RALEIGH, N.C. – Presidential candidate and Republican party frontrunner Donald Trump spoke at a rally at J.S. Dorton Arena on the N.C. State fairgrounds in Raleigh Dec. 4. It was estimated that over 7,800 people attended the event. One of these people was senior Hudson Moore.
“I went because we have been talking about Trump so much in [AP Government] and I thought it would be a good experience to be kind of part of history, because he’s definitely a really influential candidate,” Moore said. “Even if he doesn’t win, which hopefully he won’t, he’ll definitely still be part of history, and I wanted to be a part of that.”
Senior Carter Denny was similarly motivated to attend.
“I was interested to see what he had to say,” Denny said. “I’m a Republican, and he’s not my favorite candidate by any means, but I just wanted to go and see what he had to say.”
Senior Coltrane Pschorr attended in protest.
“I was curious about why people like Trump and how awful Trump could actually be in person,” Pschorr said. “I also wanted to protest Trump…. I didn’t do as much as I wanted to, unfortunately. I wore a shirt that said ‘Muslims are not terrorists’ that gave me a lot of bad looks, and I made a sign. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let me bring the sign in, but it contained a lot of Donald Trump’s quotes.”
People from around the state traveled to Raleigh for the event and discussed their motivations for supporting Trump.
“I’m a Republican, and I support Republicans no matter what,” said Tommy Creswell from Benson. “I think the country needs to be run like a business, and [Donald Trump] is a businessman. If anyone can straighten it out, he can…. I’m fed up with what’s going on in our country.”
Others shared similar sentiments.
“He’s a good leader, a successful businessman,” Raleigh native Mark Moseley said. “I think he would be a great president. We need some real leadership in this country.”
Some, like Osama Shafiq from Raleigh, came with the expectation of amusement.
“I’m here simply for the entertainment,” Shafiq said.
Student reactions to the event varied.
“I thought it was interesting, the way he spoke,” Denny said. “He could really get a crowd going. It almost seemed like we were at a sporting event rather than a political speech…. He didn’t really impress me that much, but I thought it was cool how he could move a crowd.”
Senior Isabel Bors viewed Trump differently.
“I thought he was going to talk about his policy; I don’t think he had any,” Bors said. “He obviously wasn’t very prepared…. It was all rhetoric, and he was just saying these statements that didn’t really mean anything. I just kind of lost any ounce of respect I had left for him after that, because it didn’t tell me anything about what he would do if he was elected.”
Trump’s speech was interrupted at least 10 separate times during the night. The protests began about five minutes into the speech and continued until it ended 45 minutes later. Protesters caused disturbances with signs and chants like “Black lives matter” and “Stop the hate, we make America great.” According to Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison, the authorities removed about 25 protesters from the event. Each group was subsequently booed by Trump supporters in the crowd and removed by security and authorities. Trump ended his speech and began taking questions from the audience much earlier in the event than usual.
Senior Elizabeth Nava-Plata protested outside the venue at the event.
“Trump is really against Hispanics,” Nava-Plata said. “Being Hispanic, I really wanted to go in there and protest. I attended the actual rally for about 30 minutes and then I walked out and protested with a group of other people…. It was a large group of people getting together to fight for what they believe in…. There were Muslims there, there were a ton of Hispanics there, there were black people supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. There were posters everywhere and people chanting. People were driving by and yelling bad things at us.”
Some students were upset by the protests.
“I was actually pretty scared about all the protesting that was going on and also kind of shocked at the mob mentality that I felt there and all the negative energy I felt toward liberals like myself,” Moore said. “There were a lot of ideas that I did not agree with, and there were a lot of people who were cheering very loudly for those ideas, which made me uncomfortable.”
Although most of the protesters were peacefully removed, a few were forcefully manhandled by crowd members in an attempt to remove them before authorities stepped in.
“It was really intense and scary,” Bors said. “It was especially hard when I could see two girls who were probably my age with their hands behind their backs being pushed out. People were yelling and pushing each other and ripping up signs, and it was nothing like anything I had ever seen before.”
The protests were met with mixed emotions.
“It was exciting because I was really excited that people were standing up to him, but I was also kind of nervous, because violence could break out at any moment,” Moore said.
Some students felt that the protests were ineffective.
“I didn’t like the protests because I feel like the people were going about it the wrong way,” sophomore Bryce Tricas said. “Even when they chanted, not everyone in the stadium could hear what they were doing, so it was useless.”
Denny agreed.
“I feel like if you don’t like him, just don’t go,” Denny said. “You don’t have to agree with him, but you should mind your own business.”
Trump’s influence was put into perspective for senior Kirby Morris.
“I’d heard about people liking Donald Trump, but I’d never really met a lot of people who did, so just seeing thousands and thousands who were really zealous and into him, especially how they acted toward the protesters and how mean they were and how physical they got, it just scared me and made me feel like he actually has a chance,” Morris said. “Before, I still kind of saw it as a joke.”
Pschorr had similar sentiments.
“I always thought, ‘Oh man, there are some crazy people in this country who want to kill all Muslims and stuff,’ and I thought, ‘That’s crazy, but it’s not everyone,’” Pschorr said. “I was in an arena of about 5,000 of those people, and I learned that things like racism are much more relevant than I previously thought.”
Denny enjoyed the overall experience.
“I thought it was really cool,” Denny said. “It was my first political rally, and I thought it was interesting to go. I don’t know when I’ll be able to go to one again; it will be like four years, and I don’t think there will ever be a candidate as hype as Donald Trump. It was just a really neat experience in general.”
– By Becca Heilman