Posted on 10/28/2024 2:31:59 PM PDT by oblomov
My wife and I attended our first Trump rally at MSG yesterday. We had a great time, and the wait to get in was well worth it.
Both of us have been Trump supporters since 2016. I am a co-organizer of the NYC Trump Supporters Meetup group (and a few other RW Meetup groups), and have been active in Manhattan-based Republican and conservative groups since I moved to NYC in 2012. My wife and her family immigrated to the US from the Soviet Union in the late 80s, and she is a staunch anti-socialist/anticommunist as well as a Trump supporter.
We got there at 7:30 AM, 3-1/2 hours before the doors opened. It was a great group of people, and we chatted with the people standing near us. I've lived in NY long enough that I ran into a few friends while waiting.
We finally got in, went through an extensive security screening, & found seats not too far from the stage.
Right after the national anthem came the now-infamous comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe. I didn't like his humor but I thought it was dumb rather than offensive. He had a few funny jokes.
I won't summarize the other speakers, since it's worth watching the whole event. The Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, RFK, Tulsi Gabbard, JD Vance talks were all excellent and strongly motivating.
President Trump's talk couldn't have been better, and I think he made a very strong closing argument on immigration, cultural issues, and economic policy. The videos on the immigration crisis were very well done.
Lee Greenwood wrapped up the rally while PDJT & Melania were on the stage.
I have a few questions, though. There were two things that we observed about the audience that I'd like some perspective on.
1) There was a significant number of people who were apparently Trump supporters, cheering and holding Trump-Vance signs throughout the entire event. However, they left about halfway through President Trump's speech. It seems odd to me. To be sitting where they were, they'd have had to arrive about the time we did, 3-4 hours before the door opened. Then, they'd have watched the other speakers, only to leave halfway through PDJT's speech? It seems very odd to me. This gives the Dems ammunition, and Harris even brought up the fact of people leaving early in the debate.
2) There was a group of social media influenzas in front of us. They were filming everything with their cameras, never cheering or holding signs. What bothered my wife and I the most is their filming of the crowd & specific individuals. They got a closeup shot of my wife and wouldn't stop trying to film her even when she asked them not to. We held up signs to block their shots of us and other members of the audience as much as we could. The kept having loud discussions and I asked them to keep their voices down. They wouldn't even make eye contact, and the one I spoke to simply moved away from me.
I didn't film them, and I regret not doing so now.
I'm an Gen-X right-winger, always a bit paranoid and suspicious of what I consider counter-social or disordered behavior.
So my questions are,
- what are these people (1) doing? Is someone paying them to leave early? They've been standing in line and in a crowd for 13 hours. Are they really trying to "beat the crowd"? This is Midtown Manhattan; there's a crowd everywhere, even on Sunday night.
- what's up with the influenzas (2)? Are these people anti-Trump or from some other malign group?
3) That awful comedian. Who put him on the lineup.
I’d like to know that, too.
My impression: The WORST NAZI RALLY in all history!
All i can do is answer #1 based on my experience from being at the rally in the south Bronx- those rallies are a long, long, day and some people, like me, are impatient. I was at the rally in the south Bronx for about 5 hours and once DJT finished speaking i could not wait to get out of there- i am just antsy and impatient.
I know people who were on that line for 3-4 hours waiting to get into the rally yesterday then the rally was another 6 hours. That’s a lot of time. Some people can take it all in, others cannot.
I kept waiting to hear The Horst Wessel Song.
Halfway was still along time. Maybe just getting closer to the doors.
“ I kept waiting to hear The Horst Wessel Song.”
***************************************
Jeez, even the FBI fell down on the job. Where were those khaki pants, blue shirt, white balaclava ski mask wearing “Patriots Boys” that the FBI usually drops off from U-Haul trucks?
Overall, a pathetic exhibition of poor planning.
Don’t know about the crowd that left early. But whenever DJT speaks at his rallys it’s repetitious. I turn the channel when he starts to “weave”. I really enjoyed the other speakers though I did miss the “comedian”, prolly a good thing.
To get into one of his rallies, you have to arrive very early, stand in line for a few hours, finally get seated and wait a few more hours for Trump to appear.
It can make for a very long day and I would expect that people want to get out early to avoid the traffic jam.
It is no reflection on Trump or his message…it’s just human nature.
The fact that so many make the effort to simply attend is testimony as to his popularity.
I have been to 5 Trump rallies. People leave early because they want to beat the crowd out. One time my daughter and I were at an outdoor Trump rally in Florence SC, I think March 2020. It was freezing. We had been there all day. When Trump was winding up to his MAGA ending I said let’s go. It was a long walk to the car and I wanted to beat the traffic.
I have been to Trump rallies before. We usually leave 15 minutes early to beat the traffic. The most fun part of Trump rallies id chatting with other people BEFORE the speeches begin.
This was not my first Trump rally. My first was on August 13, 2016 in Fairfield, CT. I then saw a couple in Pennsylvania and also the infamous on on January 6, 2021 on the Washington Mall. This was actually a rally, not the "insurrection" the legacy media would have you believe.
Anyhow, I got into the city around 7:30am just like you at Grand Central. Instead of taking the subway to Penn Station, I decided to walk there by cutting through Bryant Park and taking 6th Avenue south to 34th. Once there, a phalanx of NYPD officers advised that I continued on to 33rd Street where I took a right and was able to get in line pretty close to the MSG arena complex.
This was a great move as those coming in by subway under MSG (Penn Station) were put into a massive line that stretched from 7th Ave to 34th and then east to 6th. I am hearing it took hours for them to get to where I simply walked a few blocks from GC.
So I was able to grab a seat just behind the podium about 25 rows up in section 112. Just out of TV camera view but had an excellent view of the speakers as they came in and out, though just saw their backsides most of the event.
The "comedian" that was first to speak around 2:45 or so, while the arena was still filling up (those TSA checkpoints were a bitch), was barely paid attention to. I don't even remember hearing the Puerto Rico joke that the Left is making such a controversy of.
I thought nothing controversial about his sense of humor because I grew up during a time when George Carlin, Redd Foxx, and Richard Pryor were shocking audiences in the 1970s. To me, comedians usually are edgy and controversial. Their brand of humor is designed to make you a little uncomfortable.
All the other speakers that came after were fantastic. It was the best political rally I ever attended, with some of the most famous people in the world speaking right in front of me including at least three possible future presidents (JD Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, Vivek Ramaswamy). Then you had Tucker Carlson and the richest man in the world Elon Musk.
This rally will go down as one of the best days of my life. The commuter trains headed in and out of NYC that day were full of upbeat, positive people who wore MAGA hats with no issues whatsoever.
We also had over 50,000 people outside who could not make it into the venue and many of them stood outside watching the rally on Jumbotrons.
Having been there to see it for myself, I cannot subscribe to your rather sinister take of the event.
Trump’s rallies are long, too long for some of his supporters.
The worst Nazi rally in history featuring the worst racist in history.
While people leaving early may seem disrespectful or that they are bored, they are simply trying to beat the crowd home, just like if the home baseball team is up 11-2 in the 8th inning. These people are hard core Trump voters and they don't need to see Trump shuffle-step to a Village People song to be convinced of that.
Final note, the rally yesterday was nearly 6 hours long. Seeing Tucker, Elon, JD, Hulk Hogan, etc., was greatly entertaining. But we all knew what we were getting with the Trump speech. By the time Trump was halfway done, we knew the rest. In midtown Manhattan, everything revolves around the trains to catch home. I ended up catching a 9:34PM train out of Grand Central and did not get home until just before midnight.
2) There was a group of social media influenzas in front of us. They were filming everything with their cameras, never cheering or holding signs. What bothered my wife and I the most is their filming of the crowd & specific individuals. They got a closeup shot of my wife and wouldn't stop trying to film her even when she asked them not to. We held up signs to block their shots of us and other members of the audience as much as we could. The kept having loud discussions and I asked them to keep their voices down. They wouldn't even make eye contact, and the one I spoke to simply moved away from me.
If I was paranoid I'd say that those doing it were told to do so to capture facial images of those attending. Those images would be turned over to the FBI for identification and cataloging for future use to show you are a MAGA Trump supporter and thus could be considered a domestic terrorist.
Yup - I had my Tiki Torch ready, too. Major disappointment.
100%
Thank you for your after-action reports! What a thrill it must have been to be at such an historic event.
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