May 27, 2016, 12:00pm; Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA
As we waited for Trump to speak inside the convention center, the protests were happening outside on Harbor Drive. Ken E Nwadike Jr was there with his camera person, filming for FreeHugsProject.TV. Knowing that things would get tense, he walked past lines of police, wearing his plain black "Free Hugs" T-shirt and began accepting hugs from Trump supporters and Trump protesters alike. He would occasionally stop and ask people questions regarding their views. He asked a couple of street vendors what was the tensest situation they had found themselves in and one of them talked about how the crowd outside the Trump event in Albuquerque, New Mexico took merchandise off of people's tables and lit them on fire. Before coming here today, a number of people told me to be careful. One co-worker warned me so insistently that I joked back that I would get out as soon as I saw any fire.
Nwadike Jr, after hugging a man holding up a gadsden flag, explained his reasons for being at the rally by saying, "I'm spreading love man, it seems like there's a whole bunch of hate... We may not all agree with certain policies and things like that, but we should all be able to agree with love. We should all be able to get along and be able to love another brother and be able to say it's all good. We may not have the same beliefs, we may not have the same ideas, but we can respect each other." He was there as a peacekeeper...
...and things were still pretty peaceful at this point. There were two large protest areas just outside the Convention Center that met at 5th ave., where the "Gaslamp Quarter" sign is located. The anti-Trump crowd was large and festive with signs and pinatas, while the pro-Trump crowd was small but patriotic with lots of red, white and blue. The pro-Trump crowd only looked small however, because a large chunk of them were either inside the Convention Center, or in line at the Convention Center.
Having left home early, I was inside Hall G of the Convention Center, and pretty close to the front. I saw all sorts of people there; gays, women, Latinos, African American, even one of my co-workers was there, "Keep it a secret", he told me with a grin as he held a Trump sign. However, looking back at the footage I took, I realize that the majority of the people there were white. By 2:25 pm, Donald Trump arrived at the Podium and began to speak.
I really could not believe the enthusiasm for this man and his beliefs. Looking upon the screaming crowd of ten thousand, he started off by saying, "Wow! This is unbelievable! Cameras! Turn over here, turn over here cameras! You know they never wanna show the crowds we get. This is a movement folks! This is a big beautiful moment!"
Looking back at the footage I took, hearing the crowd roar in reaction to his movement quote gave me chills. As Trump began to give his stump speech inside, a TV corespondent got pushed around outside. NBC's Jacob Rascon reports:
TV correspondent in the middle of Trump protests shoved to the ground, escorted out by police. pic.twitter.com/S2CyXdgJuO
— Jacob Rascon (@Jacobnbc) May 27, 2016
Trump strolled on stage wearing a suit with a red tie and exuding confidence and energy. He talked briefly about successfully reaching the 1,237 pledged delegates needed for the Republican Nomination while gloating that "Crooked Hillary" couldn't put Bernie away. "I love San Diego", he said, "I love the people of San Diego, I love our vets! Where are our vets?"
He then proceeded to bring on a group of veterans on stage with him. I'm a Navy veteran, and I absolutely hate it when we get pandered to. I hate it because it's never genuine concern, it's more about the image of the person pandering. I don't feel that way about all politicians, I don't feel that way about our military veterans who become politicians or who have close loved ones in the military, but if you've never served yourself, and you want my vote based on your concern for veterans, you will receive extra scrutiny from me.
With that said, Trump had four chances to join the military back in the Vietnam era, but was deferred. During the fifth time, he was disqualified for bone spurs. Which heel? Dunno. Come this January, Trump skipped a debate that was moderated by Megyn Kelly and did his own event instead. It was touted as a fundraiser for veterans, but it took almost six months to distribute the cash and when he did, it wasn't the original six million dollars he touted and even though he said it took so much time because they had to vet the groups, the final list was still rather fishy. As Trump brought a group of veterans on stage and shook their hands, the crowd chanted "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"
So much energy, but for what? I'm glad to see that he was honoring vets by bringing them on stage to shake his hand. Bravo. However, he has no real plan to help veterans. He only talks about how they get treated worse than illegal immigrants: more divisive talk. It was mostly self serving. While they were up there, he criticized Fox News for not treating him well. He mentioned how he skipped their debate to do his own thing and now he raised over six million dollars for vets and not nothing but bad publicity for it. In my honest opinion, that is because as much as you like the criticize them, the media, both right and left, can smell bullshit from miles away. Once they left, he went on...
He was only six minutes into his stump speech when he criticized Hillary again:
"People are tired of the Hillary Clintons of the world, it's all talk, there's no action, it's Crooked Hillary, it's the same stuff and our country can't take another four years of Obama, that I can tell you." - Donald Trump, 05/27/2016
As he says this in my footage, you can hear the lady in my group yelling "Crooked Hillary!" Then he added this:
"I mean, just take a look at the T.S.A., take a look at what's going on with your airports, take a look at what's going on with our military that we love, we can't beat I.S.i.S. We're gonna beat I.S.I.S., we're gonna beat'em quickly, we're gonna knocked the hell out of them, we shouldn't have been there in the..." - Donald Trump, 05/27/2016
"Wait a second, did he just rag on the T.S.A.", I remember thinking as he was saying it, "The same people who just saved you from my potential vape smoke?" Wait a minute, now that I think of it... screw the T.S.A. for not allowing me to take my medication with me into the event, I will agree with Trump on that. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read my last blog.
As all of this was going through my head, CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond who was also inside, tweeted a picture of the crowd greeting Trump:
Packed house for @realDonaldTrump in San Diego: pic.twitter.com/j7RuhPsxSU
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) May 27, 2016
Without being specific, Trump began using a lot of buzzwords, even giving a shout out to one of the locals... more pandering:
"We're gonna rebuild OUR country. We're gonna rebuild OUR military. We're gonna take care of OUR needs, including our vets, and we're gonna bring it back folks, we're gonna bring it back... and we're gonna build the wall, we're gonna build the wall, we're gonna build the wall... we're gonna build it, and if we don't build it, we're gonna get Papa Doug to build it, he'll get it up, you know who Papa Doug is... he's your big guy in town folks, he's great!" - Donald Trump, 05/27/2016
People in my crowd were screaming "Build the Wall!" I couldn't believe how popular that was... While I was waiting for him to say something either really dumb or really racist, Jacob Rascon gave a pretty good idea of how many people outside were still waiting to get inside and see Trump. I like this video because as the camera moves northward, you can see the signs to each individual halls, giving you an idea of how big the building is and a little bit of the layout. You see Hall D, then C, then B and finally, A before it wraps around the building:
Time-lapse: Thousands of Trump supporters still in line for SD rally nearly five hours after doors opened. pic.twitter.com/fzcSpZAWV8
— Jacob Rascon (@Jacobnbc) May 27, 2016
Back inside, Donald Trump ejects his first protester. The crowd loved Trump's reaction. I didn't actually see who it was or what was said or done, seems like Trump didn't either. As the protester was being led out, he said:
"And somebody said by the way, 'Why are you going to San Diego, why are you going to California? You already won the primaries, you don't have to go!', and I said very simply, 'Cuz I said I was gonna go, I have to be here!' I love you! I love you!" - Donald Trump, 05/27/2016
Remember in part one when I talked about how Staff-Pro was working the event? I used to work for Staff-Pro. They are usually good security, but this time, because they were so far down the line of authority, they were pushovers. They'll tell you that you wont be able to bring your "Latinos for Trump" sign into the event, but once anyone above them saw it... well, let's just say that Trump praised that very sign twice in his speech by the ten minute mark while it waved with pride inside the Convention Center. This must have made the Staff-Pro members who spent all that time arguing with those same people over those signs, very discouraged. Trump then riled up the crowd when he began to trash the media:
"But of course, look at what we have today, mostly live cameras. Some of the most dishonest people in the Universe. Some of the worst people. Why don't you take those cameras and spin them around a little bit and show'em?" - Donald Trump, 05/27/2016
From my point of view, lots of middle fingers went up towards the media, which you can see in the video I took at the end of the blog. Looking back, it's kinda funny because the Republicans couldn't even rely on their own media to help dump Trump when they realized how much of a loose canon he was, because they were the ones who planted the very seed of "mainstream media bias" into everyone's head in the first place, so when Trump accused Fox News of the same thing, of course their audience ate it up! It's honestly not very genius, just bally. He then promised lots of "winning" and seemed pleased with how world leaders were reacting to his potential presidency:
"We don't win anymore. We're gonna start winning. We're gonna win with trade, we're gonna win with our military, we're gonna start winning. Now our President is right now... so I saw he's in Japan, in Hiroshima, and that's fine... Now he said today that our trading partners and countries that we have relations with, they're 'rattled'. They're rattled. And I said, 'Oh that's so good!'" - Donald Trump, 05/27/2016
No. It is not good. They're rattled because they're afraid you'll start a new age of nuclear winters, regional instability and economic warfare: That's not something to be proud of, I mean, you... reader... you like your peace, don't you?
Continuing to talk about immigration a member of my group began yelling, "Send them back!" Trump also talked about Obama in Hiroshima and the same member began to yell, "He's a crook!" He ironically wailed over Hillary's tone when she recently spoke, but then called her a boring speaker, which doesn't make sense if you follow Trump's selling philosophy, which reminds me of Billy Mays. He adheres to the loud crowd because it's attention grabbing. I get it, I once did it too:
"That she shouts into the microphone, and it drives everybody crazy!" - Donald Trump, 05/27/2016
I'm not gonna say that he's the only politician "selling his goods" this way, but I never read the face of a con-man like I read Trump's. It was like his mouth was an obvious front for the true intentions in his brain, which he would reveal the more he spoke.
"There are thousands of people outside who can't get in, ok? And it's not like, you know, Friday afternoon, you could have been doing something else I guess, right? But we have fun! Are these the greatest places, the Trump rallies, are they the greatest? And by the way, the safest place to be in this country is at a Trump rally, that I can tell you." - Donald Trump, 05/27/2016
At one point, he said that the room we were in represented love. Maybe it does during the summer, but when it's this heated in May, it doesn't feel so lovely. He soon paused again for another protester:
"They found a protester! Thank you protester! Thank you protester! Thank you. Get'em out! Get'em out! Get him the hell outta here! It's always funny, you can never... usually they're singles, you know the mom kicked him outta the house for the week, but usually they're singles. And you can never hear'em, but what you hear is my people going 'Get'em out!' My people make so much noise!" - Donald Trump, 05/27/2016
He praises Bernie for the damage he did to Hillary, despite a rigged system, before moving on to what he seemed to really want to talk about:
"I end up with a lawsuit and it ends up in San Diego in federal court, and it's a disgrace the way the federal court is acting, because it's a simple lawsuit, everybody that took the so called courses... Trump University is in San Diego, and the trial, they wanted it to start while I'm running for President, the trial is gonna take place sometime in November, there should be no trial. This should have been dismissed on summary judgement, easily. Everybody says it, but I have a judge who is a hater of Donald Trump, a hater. He's a hater. His name is Gonzalo Curia and he is not doing the right thing, and I figure, what the hell. Why not talk about it for two minutes. Should I talk about it?" - Donald Trump, 05/27/2016
Trump goes on to explain how even though he believes the case should have been thrown out on summary judgement, this judge is letting it go to trial because:
"So what happens is, the judge, who happens to be, we believe, Mexican, which is great, I think that's fine - You know what? I think the Mexicans are gonna end up loving Donald Trump when I give all these jobs, OK? I think they're gonna end up, I think they're gonna love me!" - Donald Trump, 05/27/2016
He talks about a woman, who he names, who rated Trump University "all fives!" and how he gets into the legality of shit by talking about how this woman wanted her money back, but left the case, so they tried to get the case dropped, but it was a class action lawsuit, so it's going on and he talked about another dude who they ran ads against him over and how even though all this money on negative ads were spent against him, he still won and...
Sorry, I dozed off while writing about a billionaire's first world problems. Also, that was some racist shit I heard: Trump actually said he thought his "hater of Donald Trump" was believed to be "Mexican" and thus unfit to rule in court. Really, he said that, and then doubled down the next few days, giving him terrible weeks of publicity as a racist. If his views on Mexico's people didn't pool the idea, the ban on Muslims solidified the idea and this further hardened it. He came to what used to be Mexico and railed against a man for being Mexican when in reality, judge was born in Indiana, making him an American. Trump is a racist. Meanwhile, the first major incident outside seems to have happened around 2:54 pm. Protesters and Police had a short clash. Jacob Rascon was one of the first tweet it out:
Watch: Protesters outside Trump rally start to attack SD police officers, who hit back. pic.twitter.com/4bSZHVQAck
— Jacob Rascon (@Jacobnbc) May 27, 2016
Well that was a big mistake. Those officers used their BATONS to stop a couple of unarmed people from climbing up a wall with cameras all around? Let us pause for a second and consider whether or not this will matter down the line... Spoiler alert: It doesn't matter if you're scared. You are a police officer, tasked with a job you knew was dangerous from start. To simply unleash your "fuck it, let's beat'em" attitude on anybody during this time, with cameras everywhere... then again, you don't give a weapon to a police officer without intending to use it. Let's be glad they were wooden batons and not anything more lethal. Also, let us pause to acknowledge that this is the moment during the day when things began to get too heated to keep the crowd cool, and let us acknowledge that it was the videos of this incident that quickly spread, and could have actually made things harder for the police overall, because the public, who was out there on both sides, now had immediate video proof of how little fucks the local police gave about their fellow citizens. Fear isn't a good enough explanation for taking up an inherently dangerous job, sorry, not sorry: You're beating unarmed people and expect nothing to happen once that starts? If I wasn't a conspiracy theist, I would say this was all set up from the start or some sort of nonsense. The scariest part for me is that I'm not making this up. About a minute later, I took my last picture of Trump:
ABC reporter Candace Smith was covering one of the protest groups making their way downtown so she wasn't there when the first clash happened:
Lots of organizing groups out here, including Union Del Barrio, a labor and human rights advocacy org pic.twitter.com/9BPfraVlyq
— Candace Smith (@CandaceSmith_) May 27, 2016
Jeremy Diamond estimated the crowd of protesters to be about 300. He mentions that its been mostly calm:
The scene outside Trump's rally: Approx 300 protesters. At least 100 police officers. Some clashes, but mostly calm pic.twitter.com/OXfgBKRW6h
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) May 27, 2016
Yet that first clash seemed to have kicked off a new level of anger and aggression as SWAT officers soon began to arrive and line up. The anger in the crowd seemed to grow in response and protesters began yelling at officers face to face. Now things were beginning to go down outside. While one angry protester was seen yelling at an officer, the officer next to him was lucky to have Nwadike Jr in front of him. In what might have been the final calm before the storm, the officer asked Nwadike Jr how many hugs he had so far received, "Maybe, twenty so far". Nwadike Jr then went on to explain the differences between getting hugs at Trump rallies vs hugs at Bernie rallies, "Like night and day". This made the officer chuckle as he responded, "It's hot man, it's just hot". He was talking about the atmosphere: There was a lot of anger around...
Inside, Trump continued to spew his game:
"And they're saying, 'Donald Trump is having a hard time bringing the Republican Party together, why don't they say I won the nomination?" - Donald Trump, 5/27/2016
Around 3:09pm, Candace Smith arrived downtown and learned of the incident. She reported it like so:
Protester tried to jump over barricade, police beat him with baton to get him down. #SanDiegorally
— Candace Smith (@CandaceSmith_) May 27, 2016
As Trump began to wrap up his speech, another protester was ejected. He ignored it, but as the man was taken past me, my crowd started yelling, "Get him out of here!" and "Get a job, Bernie!"
"We're gonna win so much, that you people are gonna be calling your President and you're gonna say, 'Please Mr. President! We don't wanna win anymore, we are winning too much! You're driving me crazy!' and I'm gonna say, 'I am very sorry, but we're gonna keep winning, and we're gonna win, win, win, and we're gonna make America great again!'"
With that, he finished his speech and began to greet people at the front of the crowds - the V.I.Ps.
Tomorrow will be the final part where I talk about the end and any final thoughts. Stay tuned.
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