The 2016 Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump visited his “second home” as he called it on Monday, Sept. 20, 2016. Germain Arena in Estero, FL seats 8,284, but the event was estimated to attract 15,000 people.
With the option to take one of those seats or to stand on the arena floor and squish together to get as close as possible to the podium in which Trump would be standing, I opted to take the latter. I was 20 feet from the podium.
During the three hours of waiting, I decided to observe my surroundings - as any journalist would. One man behind me had the voice of the economics teacher from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (“Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?”) and the man next to him had tattoos all over his body, a shaved head, and a “Hillary for Prison” t-shirt. I went to this rally with a fellow journo friend named Justin, who was having much more fun than I was. One man in front of me yelled out, “Hey, Osama!” when somebody who I suppose resembled him stood at the podium to check the microphone.
Justin went to buy a couple of water bottles before the big event started. He returned to tell me that he had an interesting conversation with a lady handing out souvenirs.
“Hillary has killed people to get to where she is now,” she said. If that was a stab at Benghazi, then source, please. Here are mine: 1 // 2
Pastor Sutton of Winkler Road Baptist Church had us all pray to Jesus.
Fun fact #1: I was raised in a 100% Jewish household where that was not a part of my faith or upbringing.
Fun fact #2: I identify as agnostic.
If we live in a country that claims to be accepting of all religions (First Amendment), why do we focus on one of them at these rallies?
Pastor Sutton also made a comment about the 55 million lives lost because “there are people who believe that women should have the right to choose.”
Dane Eagle of the Florida House of Representatives of Cape Coral harped on the "deplorable" comment, saying, "I see young people, vets, retirees, we're not deplorable."
Fun fact #3: If you do not fall under the categories of whom she called deplorable, stop defending those people who do fall under those categories.
A woman spoke next. “The only way to make America great again is to elect a man,” she said. She claimed that Trump does not live by double standards. Then why is it that the world seems to blow up when Clinton calls people “deplorable,” but nobody bats an eye for more than two seconds when Trump calls my gender pigs, Mexicans rapists, and so on?
“He does not have a thirst for money,” she claimed. Do you know how much he’s alleged to be worth? $4.5 billion. Not thirsty for money. Okay.
The fourth person, and the one who I was shocked to see, was Newt Gingrich. Unfortunately, his points were straight from the teleprompter over at FOX.
Byron Donald of the Florida House spoke about how Clinton has no experience with helping the American people.
She doesn't care about children, the disabled, or veterans.
She just doesn’t care. Isn’t that right, Mr. Trump?
This rally was not physically violent as it was in months past with protestors being beaten up by supporters. However, it was verbally violent. Everything Trump had to say was negative towards Clinton. He has no answers except for his wall. Which, by the way, Mexico will not be paying for it.
Translation: "At the beginning of the conversation with Trump I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall."
Trump spoke about the attack on Iraq as well.
Let me just talk about this situation for a moment. President Obama is blamed for pulling troops out of Iraq too soon, right? But how about the fact that Iraq did not want our troops there anymore after the Bush Doctrine (yes, you read that correctly) expired at midnight on Dec. 31 2011? By upholding that agreement, Iraq essentially collapsed and their military leaders broke away from al-Qaeda because it was falling apart after the death of Osama Bin Laden, and formed ISIS in 2013.
As somebody pursuing journalism, I have learned how to be unbiased in my professional articles and to understand other options and opinions. (Despite my obvious leftist posts on Facebook.) However, I took the opportunity given to me to go to see Trump in person at his rally because it was, in my opinion, not only a golden opportunity, but an obligation for my future career in political journalism.
As a Democrat, I am not afraid of this man as much as I am of the people supporting him. For a man who has no answers other than "trust me" and "Mexico will build the wall.” It is terrifying to see how truly hateful he is. Seeing him in person meant that I was able to hear what he had to say without the cuts of clips and fabrication some media does.
It is not an easy situation to be a journalist at events such as this. The media was mentioned by Gingrich, and the entire audience booed. One man next to me gave me a stare that is still fresh in my mind. It was painted with hatred, distrust, and the absolute confidence that I was only there to cause problems. I am a student journalist. It was my decision to attend that rally because of my passion for political journalism.
He didn’t see the look I gave him when he took out his plastic baggies full of buttons to sell for $5 a piece. At least I wasn’t trying to make money off of my attendance.
All in all, this rally was an adventure, but I did not learn anything. I was reminded of who I am voting for, if not given more reasons to do so.
Instead of repeating yourself, Mr. Trump, why not come up with actual detailed plans on how you're going to make this country great again?
