My story with Trump protestors at a Trump rally

[RickJamesLich]

Here's my personal story about protesters at a Trump rally, hopefully it's not too lengthy and while some may not find it very interesting, for me it was a big deal and I think even some people that hate Trump may take interest in this. I was kind of debating about not posting this because I suspected some people may not believe me.

So about a month and a half back Donald Trump was in Cleveland and I thought I'd check it out. The night before, Trump had his infamous rally in Chicago that got shut down due to accusations that protestors were making the rally unsafe. The rally I went to was pretty tame in comparison, no real fights or anything but there were definitely protestors and supporters arguing back and forth in certain areas. I'd have to say most of it was pretty peaceful though, it seemed most of the supporters were ignoring the protesters, but not all, of course.

So that was that until a few weeks later, someone posted a youtube video on this very forum:



Basically the video shows a Trump supporter just flat out telling someone to "Go to Auschwitz", pretty much suggesting that Trump supporters are just yelling harsh racial statements at by standards. The video doesn't show much else though, you don't ever actually see whom the guy was speaking with, he just quickly walks away. A few more people walk by, some appear to be yelling at the same person though, before the video ends.

It was weird because I realized that this actually happened at the rally that I attended, it took place at the Cleveland I-X center. I watched the video a few more times realizing that this was after the event happened, while everyone was leaving. Not only that, but that "Auschwitz" guy pretty much took the exact same path that I did to leave the building. That sort of jogged my memory, as I left the building myself, there were a few protesters (whom I suspect to be Sanders supporters) that were pretty much doing nazi salutes and using that rhetoric. Not only that, one guy pretty much dressed up as Hitler lol. I can only assume this was meant to troll the crowd while at the same time implying they are all racist.

Remembering that it seemed pretty clear to me that this guy that said "Go to Auschwitz" as a retort to the Trump protestors that were doing the Nazi hand gestures. When I exited the building that day, they were pretty much in that same area. Not only that, but I didn't see any Trump supporters doing the nazi salutes themselves, or anything remotely near that - outside of this very video itself. Beyond that "Go to Auschwitz" seems like it would be a really random insult in just about any other scenario besides this one. Out of the thousands of insults to hurl, why would someone mention Auschwitz? It seemed pretty clear to me this guy was just responding to trolls that were in fact doing nazi salutes and speaking that rhetoric themselves. On top of this though, the guy filming says something like "Dude I recorded that" in a tone that suggests he was hoping something like that would happen. Not a tone of shock or anything.

This really pissed me off, because with all of that information, it seemed like the guy who released the video deliberately did this to make Trump supporters look bad. After all the clip is extremely short and the person recording it never shows who the protestor is even talking to (which is rare, even for amateurs that record these things). Considering how close the guy was recording this to the person that was being yelled at, I suspected the two probably knew each other. Either way, the guy video taping had to have known that this guy wasn't just saying "Go to Auschwitz" for no reason, rather he was responding to a troll, and saying "Go to Auschwitz" as a way of saying "F you" for trying to bring Nazi Germany into this whole thing.

So knowing all of this, it came to be a huge surprise when I found out this video actually gained A LOT of media attention, I'm talking about in other cities besides Cleveland. Worse still, I found out medias in other countries even picked up on the story. Here's two examples:

http://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-s...z-after-rally/

http://wgntv.com/2016/03/14/man-leav...at-protesters/

So yeah this was fucked up. The media essentially was portraying something *way* out of context and using it to pretty much smear Trump supporters and through effect, Donald Trump as well. Not only that but in many of the articles, people were responding accordingly, saying stuff like "those Trump supporters are so racist". On some level I wasn't even mad at the media, after all they pretty much only reported what they saw. It was really the guy who put up the video in the first place, of course editing out what took place before and after this event, even though that info could've brought clarity to the whole thing.

Now at this point you may be thinking I was exaggerating about Trump protesters doing the nazi rhetoric and hand salutes. To those that think so, here's another video from the rally that day, after it took place, of one of the protesters doing the hand salutes:



The video is only 3 and half minutes long but it shows a few shots of one of the guy's doing it from various points of time while people exit. The clearest shots of him doing it start shortly after the 3:15 mark. Long story short though, while most were leaving the building, this guy was just doing the nazi stuff for a good amount of time, as the video shows him in multiple spots doing it. The video itself is on a very similar issue to mine even lol. It will be worth noting that while this guy is doing the nazi salute, literally none of the real Trump supporters are doing it. Only the protester. On top of that one of the Trump supporters even runs up on camera and says he's not a Trump supporter lol.

So at the end of the day, through standing next to a guy that was trolling (likely a friend), the man video taping this event duped a lot of people. Not just in Cleveland or major cities in the US, but in countries that otherwise aren't even aware of my cities existence lol. People believe the story because the video is too short to show any context, something the camera man likely did on purpose.

And while this is just *one* instance, when I look into similar controversies that have happened at Trump rallies, I find a LOT happen very similar to this. Protesters (often Bernie Bros), behave offensively, but when a Trump supporter responds, the people that film it will selectively omit what the protester did to actually receive that response. Not only that, but these videos ignore that these protesters behave offensively to thousands of people, and often only one or two people will respond back harshly, yet the media gives the impression that this is a regular occurrence. One big, bold faced lie, and since the media is often just using footage taken from people using their Iphones, nobody is held accountable. People buy into this misinformation and determine that "Trump and his supporters are racist".

[I Push Buttons]

Nah man... One side in politics would never do anything to discredit/misrepresent the other side or vice versa... Quit spreading lies.

[Kretan]

Heck there's a lot coming from both sides of this. Trump really brings out the worst in support of him and in opposition.

Hell, trump said there would be riots if the nomination was taken from him.....there might be riots if it was given to him too.

[Dug]

I see what you're saying but some Trump supporters are in fact racist.

[Eldar45]

I see what you're saying but some Trump supporters are in fact racist.

Some Bernie Sanders supporters are racist as well. As well as Hillary supporters.


Racism isn't a trait of the US Right wing, its a trait of humanity. It spreads its horrible claws through all ethnic groups, societies, affiliations and races.

[Daerio]

I enjoyed the part where you suddenly realize you personally know more context about a viral video that's been out for months. Stay classy.

[Dug]

Some Bernie Sanders supporters are racist as well. As well as Hillary supporters.

Cool edit there, bud. I'm saying some white supremacists have come out in support of Trump, google it if you want proof. Not saying Trump is racist because of that I'm just saying there are some supporters that are very much white supremacist shitbags.

[Stacyrect]

So you're admitting you're part of the problem in trying to throw the word racism around when their isn't anything racist about what Trump is doing. Every time I see Anti-Trump crowds I'm always reminded of the power of stupid people in large groups. Truly, a new level of ignorance, hypocrisy, and shitlording.

[Cthulhu 2020]

"People totally take the actions of a small amount of Trump supporters and then make it seem like this is what all of them stand for, what gives? Now here's an example of some Bernie supporters, seems pretty typical of lefists."

[alexw]

I see what you're saying but some Trump supporters are in fact racist.

We also have redtower our resident Nazi supporting Trump. See sig.

[RickJamesLich]

I see what you're saying but some Trump supporters are in fact racist.

Shout out to all that read this. I just wanted to clarify here too, I'm not trying to say that all Sanders supporters (or even Hillary supporters) do this, I'm aware this is just a few assholes. I'm not trying to say Trump has no supporters that are racist either. On some level for me this kind of is bigger than Trump lol. It really just goes to show how a video taken out of context can lead to A LOT of people believing something that's not true. It just so happened that this took place at a Trump rally.

[Deleted]

We also have redtower our resident Nazi supporting Trump. See sig.

Yeah as a national socialist I do agree with a lot of his ideas. Protecting your boarders and helping ensuring the livelihood of the people you serve is something I consider admirable in a elected official.

[Deleted]

Look, here's the deal. In my country there's a saying "nothing is off the table in love and politics". In politics one of the major tools people use is to make up shit about other candidates. Sometimes it doesn't even need to be the candidates themselves supporting this, sometimes people just do it on their own thinking they support their candidate by basically making up shit about the others. While this is wrong, many people still do it for the very reason that even if they're outsted eventually, their hate message still goes around a while before they are. And that's their whole point.

Have you never wondered why all lawsuits suddenly reappear during campaigns? Just during the campaigns, someone starts a lawsuit against a candidate for something that happened X years ago. Maybe some are true, but many are fabricated for the simple reason that they get on the news and throw dirt on someone's reputation.

[Dug]

Shout out to all that read this. I just wanted to clarify here too, I'm not trying to say that all Sanders supporters (or even Hillary supporters) do this, I'm aware this is just a few assholes. I'm not trying to say Trump has no supporters that are racist either. On some level for me this kind of is bigger than Trump lol. It really just goes to show how a video taken out of context can lead to A LOT of people believing something that's not true. It just so happened that this took place at a Trump rally.

Yeah that's the scary thing about viral videos and social media in general. Both sides, shit, any side imaginable can influence the context of videos/quotes with some easy editing.

[Lenonis]

This just in -- the extremist overly engaged followers of a political figure are pretty much awful people.

Not sure why that's a surprise to anyone. And frankly it should be common sense that there are two things:
1) There are awful racist horrible Trump supporters. There are also awful racist horrible Sanders supporters.
2) For every violent protest/rally you see in the news there are likely 100s of perfectly peaceful ones.

[Deleted]

Shout out to all that read this. I just wanted to clarify here too, I'm not trying to say that all Sanders supporters (or even Hillary supporters) do this, I'm aware this is just a few assholes. I'm not trying to say Trump has no supporters that are racist either. On some level for me this kind of is bigger than Trump lol. It really just goes to show how a video taken out of context can lead to A LOT of people believing something that's not true. It just so happened that this took place at a Trump rally.

This is indeed true. However mass media will report the most scandalous looking things on prime-time. So if they had even a tip that nazi supporters were at a Trump rally, you see it over the news. Trust me, if someone goes to a Sanders rally with a hammer and a sickle and says he's a Sanders supported because he's a communist and Sanders will bring communism to america, you'd see it all over the news too. This is, unfortunately, one of the problems of media. Sometimes those making the news are so caught in trying to report the news first (or slandering a candidate themselves, since some stations support candidates) that they don't document themselves properly. And people believe them.

I'm sure there are fascist Trump supporters and communist Sanders ones and ... I don't know... Illuminati Hillary ones maybe, but I'm also sure they're smart enough to not go and show their allegiance in public. But for the mass media, it doesn't matter.

[I Push Buttons]

Shout out to all that read this. I just wanted to clarify here too, I'm not trying to say that all Sanders supporters (or even Hillary supporters) do this, I'm aware this is just a few assholes. I'm not trying to say Trump has no supporters that are racist either. On some level for me this kind of is bigger than Trump lol. It really just goes to show how a video taken out of context can lead to A LOT of people believing something that's not true. It just so happened that this took place at a Trump rally.

Yeah the right would never do anything like that.

[Machismo]

I genuinely question the intelligence of anyone who supports Trump.

[alexw]

Yeah as a national socialist I do agree with a lot of his ideas. Protecting your boarders and helping ensuring the livelihood of the people you serve is something I consider admirable in a elected official.

I really don't think you are doing much to support the OP's argument that Trump supporters aren't Nazi's.

[nextormento]

Auschwitz is a pretty interesting place to visit, actually. It's very well kept and gives a sense of what went on. Going there is a good suggestion :]