Exclusive: An eyewitness account of the Chicago Trump rally from a new Trump supporter

Chicago's Near West Side

A tipster put me in touch with "Jane," a previously undecided conservative voter who took the day off from her job to witness the Donald Trump phenomenon herself at Friday night's rally at the UIC Pavilion on Chicago's Near West Side.

But citing safety concerns, the rally was cancelled around 6:00pm--when it was scheduled to begin.

"I didn't go down there 100 percent sold on Donald Trump being my candidate," Jane told me. "But I wanted to see what the excitement was about."

Well depending on your definition of excitement, Jane found much more than she bargained for that day.

"I arrived around 9:30am," she began, "I was one of the first 25 people in line. Everyone else there at that time was a Trump supporter." Jane is smart-- it's always a wise idea to arrive early to a political event. Doors were scheduled to open at 3:00pm, although I would have shown up at noon or so.

"Over the hours there was a lot of polite small-talk and overall friendliness" among the early birds, Jane recounted.  "A guy bought pizza from Giordano's and shared it with everyone else--and he didn't ask for anyone to kick in money."

When the doors to the Pavilion--which is on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago--opened the protesters started gathering and they began to get noisy, Jane recalled.

Getting into the hall was somewhat chaotic but nothing compared to leaving it a few hours later

While the rally was a free event, tickets were required for entry. However, Jane explained to me, "They barely looked at our tickets. Mine, for one, was downloaded onto to my phone." That could explain how so many anti-Trumpsters got inside.

By  6:00pm when the Pavilion was near capacity and the protesters, who were a mix of Muslims, Black Lives Matters activists, and Bernie Sanders supporters became more vocal. "When they started yelling," Jane said, "they were quickly escorted out." Jane suspects there were many Hillary Clinton backers inside too.

But "Bedlam broke out" when the announcement was made that the rally would be postponed. At that time, referring to the protesters, "These people were then able to expose themselves," Jane wearily exclaimed. "There were fights breaking out everywhere."

A reporter who tried to interview Jane--"Because she told me I was one of the more normal-looking people there"--had to quickly end the interview after two men collided in a purposeful body blow. "I had to assist her out of that situation."

And Jane thought to herself, "I might have to fight my way out of here."

For some reason the stairwells were blocked by people. It's fortunate that a fire didn't break out.

Another tipster told me about Muslims blocking a corridor in front of a concession stand who blocked passerbys and I asked Jane about that. "Yes, that happened. It absolutely did."

Once outside the Pavilion there was more "yelling, screaming, and pushing."

"This was not what they call 'a peaceful protest,'" Jane continued. "If the anti-Trump demonstration had escalated the police wouldn't have been able to stop it."

Wow.

I concluded by asking Jane who she was voting for in Tuesday's Illinois Primary.

"Now I'm voting for Trump."

The Trump Train has another passenger because of that disruptive leftist mob.

My post at Da Tech Guy:

Obama’s anti-free speech ’08 campaign set the tone for Chicago attack on Trump