On Wednesday I attended the Donald Trump rally in Pittsburgh, Pa. Now, I know most of you are already shaking your head after reading that first sentence, but hear me out. The rally was only an hour away from Morgantown, where I go to school, and I had a unique opportunity to see a top presidential candidate. So I, and a few of my friends, decided to go just to see what one of these Donald Trump rallies were really like.
We arrived at the convention center where the rally was being held and about an hour and 45 minutes early, there was already a huge line outside. There were street vendors everywhere selling knockoff Trump merchandise. I looked inside the tag of one of the vendors' "Make America Great Again" hats to find that it was made in China. I found this hilariously ironic. There were also countless news trucks parked outside the convention center and tons of police and security spread throughout downtown Pittsburgh. The atmosphere almost felt like a sports game.
Once we got inside the convention center, we went through security checks and metal detectors before entering the area where Trump was speaking. When we finally arrived in the huge room where the rally was taking place, we found a spot to stand about 30 feet to the right of the podium. I had a pretty good view of the stage and the podium where Trump would be speaking.
About an hour and a half passed before Trump showed up, but when he did the room filled with excitement. Everyone in attendance gave Trump a great ovation when he arrived and cheered "Trump, Trump, Trump."
Trump's actual speech was pretty much the same thing we've all heard 100 times by now. He proclaimed that he was going to "build a wall" and asked the crowd, "And who's going to pay for the wall?" Of course everyone responded in unison with, "Mexico!" Chants of "Build that wall" echoed throughout the convention center periodically throughout the speech. Trump talked about China, bringing back the steel and coal industry to Pittsburgh and strengthening our military among other things. There was a lot of cheering and chanting throughout the rally but it never got violent or outrageous. There was one protestor who interrupted the rally and had to be escorted out but there was nothing too crazy inside the rally.
After the rally ended we were swiftly directed towards the exit. I was checking Twitter and saw a headline about protests outside of the rally and figured security was directing us away from all the protests. However, I was completely wrong. We reached the exit and were immediately greeted by protestors. One protestor was giving everyone the double bird, another one had a sign about how we should all love each other and another group was chanting "F*** Trump." I was in shock at first walking in the middle of all this.
People were yelling directly at my friends and I that we were racist, fascist, sexist; pretty much every "-ist" in the book. People were holding signs about love and peace yet yelling "F*** you" when a Trump supporter walked by. I also saw people yelling in the face of police officers who were simply just standing there, trying to create a border between the protestors and Trump supporters. Four police officers ended up being injured because these protests got so violent.
This was a very unique experience for me, instead of watching it on the news I was right in the middle of it. I had the opportunity to watch these events unfold right in front of me without the news' biases getting in the way. There are many perspectives to each event and I am glad I was able to view this particular event through the first person.
