What Goes on Outside Trump Rallies Is an American Nightmare

The real action at these events happens away from the stage, where protesters decry Trump and his supporters heap abuse on them.

The coral of Tampa's Florida State Fairgrounds entrance arcs against an ominously graying Tuesday evening sky. Everyone waits for Donald Trump outside, even though it smells like rain. The Secret Service checkpoint doesn't help, choking admission to the 10,500-seat Expo Hall, but outside is where you want to be in any case. It's where the cameras aren't confined to a pen. It's where the enemy is. It's why we're here.

Trump knows this. He understands the value of outside. When he arrives, he mentions the thousands of people outside the gate for him (there aren't) watching giant-screen TVs (there are none). And, anyway, not much will happen inside. Everyone knows what the Trump show looks like at this point—grievance after formless grievance, with no policy agenda in sight. GOP gubernatorial aspirant Ron DeSantis is introduced as someone who likes Trump, takes the stage to demonstrate his approval of Trump, then slinks off before his speech becomes dangerously long or memorable. Then the most powerful man on the planet whines about everything unfair to him, an audience whose go-to insult is "snowflake" shares in his victimhood, and, if they're very lucky, go off to find those responsible outside.

The press knows the ticket lies outside too. The fact-checkers can do their jobs from a YouTube stream. Inside, people sit on bleachers, not free to move or rave or joke around. Colors wash out in the artificial light, and once the speech starts, the cameras and recorders are supposed to remain within the press pen. Besides, that way the audience always knows where to find the treasonous media on the way out.

Even the Trump fans understand that inside is boring. The rear corners of arena seating never fill; a standing room large enough to accommodate the crowd outside five times over remains empty. Fifteen minutes in, people start to exit, because this speech is like all the rest of them. A cheerful bearded man in a USA replica baseball jersey and Trump socks stops on the way out to explain to me why he's leaving and gives the same answer as everyone else:

"To beat the traffic."

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