Portland State students supporting Donald Trump for U.S. President attempted to host their first planning meeting tonight. Instead, Trump supporters found themselves in the midst of protesters holding banners from various groups representing students of color and movements like 15 Now and Disarm PSU.
The meeting escalated after about 40 minutes to shouting, interruptions, name-calling and threats. Threats came mostly from some of the students protesting against the Trump organizers.
“Every single Trump supporter has a full legal name attached to a social security number with a place of residence, [and] an employer…that information is easy to find online,” said one protester. The same protester jumped on a table and was in a near-fight with Students for Trump organizer Stephen Johnston after being called an “Anti-faggot.”
At one point, a small group of protesters shoved two of the student Trump supporters as they tried to walk through the crowd. A protester grabbed a pro-Trump “Make America Great Again” hat off a supporter’s head and tossed it across the room.
Protesters took over the attempted meeting using the mic check method—mostly instigated by PSU Student Union organizers Olivia Pace and Alyssa Pagan. After a short time, protesters held the floor and organized a speakers list, while Trump supporters sat at a table in the center of the Smith Memorial Student Union cafeteria.
After an hour and a half, most of the Trump supporters had left the original meeting table and moved to several heated discussions off to the side of the cafeteria. Protesters followed the Trump supporters back and forth across the cafeteria for about two hours.
One anti-Trump student tried to shake hands with a man wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat. He refused and said “No, I can’t. We’re enemies.” He gestured using air quotes on the word enemies.
PSU Students for Donald Trump organizer Volodymyr Kolychev said he expected the meeting to be protested, suggesting that he and fellow organizer Johnston had hoped this would happen.
“This was just bait,” Kolychev said. He went on to say he had hoped to garner attention and shed light on student protesters and their tactics that he disagrees with.
When asked if any if any of the protests or stories he heard this evening had any effect on his views, Kolychev said, “Are you asking if I still support Trump? More so.”
In the end, Kolychev and Johnston had a sign-up sheet with 22 Trump supporters, while the total number of protesters peaked at about 45.
Watch for the Vanguard’s extended coverage of the protests and future plans for PSU Students for Donald Trump.
Some of those using intimidation and harassment tactics included Leila Forbes (candidate for ASPSU President) and Phoenix Singer (write in candidate for Senate), both of whom have a history of intolerance of differing opinions. Is this what we want at PSU?
Oh, are you talking about two of the people who are getting rape threats, harassing sexist emails, and intimidating Facebook messages, and who are being targeted for doxxing on white supremacist web forums? Is *that* what we want at PSU?
People who threaten violence and public release of others’ private information receive the same. How fitting.
I’m dumbfounded reading this article:
I just want to remind everyone what one of the people protesting the Trump meeting said:
““Every single Trump supporter has a full legal name attached to a social security number with a place of residence, [and] an employer…that information is easy to find online,” said one protester. ”
That person is literally – and I mean LITERALLY – employing 1930s brown-shirt-Germany tactics here. They might as well have said “we know who you are, who you want to vote for, and we know how to find you.”
Did Melissa Click make a guest appearance there?
If Campus Security was called, did they respond?
Could you imagine if students interrupted PSUSU meetings like this?
Pretty shameful. Even if you don’t agree with people, you shouldn’t threaten them and break their stuff. Who does this???
We can see that the Vanguard certainly isn’t the neutral party that it claims to be, as evidenced by the headline and the obviously biased reporting.
Do you not believe that Trump supporters should have the freedom to associate, and that they should have a safe space to talk about their thoughts and feelings? What would your reporting be if this was a pro-Sanders meeting that was invaded by KKK members who intimidated the speakers?
But it wasn’t a Bernie meeting. This type of behavior was blatantly showing the authoritative tendencies of the PSUSU. Just look at their logo, it’s a socialist insignia. If anything is biased, the Student Union is, which is supposed to be supportive of all students. Is this the image that PSU wants to portray for high school grads looking for inclusive school?
Look at the videos again and see who is yelling, threatening to destroy possessions, and disregarding views strictly because of the color and opinion of the Trump supporters’ skins.
Vanguard is only reporting what happened. The PSUSU wasn’t invited to crash the meeting, but instead took over a civil discussion with their Progressive “stack” and consistent use of misinformation and bullying. When there was actual discussion, it was peaceful and informative of both views. But now the world can see it for how it was. Shame on these left-wing, authoritarian students.
They going to start book burnings and strutting around in brownshirts next?
http://img.wonkette.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/trump-titan-wonkette.jpg
People pay tuition to go to a place like this?
Why?
I can’t stand Trump. But if you think “political activism” is disrupting others from meeting and speaking you’re essentially saying the first amendment doesn’t apply to people you disagree with. That institutions of “higher education” let spoiled privileged students with a list of perceived grievances a mile long bully others is a dereliction of responsibility.
The irony of all of this is that the students protesting Trump will tell you that they are against him because they believe that he is fascist… while using completely fascist brown shirt tactics to shut down the rally of someone from another party.
People with opposing ideas are still allowed to meet and express those ideas. This incident is an abortion of our first amendment, mocks the idea of an open and “safe” campus (to facilitate the free exchange of ideas), and every “protester” at this meeting should be ashamed.
Either these disrupters don’t have the traits needed to succeed in the human race or the university and their parents have failed to teach them any critical thinking skills and to respect the rights of others. These gullible fools would be the types of tools who could easily be made into suicide bombers in a different environment.
If you think Trump is a racist who sees any color other than green, you are a gullible fool subject to exploiter-funded media influence. Take a look at his life and career; he has always hired and worked with people of all walks of life.
If you think Megyn Kelly isn’t an exploiter (establishment) tool who tried to take down Trump, and you think Trump is a misogynist because of the bloodlust comments he made regarding her (while making bloodlust comments about Chris Wallace at the same time) then you are a gullible fool subject to exploiter-funded media influence. Just like any true capitalist, Trump states “I’m just oblivious to a person’s gender” when dealing with people.
If you think Trump is an isolationist because he wants fair trade, you are a gullible fool subject to exploiter-funded media influence. “Free-trade” comes at a huge cost to workers in developed countries! The end result is that America will produce nothing and will provide no services outside our borders because services and products will always be cheaper from poorer countries. Anyone who says anything else concerning free-trade is either lying through their teeth, or is completely clueless!
90% of the cocaine here comes through our southern border; 80% of the meth and heroin here comes through our southern border! If you think Trump, who continually says “I love Mexican people,” is a xenophobe because he wants to secure our southern border, you are a gullible fool subject to exploiter-funded media influence. Trump’s negative comments were targeted at a subset of illegal immigrants; NOT Mexicans! Illegal immigration is destroying our society (illegal immigrant children are almost always below grade level so teachers have to spend most of their time teaching at that level which hurts our children; illegal immigration keeps wages low; and the drugs from south of our border are ruining our children’s lives).
If you think Trump wants to punish women for having abortions, you are a gullible fool subject to exploiter-funded media influence. Trump said he made a gaffe during convoluted conversations about hypothetical situations. He has clarified that in the real world he would like to see abortion regulations left up to each state.
If you think Trump is ignorant because he thinks it might be more pragmatic for Japan to have a nuke rather than having 54,000 U.S. troops stationed there at our expense, you are a gullible fool subject to exploiter-funded media influence. The simple fact is that nothing ensures sovereignty like having a nuke. No country with a nuke has been or ever will be invaded. We would have never invaded Iraq if they had a nuke; in fact, the best evidence that we knew they didn’t really have any WMDs was the fact we invaded them. The 54,000 troops we have in Japan are absolutely no deterrent for North Korea, China, or anyone else; what deters them is the fact we have nukes. Furthermore, what would happen to Japan if they can’t defend themselves and we go bankrupt over the next decade or so?
The following message is brought to you by Puppets for the Establishment Parasites (PEP), who want to encourage you to let them finish off America so they can move on to their next host…
“You let us get this far…throw the red pill in the trash; stop trying to struggle against the hypnosis now and let us just take the last few drops of blood…it will all be over soon”
“And please remember that free trade helps America; illegal immigration helps America; policing the world is America’s responsibility; super PACs are free speech to help poor unwitting candidates; there are no paid protesters; the news media we fund is unbiased; lobbyists are good; politicians and bureaucrats cannot be bought; those idiotic concerns about the debt and bubbles are unfounded; our education system is the best; your privacy is always protected; the war in Iraq was necessary; Russia is evil; your government listens to you…anyone who disagrees with this reality is a xenophobic, isolationist, ignorant, racist, nutjob!”
Super-PACs MUST be banned! They give a few wealthy exploiters the ability to shape our entire political system; they allow for absurdly unequal representation! The people and corporations funding these PACs have acquired their wealth from selling out America through political favors, endless wars, unfair trade deals, exploiting foreign labor, exploiting illegal labor within our borders, creating insurmountable debt for our children, and maintaining a rigged election process that ensures nothing will change. Super-PACs are a direct conflict of interest and an absolute corrupting force!
In my opinion, any candidate who doesn’t demand their super-PACs disband in the name of democracy and the people is a flat out TRAITOR to America! Exploiter puppets Clinton and Cruz will never do this like Trump and Sanders have; instead, they will continue feigning powerlessness and ignorance regarding super-PACs. Anyone who votes for these conniving two-faced lawyers is voting to continue selling out America!
If someone with Trump’s resources can’t run without being shredded by exploiter-funded super-PACs and media pundits, how does someone like me or you have a chance? The answer is that, unless we are lackeys like Clinton and Cruz, whom those same exploiters also fund, we don’t! The process is rigged; you can watch a great example of how the media takes things out of context and falsely demonizes non-controlled candidates like Trump by searching for and viewing “The Untruth about Donald Trump” video.
Trump has benefited from a corrupt system and understands what must be done to fix it. It would be far easier for him to just continue buying politicians if he wanted to keep taking advantage rather than running for POTUS. As such, I have to believe he actually wants to help America more than he wants to continue taking advantage. He made his riches and now I think he wants to focus on his legacy, and wants to be remembered for righting America’s ship (who cares if that’s ego driven; I would happily help build him a statue if he succeeds). Consequently, those who want to continue exploiting are scared and doing everything they can to stop him; they are even hiring thugs through craigslist to disrupt his rallies.
I bet Trump supporters understand the value of safe spaces now.
It’s also interesting how they don’t consider themselves any less victimized just because they were literally asking for it. (” ‘This was just bait,’ Kolychev said.”) Maybe they’ll extend the same basic courtesy to the people they’re issuing rape threats against just for participating in the protest.
Perhaps Another Viking doesnt understand what a safe space is and isnt. A safe space in the common usage is a PERMANENT area with a “coloreds only” or “women only” or “(sexual orientation) only” sign on it. Its a return to segregation and a big step backwards. A room you booked for a particular function is not a safe space, but you do have a right to exlude people not invited to your function. The Trump supporters booked the room and have a right to exclude uninvited people for the duration of their booking. If you wanna protest them you do it OUTSIDE the room like an honest civilised adult. You dont go all facist and attempt to break up political meetings by force. Not in this country.
Leila Forbes used her student and employee status at PSU to intimidate and harass the visitor and citizen journalist called Laughing at Liberals, who was not breaking any rule or law, and had as much right to be in a public space at a State University, as any student. The employers of Leila Forbes at PSU should be informed of her misbehavior, and she should be reprimanded. Jewish Privilege is White Privilege.
Sadly, Leila will be elected Student Body President.
I just have to say that both sides truly deserve each other. PSUSU and the social justice movement is made up, primarily of guilty white liberals and soft, thin-skinned pussies who have no concept of what the real world is. Free speech goes for everyone, not just you. And Trump supporters are so rampantly stupid and disconnected from reality for buying Trump’s bullshit that it is almost an abuse of free will. I just finished with classes. I see it was just at the right time. All of you are spoiled and sheltered little wondershits. You will not last long in the real world.
How do you feel now?
Is this a joke?
The anti trump protesters were all yelling over one another, and kept repeating the same bs about chalk. Calling someone a racist without proog, and trying to intimidate others that have different views than you is the only thing the anti trump supporters accomplished. There are actually a few videos that show leila forbes the psu student faculty president coming close to assaulting a reporter. This campus has become a joke, just like this article.