scary shooting

Trump arrives

I attended the Trump rally at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City last night. I sat in on only 15 or 20 minutes of the scary craziness inside; honestly, I was getting too upset to stay much longer. The way he riles up his audience is quite skillful and deliberate. The crowd was on its feet chanting and cheering, making it hard for anything much to be said. After the fourth time Trump demanded that a protester be removed (and the crowd was basically calling for blood at that point), I had to leave. And there were two young children sitting in front of me. The messages they were hearing and the behavior they were seeing? As I said: scary.

Most of the pictures I took were in front of the venue. The police had divided the two political camps: Trump supporters were on the west side of the street, while the protestors were on the east side. The police, some on horseback, attempted to keep the sea apart by lining up in the middle of the street. Each time the protestors stepped off the curb, the police called out. At one point, several stepped into the street, and the police sprayed mace in their faces.

I stayed the course and spent a couple hours shooting.

I was trembling when I left.

Here's a video I shot of the police pepper-spraying protestors who stepped into the street:

Here's a video I shot of protestors following police orders: