I talked to Trump supporters and protesters at his Pittsburgh rally

The Trump interview in Soldiers and Sailors caused many cancellations for my Wednesday classes. So I thought I should compensate by educating myself on the question that has been, seriously, making me lose sleep at night: How does anyone still support Trump?

With so many supporters in my city, I figured it was time to see just how cruel, uneducated, and fascist these mythical Trump supporters really are.

I literally went down the line and picked out the most decorated people I could find and asked, “Why do you support Trump?” The answers typically consisted of the obvious: “He’s honest”, “He’s got balls”, “He’s not a politician” or “He’s our last hope.” But of course, I did not let people off that easy.

I pressed each person asking, “What about the times he has been caught in a lie?” Most would blame the liberal media. Then I would ask, “How is his business experience going to help anywhere other than the economy?” and many would respond with, “He knows how to run a business, he can run a country.” To sum up my further inquiries they were met with very unspecific replies, as is to be assumed.

Another not surprising answer were the anti-gay responses. One man literally said, “They should all try going to Iran, where gays get killed.” Not making this up people! Another person also said “The protesters should be taken out to the woodshed.” For those of you that are too young to understand this reference, it means they should be thoroughly beaten.

Of course, not all responses were totally harsh. Some said they could care less about protesters they are just here for Trump, and that Trump cares about the middle class. Many people thanked me for not heckling them while others assumed the question “Why do you support Trump?” was insulting.

One man in particular responded saying, “Why aren’t you? All of you idiot college students all want free handouts, and don’t know what it’s like to have a real job. Leave!” I tried to respond, however, he just yelled louder for me to leave. After so long, I did.

I shifted my focus to the protesters, and began to ask questions about each sign. One said, “I’m Trans, and I am Fucking Terrified!”, so I asked what has Trump done to make Trans people in particular worried. Their response mirrored all of the other signs that discussed Trump’s homophobic nature stating, “The people who support Trump terrify me.” With the responses from the supporters, this fear is sadly far from unwarranted.

A majority of the protesters were speaking out against Trump’s responses to Muslims. This population had thorough answers with quotes prepared to explain Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric. Whenever questioning the crowd on Trump’s ban on Muslims people responded very harshly saying, “Muslim refugees are not our problem. We did not choose their violent religion.” Most educated people understand that the Muslim religion is not violent, but ISIS is. I responded with this statement, and they told me to leave.

Majority of the crowd showed they were uneducated on Trump’s policies, and one didn’t even know who Bernie Sanders is. Interestingly enough the most common response to my big question was, “I am here for the show.” One man went a step further saying he’s voting for Trump, because he can have The Apprentice 365 days a year for free.

I can, honestly, say that ALL of my prejudices of uneducated Trump supporters were confirmed. A few non-radical supporters gave me some hope, but racism, homophobia, and ignorance prevailed. A protester explained her theory stating, “None of these people care about Republican, and Democrat, but instead, they are voting for Trump in protest of the current political system.”

This would explain a lot about the ignorance on policy, and other candidates, and could be something I could get behind as well. However, this idea came from a protester’s mouth and not from any of the dozens of Trump supporters that had been given more than enough chances to speak.

Overall, everyone was proud of the conversations this election cycle has brought to the forefront. Perhaps, after this is all over nothing will change, but everyone I spoke to today refuses to come to terms with this concept. Trump, Hillary, and Bernie demand change, and I truly believe that after hearing from both sides of the spectrum today this election could be the reason America sees the reform it needs to (hate to say it) “Make America Great Again.”

Photo taken by Morgan Intrieri