President Trump returned on Omaha on Tuesday this week for a campaign rally down at Eppley Airfield in a series of last-minute events in an increasingly tightening Presidential campaign. The rally apparently trended on Twitter yesterday, and not for any of the reasons I would have guessed. More on that at the end.

I brought my friend Jake along again for the rally, warning him ahead of time about the expected crowd (25,000 according to the Omaha Police Department) and hours of standing in line. We got there early at 2:30 PM hoping to beat most of the crowd. We immediately got on a shuttle bus that took us to the rally site, where trump staff took everyone’s temperature coming into the rally and had free masks, hand sanitizer, bottled water, and hand warmers for everyone. There was a respectable crowd in line already when I arrived, some having brought chairs, coolers, and even heaters like one big tailgate party. I saw some familiar faces while waiting to get inside, and I enjoy chatting with some of the die-hard Trump fans, one of whom wore a blanket with a photo of Trump they’d personally taken at the White House.

The crowd continued to pour in until OPD eventually shut off traffic around 6 PM — with thousands more still arriving. A series of local candidates and politicians got to up to speak before the President arrived, including David Young, Don Bacon, Kristi Noem, Deb Fischer, Gov. Ricketts and his brother Todd. Finally Rick Holdcroft, running to represent my state district, gave an opening prayer before the National Anthem.

There was a bit of a lull after the speakers concluded. A couple staff members threw hats to the audience and other waiting in long, long lines for food vendors and free hot chocolate int he warming tent. Then around 7:45 PM, we saw the lights of Air Force One descending onto the runway, with plenty of cheers as it taxied along the tarmac behind the bleachers. President Trump emerged a few minutes later to the tune of Proud to be an American and took the stage. He made a few quips about the cold as he launched into his stump speech. This was his third rally of the day, but he had plenty of energy, taking shots at Biden (Joe and Hunter), particularly recent scandal involving Hunter’s laptop.Trump also had a few videos that played overhead, highlighting civil unrest among other things.

The crowd was very responsive, particularly when Trump pointed out various Nebraska politicians in the audience. The crowd started chanting “Bacon! Bacon!” when he pointed out the 2nd District congressman, and Trump took a brief shot at Ben Sasse, commenting that Deb Fischer was his “favorite Senator from Nebraska.” Then he wrapped up shortly before 9 PM, telling the crowd “we will make America great again” before dancing to YMCA by the Village People, which blasted overhead as people began to make their way out.

The Aftermath

The long walk back.

As you may have heard, getting out of the rally proved to be a bit of an adventure, but the media has blown it way out of proportion. Jake and I followed the crowd out of the rally fairly quickly, hoping to get an early spot on a bus to get back to the parking lot. The buses hadn’t arrived yet, however, and the majority of the crowd seemed to just want to keep on walking down the road on foot. I didn’t quite realize they weren’t just walking to a bus stop but were actually walking the entire way back to the parking lots — a trek of over 3.5 miles.

It took Jake and me around an hour and a half to walk the entire way, at which point we were quite sore and tired and ready to collapse. Adding insult to injury, the first fleet of buses passed us along the way, making me wish we’d just waited a while at the curb for them to arrive. We had about half an hour after that to squeeze out of the south parking lot before we could finally head home.

The story didn’t seem to end there, however. The news media picked up the story, and declared that Trump supporters were “left stranded in freezing temperatures” after the rally, which was ridiculous. Only those of us dumb enough to walk back (raising my hand here) were left in the cold. Some folks discovered partway that they couldn’t make the trip and needed medical attention, some of which included blisters or cuts on feet from all the walking. What the media aren’t pointing out is that the crowd was far, far larger than expected — and may very well be a leading indicator for the election next week. We shall see.

Jake was a real trooper through the whole experience, and he even said he’d do it again if he had the chance. In particular he liked bragging to his dad that he got to see Kristi Noem, who they missed at the Governor’s steak fry a month ago.

President Trump paid a visit to Council Bluffs on Tuesday this week, and I was able to attend his rally with Vivian for the first time ever. It was quite a memorable experience to say the least.

I’d seen Mr. Trump twice before as a candidate, but as a sitting President he seemed to draw a remarkably larger crowd. People actually camped overnight to be the first in line to see him, and thousands of others waited standing in the rain all day long before the doors opened.

Vivian and I arrived around four and were among the last to get inside — in a line that stretched over a mile. We had a good time chatting with others in line and looking at the vendors selling bootleg Trump merchandise along the sidewalk along the way.

After about two hours shuffling through near-constant rain, we made it to the entrance, where we were wanded by Secret Service and then ushered into the arena. Vivian and I were among the last to get inside, and we were fortunate — at least a thousand people had to watch from outside on a giant screen.

And wow — there’s nothing quite as electrifying as walking into a Trump Rally. Seven thousand people were packed into the room, and Vivian and I were among the last to arrive. The MAGA faithful were holding signs and doing the “wave” as music pounded overhead, and I bumped into multiple VIPs on the way inside — Gov. Ricketts and Congressmen Fortenberry, Bacon, and King.

Then, a little after 6:30, the music died down and the 45th President of the United States stepped into the arena to Lee Greenwood’s Proud to be an American. The crowd was very enthusiastic, particularly those of us from Nebraska, who announced our presence with a cheer so loud that the President had to take a spontaneous poll to see “who the hell I’m talking to.” I guess it was a surprise that so many of us would cross the river into Council Bluffs to see the POTUS. The speech itself was largely standard for a Trump rally — tallying off a number of the administrations’ successes, with a brief highlight on “year-round E15.” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Congressman Running for Iowa’s third district. also got to say a few words, and Trump also pointed out the number of VIPs from Nebraska in the audience.

The event wrapped up fairly quickly afterward, as Vivian and I made our escape and saw only a small handful of protesters (who were kept off of MAC property by police) on the way back to our car. The only downer from the whole evening was losing my blue umbrella. We weren’t allowed to bring umbrellas into the Mid-America Center, so we left ours outside in the hopes of finding them when we left. Vivian found hers, but mine was missing, likely taken by someone else by mistake. Maybe I should have left mine in a tree, as many others did.

Overall, however, it was a great event — particularly because Vivian actually came along with me this time. It was the first time she’d seen Trump or any sitting President, but it was bigger than any political event I’d ever been to before — and that includes when President Obama came to town.

America’s pretty great, isn’t she?

2016 is nearly upon us, and what better way to kick off the start of a Presidential Election year than by squeezing into the Mid-America Center to get a glimpse of the Republican front-runner? (Other than having fondue with family, of course.)

That’s right, I and my folks — along with several thousand other people — braved cold weather and a pat-down from the Secret Service (who did NOT like me taking their picture) to hear Donald Trump bloviate for an hour and twenty minutes completely unscripted. It was a unique event in that it had almost no seating for anyone, which meant in addition to fallen arches, everyone tended to squeeze together to get closer to the stage. It was a remarkably different crowd from the one that came to see Bernie Sanders — there were far more blue-collar types and families present than millennial hipsters. There were also people selling “swag” and even Donald Trump cos-player — a first for any political event I’ve attended.

If you’d like to see Trump’s speech in its entirety, it’s available on YouTube, but he spent most of his time talking about himself leading in the polls and touching on random subjects, including ending free-trade, a position he ironically shares with Bernie Sanders. I was fortunate enough to know just where to be once the speech was over to get up a close-up of Donald as he greeted attendees. So many others were pressing in to get autographs and pictures that it got just a little personal, but everyone was well behaved — the Secret Service made sure of that.

On to the New Year!