An account of my Donald Trump town hall experience

Although I’m definitely not a Donald Trump supporter (I’d classify myself as a somewhat “Never Trump” Republican), my love and passion for all things involving politics brought me to the Sean Hannity town hall at Soldiers and Sailors.

Contrary to popular belief, some people attended it not because they are “stupid” (as one of the protestors signs said about those waiting on line), but the opposite – they wanted to educate themselves on other people’s opinions and become more well informed.

Anyway, after seeing numerous Facebook events about “silencing Trump” in Pittsburgh, I had no idea what to expect when it came to the protesting. This was how my day went:

It all began around 11am, which was the calm before the storm (or protesters).

Some of the earliest people on line included a group of elderly Trump supporters decked out in red, white, and blue. This woman (and the two others) interrupted Trump’s other supporters and protestors hateful speak by singing “My Country Tis of Thee”.

Some protesters reacted negatively to these older supporters.

“You are old. White people die early!” and “You’re about to pass out!” were some selected quotes from this woman who was making fun of elderly supporters, including one with an oxygen tank. Ironically, when somebody tried to have a conversation with the man later, he mentioned how they “don’t preach hate” (insert confused emoji with hand on it’s chin here).

But just like the majority of Trump supporters didn’t behave badly, the majority of protesters silently and respectfully protested while getting their points across in a much better way.

Many protestors and supporters put aside their differences to have some conversations with each other.

An interesting debate happened between the earlier elderly bashers and a steel worker about women’s rights and immigration. This time it stayed pretty clean.

Finally, after over four hours of waiting, we got into the event.

As we got in, the Hannity Show’s representatives warned the crowd that this was not live – any protesters would not only be kicked out, but edited out of the show. Still, there was a man with a Soviet Union flag kicked out, and also a group of students who (in the middle of somebody speaking) yelled “F*ck Trump!” and ran out.  Not sure if they accomplished anything, but to each their own.

After an hour, the show was over, and the crowd cleared out.  People were waiting outside selling shirts, including this one, which seemed to be popular. 

All and all, this Town Hall did not change my opinion on Trump – I didn’t leave hating him any more or any less.  But, I did leave with the experience of seeing a presidential candidate speak in person and being able to observe how those around me with different opinions interacted with each other.

Here’s the full Sean Hannity interview if anybody wants to hear Donald Trump’s usual schpiel.