When I heard that Donald Trump would be making an appearance in my hometown, I was oddly excited. I do not support the man, but with all the craziness in the media about his rallies and speeches, I figured I should go see it first hand. Also, with the looming fear that he may very likely become our next president, I wanted to hear what he had to say to the people in Wilmington, North Carolina. I wanted to hear details about the plans he had for when, or if, he won the presidency.
The day started when I arrived three hours early to wait in line with thousands of passionate Trump supporters. For about an hour, I stayed and chatted with a mom and her three boys who continuously asked me questions about my political stance, dropping in little hints about their hatred for “Bernie and Hillary lovers”, so things got a little awkward when I revealed that I was not planning to vote for Trump. I decided to remove myself from the uncomfortable silence to go stand with a few friends who were farther up the line. When I got up to them, a girl was there with a bag full of waters and snacks. With it being about ninety degrees outside, of course I took a bottle of water. This upset a man near by, as he had overheard the girl mentioned she would be handing water out to the protesters later in the day. He began to go off on a rage about how there were “protesters” in the line, screaming in mine and my other younger friends’ faces, and calling us foul names. He then began to get all the others around us to harass us, in hopes to scare us out of line, not knowing that we had absolutely no intentions of protesting the rally. It was terrifying to me that a GROWN man was screaming in the face of a 4’11” girl simply because of an assumption that since I don’t like trump, I must love Hillary. I mean, she is the only other candidate...right? After the whole scene was over, a father pointed my friends and I out to his young daughter claiming we are “what happens when you do crack”. Again, we were drinking water bottles. Not one negative statement about their beloved presidential candidate had left our mouths.
About an hour of enduring glares and having to explain to others I was there to learn and listen, not to protest, I finally got inside. Immediately, I was bombarded by staff members bribing me with free Trump gear and a “chance to be on national television” if I would just sit behind the stage in view of the camera, in an effort to make the crowd look just a tiny bit more diverse. After I declined the offer, the men looked frustrated and moved onto the next group of younger looking kids. Little did they know, most kids under the age of twenty attending the event aren’t old enough to vote, or were there for the irony and a “funny” Instagram post.
Two hours after finally getting inside, Donald made his big entrance and the entire room shook with cheers. Not going to lie, seeing him so up close in person was pretty exciting and left me a little starstruck. But, after the excitement died down and he actually began to speak, reality set in. The things he was saying was no different than what I, along with the rest of the world, had heard him say on camera. Although, he was a lot more toned down and collected than what the media portrays him to be. What was shocking was not the things that Trump was saying on stage, it was the crowd. Now, I am not remotely saying that all Trump supporters are hate-filled, or that they are bad people. I realize we are all human, and a lot of us are worried about the state of our country right now. But, anytime the man on stage would mention the name “Hillary Clinton”, there would be an uproar of hatred from the crowd. I heard things such as “kill her”, “f--k refuges”, and even a man shout “go kill yourself” to the one young protester who was escorted out. Hearing things like this from grown men and women was a little concerning for me.
Going to a Donald Trump rally is something I never thought I would do. However, I am glad that I did. I went to hear first hand what he had to say, and although he didn’t necessarily go that deep into details about his plans, it was an eye opening experience. The experience opened my eyes to the fact that Trump really isn’t evil, and actually isn't orange at all. He is a billionaire running for president, confident that he can fix some of the issues that the country faces today. Even though a good bit, not ALL, of the supporters there make one wonder where so much hatred could possibly be coming from, you cannot judge a candidate based off of their supporters. I believe it is important to inform yourself on certain issues and have the ability to make educated decisions based on your own beliefs, instead of solely basing decisions off of secondary sources, and this rally was one interesting educational experience.
