The year 2016 will be the first for many young Americans in which they are able to vote in this year’s presidential election, myself included. While this election thus far has been incredibly polarizing and even embarrassing at times, it has been equally entertaining for every American of all ages. Many individuals assume their opinions are 100% correct and somewhat admiringly stick to their beliefs despite the argument against them, but I myself am smart enough to concede to the notion that I am not smart enough to elect our nation’s next president, and I can confidently assume that most citizens are not either. It is impossible to have perfect foresight. We can only elect a candidate based off policy and morality. In hopes of gaining some perspective for my own decision on who I will be voting for this coming fall, I chose to attend a Donald Trump rally with two of my pals to see for myself what the fuss was all about.
The event was on a Friday afternoon early in the spring semester at the University of South Florida in Tampa, which is one reason I chose to attend because that is the school my younger brother is a student at and is close to my hometown of Brandon. We waited in a long line snaking around the campus, where we had the pleasure of standing behind a man who gladly told us his reasoning on how “President Obama is the worst president that our country has ever seen.” I knew that his comment would not be the first we would hear about our current commander-in-chief, but I held my tongue and listened as the gentleman we just met filled us in on his concerns.
As we approached the Sun Dome, where Trump would be holding his rally, we passed many t-shirt vendors and eventually some protestors near the doors that were led by a man that resembled Doc Brown from Back To The Future, or the character Rick from the cartoon show Rick and Morty. We found our seats in the nose bleed section of the arena, sitting behind a man wearing a shirt that read “I like my guns like Obama likes his immigrants, UNDOCUMENTED,” while others sported shirts with the words “Silent Majority” written on them. I figured my assumption would prove true. As we waited for business man Trump we listened to at least four or five songs by Elton John on the PA system and then interestingly an Italian opera song that for some reason made me think “Mussolini.” Weird. After about an hour wait a voice came on the loud speaker and informed us that “Trump is in the building!” and gave a little PSA stating that “there will be protestors” and “you should not use violence against them” which was hauntingly followed by a collective “boo” from the crowd, but instead we were to “point at the protestor and chant "TRUMP!" Another ten or twenty minutes passed and finally the man himself, Donald Trump, walked onto the podium on the ground floor. He began his speech by announcing he had beaten Elton John’s attendance record at the Sun Dome (ahhhh) and declared his enduring love for the city of Tampa. He then started to say how he planned to “protect our veterans” as well as the second amendment, but he did not really go into detail. He must have been in a hurry. He then made a few claims that stuck out to me, due to the reaction he received following making them.
The first was that despite what Mexico says, they were the ones that were to pay for his infamous wall lining the border of our two country’s, and that their president’s refusal meant that the wall “just got ten feet higher.” This was greeted with a standing ovation and cheers from all members of the Silent Majority. The second statement that stuck out to me was that Obama had made some sort of effort to be referred to as the “Supreme Leader” of America, which struck the arena with anger and resentment. In fact, it was almost difficult to hear what he had to say because after the word “Obama” was said, the entire Sun Dome began to boo and jeer loudly. However, Trump knew what to do. He assured that Obama is “no supreme leader of mine,” which the crowd seemed to really enjoy. A little later into the rally we heard a faint “Trump, Trump, Trump” which grew louder and louder, indicating there was a traitor in our midst, located somewhere on the ground floor. The perpetrator was quickly ushered out of the arena and back into reality.
After this there is not much that I can recall accurately, but I feel like I have illustrated a good enough representation of my experience. Now do I know who I will be voting for in this year’s presidential election? No. Did Donald Trump’s rally in the south influence the way I feel about him? Yes, but I’ll never tell how it did so. One thing I know for sure is that when we were in line and finally inside the building, we were witnessing a part of history. Which part of history we were witnessing is the only thing that is still left unclear.
