Nine years since Donald Trump didn’t show up in Chicago
March 11, 2016, in Chicago, Illinois. Nine years ago today. It was a day that many of us will remember til the end of our lifetime. Donald Trump was supposed to have a rally at the University of Illinois-Chicago campus. The keyword is ‘supposed’ because it never happened—Trump was a no-show.
The event was controversial from the time it was announced. To say he wasn’t popular with the residents of that neighborhood is an understatement. Nobody wanted him there. He didn’t care what they thought; he was coming. And if he was going to show up, I was going to be there to see it. I figured it would be like a car accident on the highway; you didn’t like it but you had to look.
I had a friend who also wanted to see what we knew would be a shitshow so we decided to go together. Safety in numbers! When we made it public that we were going it didn’t go over well. Friends told us it was going to be too dangerous. We laughed at them. Donald Trump wasn’t going to scare us off. In private, we weren’t as bold. We traded many texts trying to figure out what we would do if the event got out of hand. She suggested that we have a safe word. Her suggestion was “How about we go for a milkshake?” I laughed and said “If either gets scared just tap the other and say ‘Let’s get the fuck out of here.’” No safe words were needed.
But the day was strange from the beginning. I thought it would be a circus and I wrote a piece stating that. I compared it to the Emerson, Lake & Palmer song with the lyrics “Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.” A few hours after writing that, word came that Keith Emerson was dead. Twilight Zone shit!! A sign of what was going to happen a few hours later.
When we arrived at the arena, the building was surrounded by quiet protesters. The keyword is quiet. Many folks had signs and buttons like the one up top and this one.
But even with thousands of people, I never felt nervous. It was the same inside the arena. There were plenty of Trump supporters and plenty of Trump haters. But there were no arguments and no violence. Even when it was announced that The Donald was not going to speak nothing occurred to be scared or nervous about. The crowd got loud for a few minutes but then left the building in an orderly manner. By the time we got outside, most of the protesters had dispersed and we had a quiet walk to the car.
The night was over. It was a whole lot of nothing.
As we were driving home, we talked about what we saw and didn’t see. We figured that would be the end of Donald Trump. His candidacy was more of a freak show than anything serious. Little did we know that what we saw was the start of things that are continuing to this day. The people who told me that it was going to be scary were right. Nine years to the day later it’s still damn scary. My friend was right. In 2025, we need a safe word. I’m not sure if it should be “Let’s get a milkshake” or “Let’s get the fuck out of here” Sadly, both are appropriate.