OCTOBER 13, 2019 – Last Thursday Trump came to town . . . and we who oppose him went to town. If the “rally” inside Target Center (where the Timberwolves play) was highly regimented, the gathering of thousands outside was thoroughly organic.
My office is six blocks from Target Center. For nearly three hours, I was among the protesters but I’d wanted to engage Trump supporters too—to get their take on things. I took dozens of photos, which I’ve posted on Facebook.
Here’s my written account:
I squeezed into, through, and around the wall-to-wall people who packed the wide streets (First Avenue; Sixth and Seventh Streets) outside Target Center. I haven’t found a reliable crowd estimate, but it was as large a gathering in Minneapolis as any I can remember.
Police were present—a dozen on horseback lined across Seventh Avenue a block from the main crowd; a bicycle crew of another dozen behind a line of light barriers immediately in front of Target Center. I didn’t find their appearance threatening.
The vast majority of the crowd were people you’d allow into your house: many aging Boomers, lots of middle-agers, large groups of 20/30-somethings, younger children too; all appropriately attired for public appearance on a misty, fall evening; incessant, ubiquitous chatter in civil voices; later there was sporadic chanting and massive whistle blowing to counter the chop-chop of a helicopter hovering overhead; scores of very clever signs bobbed above the crowd—they captured the essence of our collective disdain for what sways in the White House. They gave the lie to FoxNews reports that called conditions created by demonstrators: “tense and chaotic.”
I did encounter a small minority of people you would not allow into your house, and I saw a number of signs bearing profanities directed at the object of protest.
I engaged in conversation with protesters and Trump supporters; with . . .
. . . “Mike,” a mechanical engineer exactly my age, who wore an Obama T-shirt.
“I had a sign company make up this sign last week,” he said. “I wanted something that would hold up in case it rained.” It read, “Impeach and Remove Trump for Violating the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.”
“I like your T-shirt,” I said, pointing at his Obama shirt.
“Yeah, I wore it to the State Fair this year. A guy wearing a MAGA cap stepped up and spat at me. I was hosting a group of engineers from Sweden and apologized to them for the guy’s behavior. The Swedes said the same thing now happens in their country.”
. . . three young guys standing on First Avenue just down from the main group of protesters. One wore a MAGA cap.
“You guys Trump supporters?” I asked.
They eyed me with suspicion and confirmed their affiliation; they’d wanted to attend the rally but couldn’t get into Target Center.
“If I may ask you guys, what are the top three things you like about Trump?”
They hesitated. One said, “International stuff, which helps local business get low unemployment.”
“Can you tell me more about that?” I asked.
“Wull, it’s international business. Trump’s good at business. He helps local business.”
“Okay . . . what else?”
“He’s trying to make America great,” said the guy, avoiding eye contact.
At this point, the young man next to him volunteered that he was “on the fence.”
“What do you like, what don’t you like about Trump?” I asked.
“I don’t like a lot of his personal stuff,” the second guy said, “but he really wants America to be a great country, and I support him on that.”
Upon offering to shake hands with these guys, the “fence-sitter” volunteered his name (“Cory”).
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© 2019 Eric Nilsson
