cult.”
Wonder how much soros paid them.
While thousands attend Trump’s rally...
Yes. No KKK (founded and sustained by the Democrats including Sen. Byrd). No fascists such as the Dems who intimidate people with masked Antifa thugs and take away our freedom of speech and political assembly rights.
So that’s our side, No KKK and no fascists. What’s the Dem side?
No, we HAD a dishonest president. His name was Obama.
My public library on any given day.
LOL! 200 vs 35,000.
These people are really confused: The KKK was a Democrat organization.
If this is true, why is anyone on CNN still alive and breathing?
Agree. And they said there were 25,000 outside the arena plus the 11,000 inside.
Take that, you ridiculous, stupid, brain dead protesters!
Yep - but the Left lives for the 2%.....
Notice how the last word in the article shows their bias.
The last word ALWAYS represents what they want to have you think. And, of course, it’s the OPPOSITION and it must be STRONG opposition that you are left to ponder.
The media will never change.
“No Trump, No...USA!” is the real goal of the Left. They just add in the slanders because they think they sound good, but their actual goal is the elimination of this country in any recognizable form. Trump has fought them hard to save the nation and protect the interests of Americans, so they freak out over him and dehumanize his tens of millions of supporters.
A couple of hundred astroturf and other losers showed up, I've seen the handful of regular protestors for years, bleach-bottle white, all of them. i suspect that they learned not to "protest" downtown when they kept "protesting the war" when Obama was occupying the White House.
Yep - psychological warfare is how they operate....nice screen name...brings no picture to mind......
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