=============================
LOL! I saw a few guys with that shirt on last evening.
It was a pretty amazing rally. Having attended the one in Sarasota on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I noticed a few things that were different about this one.
The first being, is that as much as Trump has been "at ease" with the crowds from the beginning, he is getting more and more comfortable as the months march along. This rally was so much more "interactive" than the Sarasota one, he was basically having a conversation with large segments of the crowd as he continued along with his remarks. And he also took a lot more time to turn around and acknowledge the crowds behind him. (My backside wishes that we took seats over on that side that were available when we got into the arena at around 5:30PM, rather than the rock hard bleacher seats higher up on the side directly facing the podium!)
We also noticed that the crowd was much more diverse than Sarasota. Of course, being on the USF campus certainly accounted for the large number of college kids, but what amazed me about the college kids was this:
1. They weren't all white bread kids, the place was filled with Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics students as well.
2. They were actually "in to" the event. As we sat for a long time before it began, I wondered how many of them were just there for the "spectacle" of it... watching them obsess with their phones and taking selfies, etc. made me curious to see how they would react once Trump took the stage. Well, we were surprised! They listened attentively to what was being said, and stood and cheered and waved their signs as much as the older folks in the crowd.
Yes, we saw them all. From the young Hispanic family to our left, whose Mom and young daughter had to keep climbing over us to pose for pictures with the Mom from Alabama that had a big colorful poster reading: "Women & Kids for Trump!" To the quiet white-haired vet on my right that told me the only other time he had seen a politician in person was back when he was stationed at Aviano AFB in Italy, and First Lady HRC flew in with Chelsea in tow for a photo op.
We saw the two guys waving their home-made signs: "Gay Men for Trump." And the four young men that arrived at the base of the stairs leading in to Gate A wearing hats and shirts emblazoned with: "Muslims for Trump," were greeted warmly by the crowd with many going up to shake hands and take pictures with them. We also spent a fair amount of time chatting with the family of 5 that drove down from Kentucky to take in the rally, while we waited in line (thank God it was a beautiful sunny, if a bit chilly, day yesterday). Yes, they were all there, from the young women with small shorts that seemed to be painted onto to their bodies to the older men in business suits that just had "politico" written all over their faces.
The final point of difference that I noted was that Trump waited for the place to fill up before coming on stage. We sat and watched for an extra 40 minutes as people kept streaming in to finally fill it up to rafters. I had to get up and walk around a bit and at one point was standing near a door that opened into the arena from a stairway, it was funny because as each group came through the doorway, without fail someone uttered a very distinct "WOW!!" as they saw the sight in front of them. At first the Sentries were trying to prevent people from standing against the railings and in the stairwells, but they gave up on that after awhile and were just using their authority to keep an open walk way at all points. It seemed to be filled above capacity to me.
Again we lucked out (well maybe cutting the line in front of the group of kids that were taking a bunch of selfies may have helped! lol), arrived at the parking lot about 2 hours before the start and were able to get in and find decent seats. The folks that were down on the floor right in front of the podium had apparently started lining up at
7AM for their coveted places!
A few phone pics from Mrs. Katz:
There are a bunch of good photos at that link longiron posted above:
http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/02/12/pictures-of-yuge-donald-trump-tampa-rally-usf-sun-dome/
