A pro-Trump stooge smacked my iPhone out of my hand during a video of him shouting about demonstrators being “sore losers” and “cry babies” at a spirited and uplifting post-Inauguration Day march in Portsmouth NH.
As I was recording the scene, he made an adorable joke about being “a deplorable” and — as I narrated “looks like we got a drunk deplorable here” — he walks up and says, “Yeah, you’re a (unintelligible)” and smacks my phone, which was positioned inches from my face, to the pavement.
Startled, at a loss for how to respond and not quite sure if he had taken my phone or intended to escalate his aggression, I grabbed him by his coat with both hands and shoved him for a moment until I realized my phone was on the ground.
Making this strange little encounter even a little more bizarre, a woman had this footage of the mini-fracas from another angle.
Anyway, the event itself was amazing and most of the videos I took were more like this one — in which I offer the following heartfelt, albeit a bit corny, narration:
During his inauguration yesterday, President Donald Trump wanted to talk about American carnage. The story here is one of American courage.
People are gathered here. To stand up and cheer. For the country we all hold dear.
Here’s the report I filed at my home site.
And my Inauguration Day coverage.