I don't remember where I first saw on the internet that Congressman Tom McClintock would be giving a town hall meeting at the Tower Theater in Roseville at 10am on February 4. I read about it four days before the event. I made a note and figured if my morning was free I'd attend it. I'd never been to one of his town hall meetings. I envisioned the theater being half full, with McClintock giving a talk about this and that, and taking audience questions about this and that, and that would be that.
Was I a naive one. I forgot we just had an election and there are a lot of angry people.
The first sign something was different was the two women at Washington Boulevard Underpass walking together towards the downtown. They were wearing pink knitted pussy hats. Passing the traffic circle onto Oak Street, I saw more people walking in the direction of the Tower Theater. I pulled into the city parking garage. On most Saturdays there are open slots on the first level. I had to drive to the third level to park.
It was about 9:50 and there was already a large crowd outside the theater on Vernon Street. I regretted leaving the house empty handed. I called my wife and asked her to bring my video gear. The drive is about ten minutes. I waited on Oak Street for her to arrive. I took the video gear, thanked her, and she returned home. By now the town hall meeting was underway.
I don't know exactly how many Trump protesters there were, but the number was in the hundreds. The crowd was concentrated in front of the theater, with a smaller number to the south on Taylor Street. Roseville police officers were about, and they had traffic access blocked on Vernon Street and Taylor Street.
There was some interaction between protesters and the handful of Trump supporters. I saw no violence and heard of none. Some Trump supporters wore Make America Great Again hats.
I found it humorous, as I walked around taking videos, that I'd pass a person with a certain look in their eyes, and I'm sure I had that same certain look in mine, and that person or I would ask, "Are you a Trump supporter?" With the answer in the affirmative, we'd have a brief conversation, and continue on.
What can I say about the Roseville Trump protest that is any different from several protests elsewhere in the news? There were the same chants, the same signs, the same anger. Congressman McClintock left the theater under police escort to his waiting vehicle. The crowd followed him with loud chants.
At the Roseville Trump protest of February 4, 2017, nobody got hurt and no property was damaged.
Walking up the parking garage stairs to the third level, I met a 65 year old woman. We wound up spending some twenty minutes talking about the state of the country. I said I voted for Trump. She said she didn't vote for Trump but she also didn't say who she had voted for. We agreed on more things than we disagreed. The important thing is, we had a conversation. We didn't shout at each other or berate each other. It was a respectful conversation.
