The final part of my Indiana campaign adventure took me (once again) to South Bend, this time with Mina Smith in tow, for Donald Trump’s rally at the Century Center, the same venue where Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders had held rallies a few days before.
We arrived around 2:30 pm, an hour-and-a-half before the doors opened, and there was already a line out the door and several blocks down the street. In an unexpected move, the Trump people actually checked our tickets before letting us in.
Hilariously, Trump’s rally was held in the exact same room as Lyin’ Ted’s, and where he could only fill a sixth of it, Trump had a full house, with 3,000 to 4,000 packed into the room and another 4,000 in overflow areas throughout the building.
Trump was introduced by a succession of Indiana sports figures who’ve endorsed him, and when he came on stage himself, the crowd went nuts. In marked contrast to his speeches earlier in the campaign, Trump emphasized that his campaign was in the home stretches and a victory in the Hoosier State would clinch his victory:
After the rally, Mina and I were greeted by an armada of protesters outside. While I didn’t see it myself, other eyewitnesses caught the protesters chanting “FUCK FREE SPEECH!”
Humorously enough, we ended up eating dinner at an Irish pub that was hosting a pro-Sanders music concert called “South Bend Sings for Labor.” I didn’t get any dirty looks.
I wrap up the day’s events in this video:
My written account of what happened will be up at Right On soon.
This post will conclude my coverage of the Indiana primary. I will be launching a fundraiser to cover the California primary—the most important race remaining in the campaign—soon: to support that and my future projects, click here to donate. I greatly appreciate any and all support you can provide, and I thank those who’ve donated already.
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Read Next: Indiana Campaign Dispatch, Part 3: The Slow Bern
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