Gay Latino Trump Supporter: So I Tried to Exercise My Freedom of Assembly. I Got My Nose Broken By Bands of Roving Thugs as Police Sat On Their Hands and Silently Cheered.

Those who are so aghast at Trump's less reputable supporters -- who want to deny those supporters the empowerment that they'd feel if their boy wins the White House -- don't seem to have similar feelings towards the rioters and thugs the Democrats unleash to make ordinary Americans afraid and fugitives in their own country.

My trouble began once the rally was over.

My friend and I joined a crowd of Trump supporters who had all left the convention center around the same time. The garage where we had parked our car was right next to the building, but police were directing everyone around the block to another garage entrance instead. The farther we walked, the fewer Trump fans were with us -- people began peeling off to go to restaurants or bars in the area, or to other garages nearby.

And suddenly, there were protesters everywhere.

By the way, I doubt this guy said "protesters." I think the Washington Post forced him to use that word.

Some were holding Mexican flags, or burning American ones. They were yelling "F-- Trump!" at us and cornering us. Some of them started grabbing Trump supporters -- they were going up and slugging people, sucker-punching people, just picking random people out. As much as we wanted to help, because our fellow Republicans were getting hit, I knew any moment that could be me. So my friend and I just kept walking -- sometimes, we'd be running. We saw police standing nearby, but they didn't do anything. That scared me, because I thought, "Okay, if I'm next, there’s going to be no cops."

About a block from the garage entrance, we turned down the street and found a line of protesters standing in our way. To get back to our car, we’d have to go through them. My friend and I were wearing "Make America Great Again" Trump hats. We were targets, and I was terrified. I could feel it coming -- they would look at me and start walking up to me.

Before we could make it into the garage, four or five men surrounded me, and another four surrounded my friend. They just started swinging. We swung back as best as we could. My main thing was I didn’t want to fall; I didn't want to be knocked down. I'm not a big guy, but I can defend myself as best I can if it's one on one -- but not when they have so much anger against us.

One of the blows caught my nose, and blood just started pouring out. That kind of stunned them, and they backed off a quick second. My adrenaline kicked in; I felt punches on my head, and I felt the punch that hit my nose, but I was in survival mode by then, and I didn't realize until later how much it hurt. I called my friend, "Okay, let's go!"

We ran into the parking garage, and we thought we were safe, but there were another few dozen protesters there, too. We got in our car and headed toward the exit. Some protesters jumped on the cars in front of us, but we eventually made it out. My friend drove me to the emergency room because my nose was pouring blood. I had a broken nose, and because I was covered with scratches, I had to get a tetanus shot, too. It took a lot out of me, much more than I realized at first; my headaches and soreness didn’t start to go away until a week later.

I still can't believe how poorly the police handled the protests. I live by Levi's Stadium, where the Super Bowl was. They had every single cop out there. Yet knowing the violence that's been breaking out near Trump rallies, San Jose wasn’t prepared for it last week? So the Los Angeles chapter of Log Cabin Republicans held a news conference back in San Jose on Wednesday, to get some answers from the city’s mayor, Sam Liccardo, and its police department about why they let me and other people get attacked and only made a few arrests.

The whole thing made me angry. Here in Northern California, I feel like I’m a unicorn: I'm a gay Hispanic who’s a Republican. It was much harder to come out as a Trump supporter than it was to come out as gay -- the minute you say you're for Trump, everyone comes at you -- but this has pushed me out of the closet about it completely.

I should be able to vote for whom I want, and I shouldn't have to deal with violence to go hear my candidate speak.

Bad people are going to be "empowered" and "emboldened" by whichever candidate wins this election.

I find it strange that some people focus on the "assaults" committed on Twitter and ignore the assaults that occur in real life.

It must be nice, living in a world where your encounters with the bad element are limited to menancing tweets.

Meanwhile, on the streets of America, people are being hunted and jacked by roving thugs for the Occupy Army.

No seriously -- Trump's uglier supporters pop up in virtually every conversation I have with NeverTrumpers. They recount their encounters with the enemy with the breathless intensity of a Vietnam vet having a flashback to the Tet Offensive.

And yet when someone brings up actual violent gangs brutalizing people in the streets for their political views, they sort of shrug and say "Yeah that's bad too, I guess."

But whatever -- people have principles to maintain, I'm told.

posted by Ace at 02:48 PM

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