This past Friday, I was able to attend a Donald Trump rally for my first time.
I attended the one in my hometown of Redding, California. I was nervous attending this event due to the propensity of violence at Trump rallies. I had already received messages from members of the Redding Tea Party that they reported me to security.
They were concerned that a Muslim would attend the event.
At first I got my ticket with the intention of protesting Donald Trump. I mean why wouldn’t I? This is a man that has made a political career out of demonizing Muslims, Mexicans, and others that are not of the white persuasion.
However, I decided instead to take the opportunity to really listen to his message and to see if he is as bad as I thought or was I overreacting to media hysteria? I would listen and observe and use this opportunity to write about my experience with the Inscriber Magazine.
After hearing about Trump’s visit to Redding I immediately reserved two tickets.
Then I applied for my press pass but was unfortunately denied. I wanted to ask Donald Trump that since his rise to the Republican Presidential nomination, there has been a spike of violence and Islamophobic rhetoric towards American Muslims.
Would Donald Trump be fair and just and treat Muslims with equality? Could American Muslims feel safe and secure under a Trump presidency?
I made it to the event about an hour or so before Trump’s arrival. As soon as we arrived we were told that nobody could get in anymore. An event that was supposed to hold 4,000 had been reduced to 2,000 by the fire marshal. Trump was upset about this and asked why the tent could not have been spread out farther.
As a result, there was probably another 500 or so people outside that could not get in. Trump made a comment that Bernie only drew a crowd of 3,000 in Chico the night before. I doubt that there were 3,000 people in attendance for Trump.
When Trump took the stage it was obvious that he was not ready for Redding’s heat. It was 104 degrees, maybe as high as 107 degrees. He asked if everyone was okay and if they needed any water because he had plenty. That was nice of him.
When someone began suffering heat stroke he asked for a medic to come to their aid.
After his introduction, Trump immediately goes into his spill about how they want to kill us. So here we go. Donald Trump then said that since they want to kill us we should build that wall. Trump also was focused on speaking about Hillary and how she should be in prison over the email scandal.
I actually do agree with him that what she did jeopardized American security. In a cyber world, maintaining state department intel is a major trust to the American people.
I was also surprised to hear him speak about the manufacturing industry in Redding and how we lost a third of our jobs. He said he will bring back jobs but how. Trump spent the entire time spouting about how great he is and how bad Hillary is without once saying what he will do to solve problems.
Trump is great at pointing out obvious problems but he did not say one solution to any of the problems. It is easy to destroy a society but it is difficult to build it. This is a concept that Trump does not understand. The crowd in Redding was respectful. I expected this from my city. I ran into many people that I know. I was disappointed to not see a single protestor.
It was shocking to see that nobody in Redding was brave enough to protest this event. I saw a mostly White crowd with only a handful of ethnic minorities.
I saw many women dressed like they were trying out for a hot date with Mr. Trump. Donald Trump said that he would return to Redding before the November election. We will see if his promise rings true.
My takeaway from all of this is that it is so unfortunate that so many Americans have fallen for this charlatan. Trump speaks with anger, with confidence, and yet he just rambles on about how good he is. How everything is a mess, and how he will solve it.
Yet he did not give a single example of his policy to solve any problem. He uses the power of charisma to sway people to follow him. Where this pied piper will lead the American people and the world to, I do not know. If Trump is elected, may God help us all.