So, I did it. I went to a Donald Trump rally today. Because if you are an aspiring journalist and the presumptive Republican nominee for 2016 comes to a town of 13,000 people 15 miles from your house – you go.
Similarly, if you are a registered republican citizen anywhere within a five hour driving radius of Lynden Washington – you rally. And if you are a young angry liberal whose arch nemesis dares set foot on your turf – you protest.
And so we went. And there we were. Lined up on Kok Rd. Five miles south of the Canadian border. Supporters on one side, protesters on another. Separated by armed police and flooded by media looking for signs of trouble. Because that’s what we do – we divide.
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People keep asking me things like “But how did it go?” and “How are you ever going to cover a topic like that?”
I have to admit, it’s easier for me than most people. I was born conservative, schooled liberal, and chose to become part of the media. I see the glories and the evils in all three sides, and it tears me apart to see them at each other’s throats.
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There was a time when American citizens didn’t need to be separated by two lanes of flowing traffic and 20 men with guns. There was a time when neighbors could discuss politics without having to result to oh-so-clever insults like “You F***ing racist!” and “Get a job asshole”.
There was a time when the media were commentators of our culture and documenters of our history, not cheering side liners of a drunken bar fight, aggressively forcing the two sides to show off for the camera.
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To be honest, I didn’t mind my day spent in a crowd of 5,000 Trump supporters. Just as I don’t mind my afternoons spent in a classroom of liberal college students.
There was something about their raw honesty and frankness which was refreshing. There were no attempts to hipster one-up each other, every person was equal and all information was accepted as valid and interesting.
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I have been assured by my friends and by Twitter that there was all kinds of craziness going on outside. And I’m sure there was. But that’s because they were out there with the crazies, not inside with the reasonably passionate and honestly curious like myself and my neighbors. You can find crazy wherever you look for it – and the media certainly knows how to look for it.
I had been conditioned to expect riots and open brawls erupting everywhere I turned. But there was none of that. Just a patient crowd waiting calmly for the arrival of Donald Trump, their unlikely savior.
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Watching Donald Trump take the stage was something like an out of body experience for me. Even now, 12 hours later, I still cannot comprehend that I sat in those stands and listen to the most divisive voice in America today regale me over the loud speaker. The breathtaking view of Mt Baker and plumes of smoke from wildfires raising into the sky added a majestic and vaguely apocalyptic air.
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Possibly the most appalling aspect of the whole day was how unappalled I was. Even the most absurd comments (“We’re gonna build a wall, it’s going to be a beautiful wall), even the most racist comments (Elizabeth Warren claims to be of “Native American” heritage just because her mother had high cheekbones) were so common place that I debated whether or not they were worth tweeting.
But certainly the most appalling aspect of the afternoon was walking out of the stands and being instantly confronted by bright sunlight, screaming protesters, and stern faced cops. The moment dissolved into chaos in my mind. Both sides yelled obscenities at each other as police from the entire Puget Sound area firmly maintained the street-wide divide between them. In one afternoon, the visit of a first time politician divided a county firmly into an “us” and a “them”, and it will destroy us.
It is not the walls of Trump’s imaginings which we should be afraid of, but the walls which we build around ourselves every day.
Kesia Lee 
Great impartial article! I am a Trump fan too. I blame current admin for divisiveness, and mainstream media for fueling the uninformed hateful protestors. The furry of anti-Trumpsters needs serious examination. The corruption of career politicians should scare the hell out of us &
Our option is clear!
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Rick – I’m glad that my opinions came off impartial and honest enough for you to agree and understand, I am however not a Trump supporter. I understand and sympathize with individual supporters like yourself, but I do not think that a Trump presidency is the way to solve our deeply ingrained political divide.
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Well written and thoughtful Kesia. I thought your insights into the media “You can find crazy wherever you look for it – and the media certainly knows how to look for it” were very transparent. I also enjoyed the fact that you actually went in to the rally and listened to what was said. I feel like all I ever get to see on the news are short, carefully edited clips, with very little genuine insight and honest reporting. I look forward to reading more of your writing as your journalistic career progresses.
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Well articulated, Ms. Lee. Write on!
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I enjoyed your writing, too, Kesia. Keep it up! We need voices like yours!
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I don’t see Mr. Trump as the one who divided America … your president has been working aggressively on getting that done for almost 8 years (as president) … and has almost succeeded … it is my hope that America will be great again!
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Thanks Kesia,
made my day!
The picture you drew reminds me in some ways of the german wall.
A nation divided… that is something which will destroy, if you do not rise up and tare that wall down! ‘
Ina
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I really enjoyed your story. It was well written and thoughtful, overall.
What it was missing, IMO, were interviews of supporters and protesters. Yes, you have a conservative background and are currently immersed in a liberal school and career field, but your conservative roots are Christian and both liberal and conservatives that you’ve been exposed to are dominated by the middle and upper classes. The Trump phenomenon isn’t as much conservative or liberal as it is working class and nationalist. Trumps strongest pull is with those who don’t attend church regularly. Your background doesn’t offer much understanding of or many tools to deal with his demographic.
This is most obvious in how you claimed to see blatant racism in the Elizabeth Warren comment. Knowing nothing of the background, I would question whether you truly saw racism based on your example, or just saw working class humor and didn’t get it. Elizabeth Warren is a fraud who claimed to be Native American when she wasn’t, similar to how Obama’s publicist for his speaking engagements in his pre-presidential campaign days claimed that he was born in Kenya when he wasn’t. Working class people see privileged people making false claims about “diversity” to gain social and financial capital with no repercussions, while the same privileged people call folks with actual black and Hispanic friends and family members racist. It’s sick, and it breeds a deep resentment among the working class. Were they serious or making fun of her? What was their motivation? It doesn’t smell right to me. It smells like someone who doesn’t understand the people making such a comment reading into their motives.
The claim of racism is a very serious charge: an extraordinary charge that crosses the line into serious libel if you misunderstand people. One should be prepared to back it up with convincing evidence. Knowing nothing about the people or the context, I find the example you gave lacked the nuance and understanding necessary to back up the charge.
Honestly, though, after writing a much longer comment, I did a little googling and found that Elizabeth Warren herself was the origin of the “high cheekbones” claim as a justification for why her family thought they had Native American ancestry. Are you claiming Warren is a racist for looking at facial features in her family to justify the family lore about her native ancestry?
“Warren has never attempted to join a tribe and had no documentation of her Native ancestry claim before the controversy broke, Harney told William A. Jacobson, a Cornell Law School professor, in late April. Instead, Warren has cited the sayings of her Aunt Bea, who was given to complaining that Warren’s maternal grandfather who “had high cheekbones like all of the Indians do” had not passed them on to her.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/is-elizabeth-warren-native-american-or-what/257415/
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2012/05/17/the-vetting-barack-obama-literary-agent-1991-born-in-kenya-raised-indonesia-hawaii/
Overall, it was a good article, but I would be much more careful if I were you with the racism charge. Making false claims about people only fuels the Trump fans’ belief that the media is biased and hates them personally. It isn’t Trump fans crashing Bernie and Hillary rallies yelling obscenities and threats, yet they get blamed for the violence in the mainstream media as racist provacateurs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAVT1fZHl_4
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Thank you for an honest, insightful articlr
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