My experience at Donald Trump’s first rally in Ohio.
Let me preface this by saying that I’m a lifelong Democrat and I find Donald Trump’s views on nearly everything abhorrent. Now that we have that out of the way, Let me tell you about my night.
My workplace is a short walk from the Greater Columbus Convention Center where Trump was speaking. The only reason I decided to go was because I wouldn’t have to pay for parking, the ticket was free, and I wanted to see the spectacle that is the Donald Trump presidential campaign in person.
I grabbed dinner before the rally and walked down High Street. I could hear the protesters about 50 paces before I could see them. The first protesters I heard were the Black Lives Matter protesters. They had a bullhorn. Then I saw the anti-abortion protestors. Then the pro choice protestors. Then the anti Kasich protestors. Then the pro Kasich truck driving by. Then closer to the door I saw and heard the anti Trump protestors and the vendors peddling Trump t-shirts and buttons.
Once inside I followed the crowd as we streamed past more button and shirt vendors. Buttons with saying like “Foxy Republican” and “ I only date Republicans” The large man selling them assured no one in particular that they came with a lifetime guarantee.
A woman was shouting that there were two lines and they were both going to the same place. I pick the line on the right side and it seemed to move much faster. Even with a very large crowd the line moved surprising quick. I have to say this was incredibly well organized. As we moved closer to the entrance a photographer from Getty was shooting photos of folks in line. As we reached the end of the first line we were queued into one of many shorter lines to go through screening. Screening was performed by the TSA and included removing everything from our pockets. Unzipping our jackets and walking through a metal detector. After the walk through metal detector we then had a someone frisk us with a metal detector wand.
I was in.
The grandstands and the stage were on the right side of the room when you walk in. Towards the center of the room was the ADA compliant seating area and the press area. There was a large platform with the TV cameras and folding tables set up behind it for what I assume were the print and web journalists.
I found a spot directly to the left of the press pit and decided that this would be where I take it all in. It was now about ten after 6 and the room was filling up while Adele (“Skyfall” and “Rolling in the Deep”), Elton John (“Tiny Dancer”) The Beatles (“Hey Jude”), and Phantom of the Opera (“The Music of the Night”) played over the loudspeakers. I thought to myself “If Donald Trump comes out to the song where the Phantom reveals himself, I will totally lose it.”
While waiting for The Donald to make his entrance I enjoyed scanning the crowd trying to find a common thread. Ages ranged from young kids with their parents to high schoolers to senior citizens. Apparel ranged from suits and business casual to camo and novelty t-shirts that included “Nuke ’em till they glow” and “What Would Trump Do” (They literally replaced Jesus with Trump). I don’t know what I expected a Donald Trump crowd to look like but I was surprised by how pedestrian they looked.
About five minutes to 7 a paster came out to give a prayer. I’ve never heard a crowd cheer mid prayer before tonight so that was interesting. After that a retired Army captain came out to lead the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. The woman right behind me made a point of loudly exclaiming the “under God” line. After that a woman came out and sang a totally competent version of our National Anthem.
The music starts back up after the National Anthem and continues for the next 20 minutes. As“The Music of the Night” ends the entire crowd, myself included believes that Trumps entrance must be imminent. All of our collective hopes were dashed by the first lines of “Hey Jude”. Boos from an angry throng fill the room.
Trumps eventually appeared not long after.
I genuinely don’t think Donald Trump knows the structure of his speech when he walks on stage. He made point of vilifying teleprompters and made mention of how his speeches are off the cuff and from the heart. This can lead to some disjointed contradicting statements. One example would be when he started out taking about how the United States is the greatest country in the world then later went on the say how weak we are as a country and how we are viewed as a laughing stock to the rest of the world.
Another takeaway from his speech was how the crowd seemed to hate Governor John Kasich as much as they hate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The boos were about equal between the two.
There were a couple protesters who made themselves known when Trumps started talking about registering Muslims. They were quickly drowned out with boos from the crowd.
Another group of protesters walked past me about half way through Trump’s speech. They were quietly walking around reading books on Socialism. They walked between myself and the gentleman next to me but as soon as he realized that they probably didn’t have the same values he told them go around and wouldn’t let them pass by him. He would later call another woman, who I believe was a Trump supporter, a bitch as she walked by.
He was really an outlier as far as the crowd goes. Almost everyone else was exceedingly nice and pleasant. They were very courteous when the had to walk by me or if they accidentally bumped into me. Another example of the compassion of the crowd was when a woman a few steps away from me fainted, people around her quickly sprung into action to assist her and get her water before firefighters could attend to her.
After speaking for nearly an hour the crowd started to trickle out and by the time Trump had finished speaking more than an hour had elapsed and folks were headed for the exits.
I zipped up my fleece and went out into the dark and chilly late November night surrounded by voters who just heard the first of what they hope will be many speeches in Ohio given by Donald Trump.