TL;DR: Attended the Trump rally in Austin, TX on Aug 23 (full video). Rally was kinda boring. Definitely more anti-Hillary than pro-Trump. I am not a Trump supporter and the rally did nothing to change my mind. Most effective speaker was RW Bray. It was interesting to speak with sincere Trump supporters and blend in. Personally started a short-lived ‘Lock Her Up!’ chant.
Rec List? Wow, thanks!!! I’ve tried to keep up with comments, but I’ve got to go now. Glad everyone is enjoying my virtual journey to a Trump rally.
I arrived to the venue about 5pm. The parking lot seemed to be full already. So, I parked as near the exit as I could and started to walk the considerable distance to the venue.
As I walked, I noticed a woman talking rather loudly on her cell phone. She was talking to someone about how she had arrived at the venue in time for the rally and she hoped tickets were not required. Tickets were required. I showed her my ticket and how to get one herself on her phone. Because she didn’t seem to be very tech savvy, I just tore my print of my two tickets in half and gave her one of my tickets. By virtue of sharing my ticket, I was identified as a ‘angel sent by God’ to bless her quest to attend the rally. As a rock-ribbed atheist, I knew I was entering a ‘shut up and blend in’ zone as I approached the venue.
I blessed my new friend with my angelic presence until we were both successfully in the venue. Turns out she became a Trump supporter when Paula White, a Trump spiritual adviser, stated that Trump was ‘surrounded by God.’ She just heard about the rally that afternoon and jumped in her car to drive 2+ hours.
When we got close to the venue, we realized we’d walked to the front of the line. As I walked along the line to find the end, I estimated about 1/3 of the line was there to smirk at the show rather than support Trump. Many of the Trump supporters were smokers, including my new friend. There were plenty of vendors trailing carts of pro-Trump and anti-Hillary paraphernalia.
The long line moved fast. Lots of smoking. As we got close to the entrance, I recognized an Infowars reporter walking past. He had the same press pass as the nearby professional photographer who took this picture right in front of me. I shook Joe Biggs’ hand and asked about how Infowars would cover the rally. Sadly, Alex Jones was neither attending nor speaking at the rally.
Finally, after being identified as a biblical entity from Heaven and shaking hands with a fully-credentialed Infowars reporter, I passed through security and entered the rally.
The venue was an aging metal building. Worn areas of the ceiling were clearly repaired with what appeared to be duct tape. I remember going to Austin Ice Bats hockey games there more than a decade ago. Definitely not ‘classy.’ Could have used a Trump touch. When I arrived, the venue was little more than half full. I walked around trying to get a good seat, but most of the ushers said the seats I wanted were for VIPs. Finally, I found where the public could get down to the floor. Once there I elbowed around to find a spot as close to the podium as possible. I got about 25-30 feet away.
First round of speakers: This was the JV team.
- Eric Mahroum — The first of MANY to ask, “Can we afford to have Hillary?”
- Josh Jones — TX Director, Trump for President. He was the MC for the rest of the night.
- Susan Naraviz — She did the pledge to both flags. Then, asked for our votes to little interest.
- Erica Spence — Sang the National Anthem. This was a highlight. She did a great job — after she stuck her gum under the podium.
- RW Bray — I liked his speech. It was a far better argument for conservatism than Trump delivered. I encourage you to invest 10 minutes listening. Replace Pence with Bray and you’ve got a ticket with a much better chance.
- Rick Figueroa — Part of Trump’s Hispanic outreach. Also a candidate for… something. His campaign page does not clearly identify the position he is seeking. Comment if you can figure it out?!?
- Mark Burns — This was a full-throated, fire-and-brimstone, revival tent sermon. He had to stretch his time at the end as the next round of speakers were clearly late. By the end he’d lost the crowd and people were looking at their watches.
- Sid Miller — Fresh from his ‘Jesus Shot’ in Oklahoma, Ag Commish Miller lived up to his reputation — western wear, fried food, and all. His presentation, ill-prepared and scattered, was poorly received and induced noticeable yawning. He finally got the signal from off stage that the Varsity Team had arrived from the downtown fundraiser.
By now the venue was as full as it was going to get. Many were actively yawning and looking at their watches. The fragrance of an overpowered air conditioner in a capacity metal building was beginning to take hold.
Second round of speakers: These guys were all fresh from the fundraisers downtown. Unfortunately for them, Sid Miller ended his speech by mentioning that ‘Mr. Trump was here.’ So, the crowd was expecting Trump, but was disappointed each time one of these guys took the podium.
- Rudy Giuliani — Full disclosure: I have an unreasonable aversion to Rudy Giuliani. He’s just creepy to me. I’ve enjoyed Ron Paul and Vice President Biden schooling Rudy. Anyway, Giuliani seemed to have stepped out of his limo and right in front of the podium. Little acknowledgement of the crowd or location. Just some bland stuff about Hillary bad, Trump good. His appearance was roundly unappreciated by those around me who were hoping for Trump.
- Jeff Sessions — I’m confident half or more of the crowd did not know who Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III was. His presentation was bumbling, veering from one subject to another mid-sentence.
Finally, TRONALD!!!!!
- The Donald was on message and dialed in to the teleprompter reading from
LEFT TO RIGHT
- Some highlights:
- But, the most noteworthy sound bite was the bit about being shot walking down the street. This appeared to be unscripted as Trump was speaking directly to the cameras and not reading from the teleprompter. Ultimately, I thought this was pretty sad. I took my time to experience the rally and this is likely the biggest takeaway history will remember.
Don’t forget the protesters!!! Protests were pretty tame but did interrupt many times. No one I saw made a protest the crowd would support… maybe ‘Release your tax returns!’ would have been received well.
- Respectful protesters — I was standing just in front and to the left of these two.
- Disrespectful protesters — This guy edited together video of his own protest.
- Interesting protesters — threw leaflets that rained down on people sitting directly behind the podium. The leaflets promoted a YouTube channel featuring info about the staging of the Waco Biker Shootout, black helicopters, etc.
- This outburst happened just in front of me to the left. I could not see what was happening. I did see the ominous hand gestures from the stage.
- Black Lives Matter protesters were chanting on the side of the road as cars exited the venue. They were chest-to-chest with a wall of police.
On my way out I bought some buttons, including a ‘Bomb the Shit out of ISIS’ and ‘Build the Wall.’ The ‘Build the Wall’ had handcuffs in the background for some reason, gave it an unintended BSDM vibe.
I was surprised by the lack of energy for the whole rally. If you watch the video, the zoomed in podium view and sound masks the general ‘sitting and watching’ that I observed for most of the rally. Behind me in the bleachers, attendees sat the entire time. Those that stood or waived their Trump/Pence signs too often were politely told they were blocking the view for those sitting. I’ve been to sporting events, concerts, and even high school pep rallies with far more crowd engagement.
