I have survived Berkeley, twice. I had walked the Walk of Fame in Downtown Los Angeles, and I have taken on town halls all over Southern California, and I went through it all to fight for freedom of speech and make the case for President Trump and the MAGA Agenda.
Halloween Night at Cal State Fullerton, I got to engage the crowd of students who would be protesting free speech absolutist and conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. I didn’t want to hear him. I wanted to meet the students, see the force of outrage against his presence on the campus, and start changing some minds.
In the beginning, I noticed that some protesters were wearing masks. Law enforcement surrounded and arrested one of them. Later that night, another Antifa thug got taken down after pepper-spraying others. Perhaps it’s time for local law enforcement to deputize the law-abiding citizens to arrest those who wear masks and menace peace-loving protesters.
Like many others in the student quad, I came in my own custom: Arthur, i.e. Arthur Reed the cartoon anteater (or Aardvark). It works, don’t you think? Other costumes included Hugh Hefner, a pirate wrapped in rainbow feather boas, and a snowflake liberal. The last one was a young man wearing bubble wrap all over his body. Funny stuff!
As soon as I arrived at the square, reporters and student journalists rushed towards me. One guy asked me which was worse, feminism or cancer. I said "both". Other students wanted to know why I was there, including the mainstream media reporters. I want free speech restored and respected on college campuses, and I want to debunk the lies and mythologies about President Trump.
Within minutes, a crazed black woman—later identified as Keyanna Celina—roared at me: “White Supremacist! Get out of here!” My friend Genevieve Peters tried to calm the situation. Instead, Celina swiped at her, then beat her around the head multiple times before someone in the crowd fired pepper spray to stop Celina.
Right on cue, the anti-Milo, anti-free speech fascists started chanting “Fascists go home! Fascists go home!” Instead of running away, I stood right in front of their protest, turned the cameras on them and shouted with them: “Fascists go home!” Trick or treat!
Full disclosure: I am no Milo fan. But so what? He has every right to speak at a college, and no one should prevent him! Besides, I was more interested in listening to students, to find out why they were protesting, to get their views on key issues, and to stump for President Trump. Some students accused me of starting fights. I soon realized they were merely trying to silence me. After deftly casting accusations aside, I began to realize why abject liberalism had taken hold on many of these young people. Obviously, they don’t hear other points of view, and thus anyone with a difference of opinion is wrong. As I feared, most students are told what to think, not how to think. Another problem was the sloppy misuse of terms. One man claimed that 75% of the businesses in socialist dystopia Venezuela are privately owned. Uh … Nope! Why would he believe this? Because he didn’t see the clear synonym between nationalization and socialization.
Here were my three favorite moments of the Free Speech Convocation at Cal State Fullerton:
1. One of the members of a vocal progressive group—which has been following me around to city council meetings and public events for months—tried to shame me into silence. She brought up everything from my city’s mayor attacking me publicly (I don’t care, since he’s corrupt), to the false allegations that members of my team in We the People Rising have attacked children—we never have.
When she claimed that I had compared myself to Rosa Parks (I was arrested without cause in a city council meeting six months ago), I took her down like a boss. “Are you telling me that I shouldn’t fight for my civil rights? I should just do whatever the police tell me to?!” The audience cheered with that response. Her final retort: “You’re not welcome here. Nobody likes you!” Immediately, a photographer from the sidelines shouted back: “I like you, bro! You got pizazz!” FYI: That photographer hated Trump, but defended my right to be there.
Lesson One: Throw the Left’s shame card right back in their face, and people will love you for it.
2. I discussed the Second Amendment with one young man, when an old blowhard interrupted me. I refused to be bullied, or to allow that young man to be ignored and shut down. After about two minutes, this grown man-child hit my camera. Jeremy who was right behind led me out of the first crowd, yet I continued to reach out to the young man so that I could discuss the gun control issue with him. That anti-First Amendment bully ended up looking really bad in front of college students--whom he was trying to shut down. And the best part? The young students went to interact with a Trump supporter who wanted to listen to THEM!
Lesson Two: When hecklers and haters try to interrupt you, shame them for trying to shut you down, and then get back into the discussion.
3. Another young man disparaged President Abraham Lincoln: “He didn’t want to end slavery. He just wanted to keep the country together”. Wrong, but this misunderstanding led to a much wider discussion about the history of the two major parties, the “Big Switch” of the 1960s, actually a big lie, and other distortions about Republicans and their true record in the Civil Rights Movement, i.e. they helped foster the cause of black Americans since the party’s inception in 1854. This and other students were attentive and respectful.
Lesson Three: When someone adheres to unfounded beliefs, let them explain, then counter with truth.
Cal State Fullerton was the best Free Speech event I have attended yet: all treat, no tricks!