Last night in Valdosta Georgia, thirty students were removed from Donald Trump’s rally for being black.
Let that sink in for a bit, and then consider that while that was going on, a white man with a megaphone ranting about the KKK was in attendance. Me...
When I arrived, Trump was blathering about his usual nonsense, when I heard him say, “I have friends who are proud to be Christian, and I am proud of it."
So, I got on the megaphone and said, “you have friends that are KKK members, Donald.”
A student shouts, “all-the-way shamed,” and surprised giggle-laughter bubbles up from the crowd.
The police immediately came over and asked if I would go into the protest area. But, I was able to talk my way into staying by saying, “no one’s protesting.” The police then asked what I was saying, and I responded, “ I said Donald’s got friends that are KKK members, I love everyone, including the KKK. So I’m here to support Donald Trump and whatever his efforts are. And since he loves the KKK, I just figured I’d show my support for Donald and his love of the KKK. I’m here to support him. I’ve got an American flag, and I’m an American. Am I right everyone?”
The students are fully aware that my tongue is planted fully in cheek, and respond, “right, right, right.”
The police come back with, “one thing we’re not going to do, we’re not going to disrupt anything. We’re here to have a good time.”
I say, “I’m not going to disrupt anything.”
“Well lay off the loud-speaker,” says the cop.
I come back, “if that’s the issue, I’ll not use the loud-speaker. Sorry, I just wanted to show my support of Donald and his KKK friends. You know that David Duke endorsed him the other day?”
A Trump supporter dressed in official dad/ GOP light-blue-shirt and khakis yells, “oh shut up, you’re just as bad as Wolf Blitzer out here talking shit.”
I shout back, “watch the language around the kids. There are children here.”
A student calls out, “I’m offended by what he said.”
The Trump supporter from a distance shouts something incoherent about protesters and America.
I say to the cops, “why don’t you talk to that guy? He seems to be protesting.”
When I bump into the same Trump supporter again, he gives me a round of sarcastic clapping. “Thanks a lot, we appreciate all your stepping in.”
I introduce myself by name. “Hi, I’m Rod.”
Dad pants: “You’re a beautiful person man.”
“So are you sir,” I say.
And we shake hands.
He then whispers, “retard,” when his back is turned.
“Sarah Palin doesn’t mind you using the ‘R’ word,” I say.
He comes back, now angered again, “we have to talk about things the way they are. I don’t understand why you have to be all weird,” and shakes his arms in a contorted way.
A young man then pulls out a knife which he shows me, and explains that he has it in case there is a situation he needs to handle with protesters.
Throughout the remainder of the event, I continued to shout out, (without the megaphone), making condemnations and corrections for remarks which Donald made which I believed deserved criticism.
Still, I wasn't kicked out.
Finally, after some young Trump supporters started yelling at some young black students who I had befriended, I was told to leave. I had asked the Trump supporters if legality equated to morality, and reminded them of slavery and prohibition. Evidently, this kind of rational thought was crossing the line and after lengthy discussion, I was ordered to leave.
On my way out, as the police watched on, I was confronted by a very tall, large and angry Trump supporter who looked like a six-foot-five version of Larry The Cable Guy. He talked like him too, and insinuated that he would beat me. Another person in the crowd assured me, “you're going to get your ass kicked.”
A woman held the man back, as I wandered looking for the time-machine. And then the universe wept a little bit, since we had been set back a hundred years.