When I first found out that Donald Trump was going to be rallying in my small community of Bethpage, Long Island, I didn’t believe it. Even when it was confirmed by his campaign managers on his website, it took a while to sink in. Although I was kind of amazed that he picked Grumman Studios (which is walking distance from my home) of all places to come, I wasn’t terribly shocked.

Since I go to a very liberal school in New York City and have greatly disconnected myself from the community I reside in, I often forget that Long Island is populated heavily by people who support Trump. My college classmates and professors openly bash this Republican on a daily basis and it is pretty much automatically assumed that no one will oppose anything negative that is said. If he wanted to rally anywhere in New York, this was the perfect place to do it—he would literally get eaten alive in Manhattan. Smart move, Trump—but my praising him stops there.

I do not support Trump, but I desperately wanted to go to the rally. Not as a protester or as a supporter, but just as a human. I wanted to observe this man speak and breakdown every word that he was saying to prove that this man is not fit to be the president of the United States of America. Yes, I have seen him speak at debates and rallies on television, but I needed to see what it looked like in person when he spoke to a group that often backs him up unconditionally—even when he talks in circles and makes irrational comments (for example the fact that women should be punished for having an abortion).

So I got tickets, but unfortunately, this dream—or nightmare as some would rather call it— was soon crushed. While driving home from a doctor’s appointment, I passed the line at one of the locations to get onto a shuttle bus that would transfer you to the location of the rally. It stretched down for blocks and it was evident that you would have to wait at least 2 hours just to make it onto a bus that drove you to a location 5 minutes away. Unless I wanted to walk there (which I later found out was pointless anyway because Trump’s team oversold the tickets for this event and stopped letting people in) it just wasn’t going to happen. But just from passing this mob of people, I saw basically everything I needed to see.

I’ll paint a word picture for you—the Red Sea with the words “Make America Great Again” floating around every corner. Men, women and even children, at an elementary school level, (a majority of them being white) chanting “U-S-A” repeatedly and waving homemade signs around. One, in particular, I remember saying, “THIS IS AMERICA…TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!”

Then, across the street, there was one single person with a sign that said, “YOU’RE ALL MORONS.”

The whole thing was pretty overwhelming. Seeing this kind of thing on television is very different than having it hit so close to home and seeing it in person. These two sides just seemed to emit so much hate—and it was even worse that I knew a lot of these people personally. And while I do disagree with the people who support Trump, calling them all morons is definitely not the way to go.

I think it is very alarming that people that I am surrounded by the everyday support this man—I’m not even speaking as a Democrat or Republican. I am just speaking as someone who has educated myself about his plans (or rather, lack there of) for the future of our country and has seen how he carries himself on a regular basis, beyond videos from very left-sided sources like NowThis.

I caught the rally on television and took note of a few things. First off, Trump could not speak for more than two minutes without reading off of his notes—how can we elect a president that is not well prepared to speak about issues and plans that he has created himself. I know it may sound like something small, but our President needs to be well-versed in order to be respected by the rest of the world or even by his/her own people.

Additionally, as usual, he repeated himself constantly. Continuously saying, “We’re going to build a wall,” whenever it seemed like he didn’t know what else to say. And the entire crowd filled with my own neighbors cheered with approval. He gets the crowd amped up—but, this isn't enough to qualify someone to run the most powerful country in the world.

Many people at this rally argued that they support him because “he is not the best candidate, but he is the best out of all the options.” And, “I trust him over Hillary.” However, people need to understand that these two are not their only options—you can educate yourself on voting for a third party in the general election.

People who support Trump need to recognize that the media may emphasize the hateful things he has said greatly, but it does not make them any less true. His campaign’s foundation is hate and fear and there is no going around that. To see this rally being held in my town made me realize how many people I am surrounded by are constantly denying this fact. I will not protest people voting for him, as all they do is get laughed at, but I do wish people would look beyond wanting to elect Trump because they feel they have no other choice.