TEENAGER'S EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT OF CHAOTIC TRUMP RALLY IN TUCSON

[catlover98]

I know this is a vanity post but as I was at the Trump rally Saturday in Tucson I felt as if I had to write something. When I am angered I like to write out my thoughts and share them. And this time I felt like I HAD to do it, just like Trump said that he didn't want to run for president, he felt like he HAD to. And I thought you all deserved to know the truth, because all the news stations definitely are keeping it far from you. So this is my personal experience as a teenager who went to the event for anyone who cares to know what it was like:

Arriving at the event, there was a line for what seemed a mile. And all that time there was a group of protesters marching, shouting at us waiting to get in. Signs reading offensive comments towards not just Trump, but to his supporters as well, their verbal comments to us were just as bad. Yelling and screaming their vile accusations, I had to hold myself back from sinking to their level and shouting the same things back. The line for me went relatively quickly, but as we neared the front the protesters started to crowd. They started shouting that they were shutting it down, and I was just able to make it inside the convention center before the mob completely closed off the building using their bodies.

Once inside I quickly looked for a place to sit. There were loads of people dressed in patriotic colors and holding Trump signs. I noticed at this point that they were letting people stand in front of the podium in which Trump would speak. Wanting to get a good view, I decided to stand instead of sit. Left alone in the ever-growing crowd of people, I wondered which ones were really here for Trump, which ones were just here for the action, which ones were here to see what he had to say, and which ones were here to protest. I had no doubt in my mind that there was someone in the sea of people that would try and cause a ruckus.

After over an hour of standing and becoming claustrophobic, the event finally started. There were a few speakers before hand such as Gov. Jan Brewer (huge RINO I know) and Sheriff of Maricopa County (Tucson is in Pima County) Joe Arpaio. Finally after saying the Pledge of Allegiance and going through their speeches, they finally announced Trump. He came out amidst the roaring crowd, calling his name, seeming to radiate their determination to make him president. Smiling dressed in a suit and a baseball cap; he walked up to the podium with all the confidence in the world. The first thing he mentioned to the half-full arena was he was very upset that the protesters were preventing thousands of people from getting in. It was a hard decision, but he felt as though he had made us wait long enough and it was futile to wait for the rest of the people to get in. Trump continued his speech with gutsy promises of building a wall and getting illegal immigrants out of the country as they are illegal and should not legally be here. But not 10 minutes in, a group of Black Lives Matter activists stand up with their sign and start yelling horrible profanity at not just Mr. Trump, but to everyone in attendance. Even from far away you could hear them, and the sight of them was not much better, with their middle fingers raised high in the air. I wish I could say that this would be the only disruption, but there were many more laced within the speech. At one point there was a lady in a KKK hood, not far from where I was standing. This of course resulted in uproar from the crowd, shouting "USA" at her. Trump shook it off as disgusting that someone would even imply that he was a racist. As the lady and another intruder were led out, there was a fight that broke out between the man and an African American Trump supporter.

Now the news says that the Trump supporter started it, but from where I was standing it looked as if the protester had spit or touched the supporter to make him do this. This was quickly taken care of though, and both men were led out of the stadium. Another memorable interruption was a group of what I could tell of about twenty people. They carried a huge Black Lives Matter banner and many signs reading profanity and other nasty things. At one point they even threw the American flag, which Trump pointed out with disgust. At this, Trump asked to have them led out of the stadium, which he had a right to do considering they were disruptive and this was a private event paid for by Mr. Trump. Unfortunately it was the Tucson police he was consulting with, who throughout the whole production were slow and I did not see them do much to help the situation. A lot of problems would have been avoided if they just would have put up a simple barrier to keep the protesters cordoned off. Inside the stadium, they were slow in getting anyone out, which ultimately caused constant background yelling during Trump's whole speech. I was just lucky I wasn’t near them so I could actually hear what Trump had to say. Trump's words were filled with passion and promises of a wall built between Mexico and the United States. This is an especially big ticket issue here in Tucson where we have a large illegal immigrant population. That, in turn, was one of the factors that led to such a violent protest of the event. Despite the profane accusations, there were many visible and vocal Hispanic supporters of Trump as well. One that Trump especially liked was one with a "Latinos Support D. Trump" sign (who he invited up on stage with him).

I was very surprised at the mix of people at the event. Despite what the media may tell you, there were all kinds of people there; old, young, single moms with their kids, Hispanics, Whites, Blacks, you name it, they were there. Long story short - there were people of all professions and color.

Now I'll be honest here, coming into the event I was not a Trump supporter. Still, I am unsure of how I feel about Trump. But I can tell you one thing, Trump has gained my respect. I came there to hear his views and to see if all the things I saw on Twitter, Facebook, and the newspaper were true. What I did find was that he was not afraid to say his opinions and did it with respect. Never once did he make an offensive comment towards an individual. He, as best he could, responded to the hateful acts against him with a word of their drive for attention and their passion driven by hate. By how the media portrays him, I would think him to say filthy statements against immigrants and all Muslims. He did the opposite, praising immigrants and only talking against radical Muslims. As he addressed multiple times, he is not against immigrants, he is against ILLEGAL ones, the ones who are breaking the law by being here. Overall he handled his speech with honor, which anyone would find hard put in his situation. Because of this, I would consider voting for him in the election.

Believe it or not, this story does not end after Donald Trump's speech. A new story began right as I exited the doors and left the stadium. I was immediately met by protesters, and their numbers seemed to have tripled since I went in. Not only that, they seemed as violent and hateful as ever. Trying to get to my car, I had to walk through a crowd of protesters who yelled vile things to my face. What was even worse was the absolute filth the anti-Trump protestors spewed to the small children and senior citizens (were talking little old ladies) as they were let out of the event. It was like something out of Mad Max. Spitting with rage they said things against anyone who came to listen to the speech. At this point I was fed up, and against the fear for my life (yes, the protesters were so bad I was worried I'd get stabbed), I responded that it was an American right to have freedom of speech. This was met with angry glances and me walking faster to get out of the area. Not like many people even heard me over the roar of the crowd. The agitators were everywhere and were purposely blocking the exits on the way out so that people would be forced run through their mob. Me and my family were yelled at and bombarded with signs of hate towards us. After escaping the thick of the crowd we came to the sight of a protester slapping a woman. One of the members of my family saw this and was disgusted. He ran up to the crowd now forming around them and yelled, "Bernie, peace!" Isn't that what they were professing? Bernie is peace, love, and tolerance? Apparently not, as the fight was broken up by people in the crowd. But it didn't take two seconds to come upon some more protesters yelling that we were redneck fascists. My dad was fed up at this point. He asked the abusive protester if he knew who George Soros was, since he is a huge supporter of the democratic campaign. He did not, and then my dad went on to ask why he was yelling at all the people in the crowd and calling them such vile names. At this, the protester became offensive and said that he was calling Trump those names, not the protesters. His defense didn't help much as his sign was calling Trump supporters racists rednecks and he had just shouted out to the crowd that they were fascists a minute ago. My dad pointed it out, and then the man went on to call him a fascist. So my dad asked him if even knew what a fascist was, and he went silent. He didn't even know what the names he was calling us meant. His quietness was then met with him picking up a camera and taking pictures of us. Knowing that he was a hopeless case, we continued to walk to our car, luckily not met with any more profanity.

So, what is my overall take on this? When people come to a Trump rally, the overall majority would believe that the people there would be violent. After all, the news media would say that Trump is a racist who wants to deport all immigrants. Just goes to show you how you can twist people’s words against them. What I have come to find out is that the opposite is true, the worst people there were the protesters. Those claiming they want freedom when they try to shut down freedom of speech. Those who claim to promote love and tolerance of others, except when it comes to politics. Those who you would think from the way they were portrayed on the news would be heroes, were actually the villains. I came to this rally to learn about people's different political opinions, but I also learned another valuable lesson. Politics is not simply politics. There are ideas, and then there is emotion. The ideas of Trump ran on fact, these protesters seemed to be constantly driven by their emotions. Hate is a powerful thing, and it can be dangerously put in the wrong hands. I see no villain in Donald Trump, but I saw proof that evil did exist that day.

[poconopundit]

Well said, catlover98.

I suspect these protesters you saw were not individual citizens being rude. They were a highly organized group of people who have no respect for our country's laws and free speech. They are professional agitators -- some of them being paid to protest. Their aim is to intimidate people, much like the Brown Shirts used such tactics in Nazi Germany.

In a strange sort of way, having this bad experience is actually a good experience for you because it steeled your heart against the evil and hate you witnessed.

You did a fabulous job of explaining what went on there and we are very appreciative you gave this brave testimony.

Welcome to Free Republic, indeed.

[LucyT]

TEENAGER'S EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT OF CHAOTIC TRUMP RALLY IN TUCSON

Important.

Check out this report.

Thank you, catlover98.

[Cicero]

Thanks for signing up to post this. Great account, and pretty much what happens at all the trump rallies, I think.

[Hot Tabasco]

But it is strange that you waited until the very end

Not every teenager is an accomplished writer......

[Osage Orange]

Summer will be interesting..............

[PGalt]

HOORAY catlover98. Thanks for being there and here. WELCOME ABOARD!

[matthew fuller]

Interesting that you think it’s a young boy. I was thinking a young girl. (I saw no mention of either.)

[catlover98]

Hello everyone and thank you very much for your warm welcomes to FR and your lovely comments!

To answer a few questions, this is my first hand experience and I am a girl :)

I have some nice pictures of Trump that I wanted to post (benefit for being in the craziness of the front row) but I’m having some technical trouble. Maybe they’ll come later???

I am so happy that you guys liked what I wrote. I have never attempted to write something like this before so I didn’t expect much of a response. I was amazed at all the comments people were posting.

Glad to be here and thanks for reading!

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.

[yuleeyahoo]

Welcome and good luck.

This forum is very much a vehicle for the free exchange of ideas. Try not to take negative feed back too personal and you’ll do fine.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

There has to be a reckoning with these corrupt political leaders.

This statement is so true the emotional reaction is impossible to describe. I have a solution for all of this.

[V K Lee]

Good Morning, CL
Advice on how to post images is sparse, being a puppy here myself, have yet to try. You don’t state what type of hurdles need to be crossed perhaps a few more details?
If you need HTML assistance try this link from a fellow freeper
Learning HTML
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3378678/posts
Keep your claws sharpened, you might need them :-))

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Glad you’re here and awesome that you gave a first-hand account of the professional agitation going on at the rallies.

[SkyPilot]

If you want to post a photo, type the < (above the comma on your keyboard) and then type:

img src

Then type in an equal sign and a quote symbol.

Then paste the photo's URL address, like this one:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcReGe4xdRc83bGaT3T6d3OQCbJRVKM1W6gwkbNXPuUt5aAVUeTa_w

After the URL, type in a closed quote symbol and the > symbol. So the end product looks like this:

[catlover98]

Thank you SkyPilot and others for the help! Here's my favorite one that I took of Trump. I don't have many of the protesters unfortunately because I was worried they would knock my phone out of my hand.

[catlover98]

Hey also thanks for being so nice and helping me a lot on here :) I would respond to your message in my mail about how to post a picture but it says my account is too new to do so, just so you know.

[V K Lee]

PING!

[V K Lee]

Glad to have been of help. Good Pics! and thank you for your input on this situation. Our eyes need to be opened wide — and fast.

If you don’t mind, adding your name to my list of posters to let you know when there is something posted important to this election.

It has just been posted today the fact that Ted Cruz doesn’t seem to be eligible. And with the vote fraud in Utah, the entire system is viewed as rigged. Look for the post entitled MATRIX 2016 to learn more.

We are all happy warriors and we do love our country~

[DollyCali]

Loved your first hand report and willingness to share. I would have been scared silly and I am sure you were also even with your dad/parents with you. These are not people with a cause for the most part who hassled you. They are domestic terrorists on a payroll whose fun comes from causing discomfort and taking away joy from people like you who should have had the opportunity to go to an event and not have to be afraid.

Great pix of The Donald - our guy.

And I was pretty sure you were a girl! (me too -— but a very old one)

Welcome to Free Republic... here the link to the Fountain Hills Arizona Threads that you attended and you can see some of DJT’s supporters at this point here at Free Republic

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3410451/posts?q=1&;page=1

and the next one the presser at the Old Post office in DC and the AIPAC speech
road...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3411728/posts

BTW .. cat lover here (dogs too). My name here is DollyCali. Dolly is my name and Cali is my kitty (who died in 2007 but was my baby in 2003 when I joined here.)

[PJBankard]

Thank you for posting and welcome to FR.

Don’t know if you have lurked or a family member is a FReeper, but don’t take everyone replies personally. Hope you enjoy your time here. If you ever have questions, feel free to reach out.