Surreal Scenes from the Canceled Chicago Trump Rally

In the hour or so before the dramatic announcement that Donald Trump would not appear at his rally in Chicago, there was simmering racial tension in the crowd, which I observed from a section at the UIC Arena with a good vantage of the stage. At this juncture, it never seemed to boil over into violence. Nonetheless, any emphatic protest at this point felt like bad strategy. If you knew that you were going to be kicked out and might face physical retaliation, why shoot your wad before the main event?

If you think of the arena as a basketball court, Trump’s stage was behind one basket. The television cameras had a riser at about midcourt, the media pen was right behind it, its view of the stage 100% obstructed. Behind the other basket was the pocket of protesters. Drama would flair up every few minutes, the crowd would rise to gawk at it, and security received chants and applause. Still, it basically never escalated, and there was no hint that the cancellation could be coming.

The announcement up-top came over the loudspeaker. It felt like it was out of a novel.

"As president of the United States, Mr. Trump will continue his lifelong defense of the right of free speech in America. As a matter of fact, Mr. Trump supports the first amendment just as much as he supports the second amendment. However, some people have taken advantage of Mr. Trump’s hospitality, by choosing to disrupt his rallies by using them as an opportunity to promote their own political messages. While they certainly have the right to free speech, this is a private event paid for by Mr. Trump. When a protester starts protesting in the area around you, please do not touch or harm the protester. This is a peaceful rally. In order to inform the law enforcement officers of the location of the protester, please hold a rally sign over your head and start chanting TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP."

When my friend Jim, a former CNN cameraman who was once on the Reagan beat for a year (and whose Facebook videos and photos appear in this post), and I arrived around 4 p.m., it felt like the crowd was about 85-90% white. It gradually became less and less so, and word was making it through the crowd that there was a tempest of protesters outside.

It’s hard to say when, but it eventually became pretty clear a) that the “excuse me” technique that magically shuts up his debate opponents would not work in this building, and b) if and when it got ugly there were not enough cops and security to contain what in the worst case scenario had the potential to become riots.

It nevertheless was a complete surprise to all parties when the meek-looking guy came onstage and announced the evening was kaput:

This video doesn’t totally capture it, but the simultaneous exultation and despondence in the crowd was surreal and palpable. Imagine taking the day off of work—if you have work—and driving from who-knows-where, and then being denied the chance to see your hero speak. And then to have it thrown in your faces by them, in your own building. (There was also a fair share of student-age protesters who were white, but were not as conspicuous on one’s radar as standing out.)

The chanting was unrelenting. BER-NIE. NOT IN CHICAGO, NOT IN CHICAGO. In the arena and in the blocks surrounding it, Trump supporters were harangued with accusations of being white supremacists, and sang at in a walk of shame:

There were a couple videos of punches exchanged that were replayed hundreds of times in the news this weekend, but that wasn’t indicative of at least what I observed. I saw just one altercation where punches were thrown, but it was way less physically contentious than it could have been, given the circumstances.

One of the reasons that this did not turn more violent than the couple scrums we saw on television was that Trump supporters showed strong restraint for how much they were being taunted. This happened for a variety of reasons. They became severely outnumbered. There was no alcohol sold at the event. But, more than anything, they were too shellshocked to be irate about it. Nobody saw this coming.

At one point, three young men revealed shirts that said “Muslims United Against Trump,” and called attention to themselves. They were roundly jeered immediately, and when it was brought up that they would’ve had more of an impact if they’d waited until Trump arrived, the guy in front of us had no scruples about joking something along the lines of “Those must be extremist Muslims from Indiana who are too stupid to know it’s not the Eastern Time Zone here.”

On one hand, the protesters succeeded in setting a precedent that if they organize enough people together that they can stop Trump’s rallies. This is no small feat. On the other, Trump can still command the news cycle however he pleases. This event only ratcheted up publicity for him, which didn’t even seem possible. This is the exact type of circumstance he thrives on. The disenfranchised whites become more resolute.

But I also can’t claim to know what his opposers should do. The Republican Party sure has no idea. If anyone is less thrilled about Trump than the minorities he shamelessly scapegoats, it’s the Republican establishment, whose money and influence have been rendered obsolete by a reality show name-caller with almost no substantive policy.

Again: What are you supposed to do if you’re also facing major obstacles in the age of the deteriorating American Dream, and Trump is rousing up dangerous-seeming populist support against your race, religion, and/or ethnicity? His casualness in doing this and the rabid responses from some of his followers are downright scary.

What can we do to make this go away?

The Trump campaign has not just been impervious to what should be gaffes, it gains momentum with them. But, the decision to stage this rally where they did—inside Chicago, on a college campus—could have lasting consequences if cancellations keep happening. Without benefit of hindsight, it would have been more advantageous for Trump to hold this event at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, which is no less logistically convenient for his supporters who came from out of town by car—which had to have been a majority of them—and practically a world a way from the early twenty-something dissenters. Their numbers would’ve been at least halved out in the suburbs.

It’s relatively consensus now that there is going to be serious bodily injury or maybe even death at one of these rallies soon. They show no signs of getting less ugly. Even for those who are apathetic about politics, it’s such a spectacle that you can’t look away. America is at a real crossroads, and it’s alternately fascinating and horrifying right now to see what might come next.