President Donald Trump held a rally in Phoenix on August 22, just before Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, and three students at Perry High School in Gilbert, Arizona, were photographed at the rally by KTAR News, whose reporters posted the photo on Twitter. The students, upon returning to their high school, were interviewed by the staff at The Precedent.
Young supporters of President Trump wait in line to attend the #PhoenixRally at the Phoenix Convention Center. pic.twitter.com/MzCEOse7xg
— KTAR News (@KTAR923) August 23, 2017
Believe it or not, most of the comments the three heard at the rally and have heard since that day do not concern their outfits. Rather, they fielded comments about Mr Trump himself and how he has promoted the views of white supremacists at his rallies and from the Oval Office.
“A lot of people think that because I went to support Trump as the president that I am Trump, or they think I’m a racist and call me all these other things,” the student newspaper quoted one of the three as saying. “There was a lot of people that were attacking us saying that, ‘This is where our society is going,’ because we look like the next generation.”
According to the report, the boys have brushed off the hateful comments posted in reply to the news station’s tweet, and they expressed concern that they have been prejudged. People “know nothing about me, and those people looked far enough to attack my personal profile where there was a picture of me doing a humanitarian project. And that’s sad,” one was quoted as saying.
He added that he believes he would respectfully support whoever the president was and wishes others shared that mentality.
The entire rally in Phoenix was posted on YouTube, but the video is no longer available.
Police were forced to use tear gas on the crowds after the rally because of protests and counter-protests that erupted in violence, the New York Times reports.
“The handling by the police of this peaceful protest was reprehensible,” the paper quoted Jordan Lauterbach, 31, a bartender who drove from Flagstaff to join in the demonstrations against Mr Trump, as saying. “I was gassed tonight for exercising my right to express my views. I was disgusted by that.”
Lots of that kind of thing going around these past 200 days!
