This past Thursday, I drove an hour and a half with the hopes of attending Donald Trump's rally in Burlington, Vermont. My friend who accompanied me to the rally drove five hours. Burlington is near where we both attend college (Saint Michael's), and we felt it was important to attend this important political event due to its close proximity to our school.
Like many others, our intentions of attending the rally were to protest. We decorated several signs to carry once we arrived at the rally. These signs bore phrases like, "SMC students for love," "Love trumps hate," "hate isn't welcome here," and "SMC students against ignorance and intolerance." We arrived in Burlington at approximately 4:00 PM, which, we later realized, was not nearly early enough to make it into the event itself. We had heard that 20,000 tickets had been sold by Eventbrite for the event with a mere 1,200 seats available inside the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts. We knew our chances of actually entering the Flynn were unlikely.
However, being optimistic, my friend and I tried our chances in the several-block-long line. Police cars were scattered around the Flynn and patrolled the streets. There were a handful of protesters standing across the street from the Flynn, holding signs. Streets were shut down. People waited in line with folded chairs. It took us several minutes to make our way to the back of the line -- it stretched several blocks away from the Flynn.
We patiently waited, shivering in the cold, for three long hours. During this time period, my friend and I witnessed and heard many things, mostly words of intolerance and hatred. We heard phrases like, "Bernie Sanders is a communist idiot," and "I want to give them the middle finger!" when a group of protesters wielding "Bernie Sanders 2016" signs walked by. My friend and I exchanged confused glances, but never said a word. We quietly held up our signs and moved along.
There were a great deal of people attempting to sell Trump merchandise on the sidewalk. One of the most memorable pieces of merchandise we saw was a pink button that read: "Hot chicks vote republican." These people were harmless, for the most part. As the line progressed and we inched closer to the doors of the Flynn, we passed a man standing behind a table of Trump merchandise. I watched as his eyes quickly read both of our signs, noticing the suddenly smug grin the man bore on his face.
He then yelled, "WHO HERE THINKS BERNIE SANDERS IS AN IDIOT!?" Hardly anyone responded to the man, who was now laughing to himself. "NO ONE?"
"I do!" yelled a woman in line behind us. "I think he is!" My friend and I ignored the scene, continuing to move with the line.
Two of our friends arrived after 5 PM; they had to attend practice for an athletic team and were late arriving to the event as a result. However, they managed to sneak their way in line, far ahead of us. At around 6:50 PM, these friends called us and said they were thrown out of the event.
They explained to us that the workers at the door were incredibly kind and welcoming up until the point where they asked my friends if they were Trump supporters.
"Well, we're undecided," one friend explained. "We're leaning toward the right side, though, if that helps," she added.
The workers' demeanors suddenly turned cold as they demanded both of my friends leave the Flynn immediately.
"But, we want to hear what he has to say!" one friend interjected. The men spat that if my friends did not leave the Flynn immediately, they would face arrest. My friends were then interviewed by five news sources, including NPR.
Only Trump supporters were being allowed into the Flynn, and my friend and I had waited for three hours in line hoping to protest. Once we discovered that we would have to lie in order to gain entrance and that there was no way we would make it in in time anyway, we left the line and joined the protest across the street from the entrance to the Flynn.
Here is where we found friendly, kind people, all fighting for the same cause as we were. People of all ages stood together, holding signs, and chanting phrases like "Take your hate out of our state!" It was marvelous. I only wish we had found this group of people sooner.
I managed to snap a picture of one of our favorite signs; it is featured below.
Though attending the Trump rally was an eye-opening experience in seeing how many people genuinely wanted to support Trump and his horrifying ideologies, it was also an excellent opportunity to witness so many Vermonters (and out-of-staters like my friend and me) ban together and stand up against Trump's hateful, intolerant, and ignorant ways.
I do not regret going. My only wish is that my friend and I had not wasted our time waiting in line and had started protesting across the street from the start.
I have problems with the amount of tickets sold in comparison to the amount of available seats. I have problems with the fact that no one was told Trump's rally was a private event only. However, I do not regret time I spent standing among the other protesters, especially after learning that Trump kicked protesters out of the event, telling guards to keep their jackets.
My experience at the Trump rally, even though it happened outside of the Flynn's doors, was an unforgettable one.
