How 'Plaid Shirt Guy' Got Prime Seating at a Trump Rally

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Internet, meet Tyler Linfesty.

He’s a 17-year-old high school senior at Billings West High School. Though he identifies as a social democrat, he said he didn’t want to miss the chance to see a speech by the president of the United States. So he and some friends signed up to attend Mr. Trump’s rally on Thursday.

That morning, Mr. Linfesty said, he got an email saying that he had been selected for V.I.P. status, which meant that he would get to meet the president and have access to premier seating. He said that he did not apply for the status and that he believed he was chosen by chance.

He got to take a brief picture with the president before the rally and asked organizers whether he and his friends could sit together behind the stage. In fact, their seats could not have been more prominent.

“I think it was basically random that we got placed right behind him and on television,” Mr. Linfesty said on Saturday.

Mr. Linfesty said organizers instructed the crowd to clap and cheer, but he said he could not bring himself to applaud for things that he did not agree with. He said he did not know he was so visible until friends texted him in the middle of the speech.

“That was not me trying to protest,” Mr. Linfesty said. “That was just my honest reactions to the things that he was saying.”

At one point during the speech, he put on a pin showing support for the Democratic Socialists of America. Finally, a woman slid into the aisle and whispered something to him. He walked off and she replaced him in the crowd: a new face, now smiling pleasantly in the background.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-plaid-shirt-guy-got-prime-seating-at-a-trump-rally/ar-BBN56T6?li=BBnbcA1

They must play this at Trump rallies.

[Trust Buster]

1. Still don't understand how an idiot making faces behind another idiot is even a substantive story ?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. I think it's more that the GOP felt threatened by the guy

Yet many of us did notice him standing behind Trump and making those expressions.

[David__77]

3. What do you consider the rally attendee to be an idiot?

...

[Trust Buster]

4. Because his sole purpose for going to the rally was to make funny faces.

[Siwsan]

5. That's trump*'s main purpose, too

Spewing nonsense and making exaggerated faces seems to be his main schicht.

[Trust Buster]

6. And that is why I described them both as idiots.

[nolabear]

7. His account is that he had no intention of making faces.

He doesn’t appear to be an idiot in the least. His interviews have been honest about his leanings, his willingness to clap for the things he agreed with and his willingness to show incredulity about those he didn’t.

Granted I don’t know him any better than you do. But idiot seems pretty reductive to me.

[Siwsan]

8. I don't see the young man as an idiot

I think he got caught up in something he never expected to go so far. I give him credit for hanging in there, as long as they allowed.

I empathize with him. I used to work with a lunatic trumpster, and when she'd go on a tear, I'd make those same faces, without even realizing it until someone pointed it out.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. No, it wasn't. He went because it was a rare chance to see a president

and he was reacting honestly to the content of the speech. I didn't see any "funny faces." He wasn't mugging. And apparently he didn't even realize that he had been noticed. The stands where he was are actually a fair distance behind the speaker's rostrum, and it was only the telephoto lens of the camera that made it look like he was close behind Trump. He's not an idiot, just an honest 17-year-old.

[Trust Buster]

10. But my point is, who cares ? This has to be the 10th thread on the plaid shirt guy.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. You must care, because you posted on it.

[Dorian Gray]

20. Because it was both

an honest and funny reaction to what was being said.

I care for that reason. Why do you care? (You must, otherwise you'd just trash the threads.)

[pansypoo53219]

13. no. he said he went to see A PRESIDENT. he said the faces he made were his BS reaction.

[JHB]

11. It wasn't random, Tyler. They thought you'd make a nice prop.

That's part of what the picture with the prez was about: selecting the people who were photogenic and could form the "right" backdrop.

That back guy who has a "Blacks for Trumps" sign (don't know if he was at that particular rally) gets his spot because he "refutes" the fact that Trump is a racist.

The guy next to you was Mr. Clean-Cut & Wearing a Tie.

You were "The Boy Next Door".

Etc.

And when Trump's PR people saw anyone back there who wasn't projecting the right image, they sent someone to step in and replace them.

For you, it was your reactions. (But a word of advice, kid: Avoid playing poker for money. )

For the woman with glasses next to you, maybe she didn't have the right cheekbones or something. (Hmm, did they replace the woman who wiped her nose with a flag? If they didn't ... it's interesting that they missed that.)

[pansypoo53219]

14. he was young & good looking. why they put baby snot nose girl behind him. never mind her yawning.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

15. He lost me when he said he applauded...

...the part where Trump said Clinton stole the nomination from Sanders because he shared that belief.

Utter hogwash. She got millions more votes, always led in primary polling and had more delegates going into convention.
This kid (and all the Bust morons) got played by the Trump/Assange/Stein con job like a fiddle.

Fuck this guy.

[Cha]

16. Oh, I didn't know that. Fuck that noise.

poor brainwashed thing.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

18. link

"Linfesty said he disagreed with “plenty” of what the president said but wasn’t against all of it. In fact, he said he clapped when Trump “railed against” the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and when the president said the 2016 Democratic primary was stolen from Bernie Sanders."
https://www.whas11.com/article/news/nation-now/plaid-shirt-guy-thinks-he-was-kicked-from-trump-rally-for-not-being-excited-enough/465-4c58059d-b012-4060-be03-9a6df94ea8f1

[Cha]

19. Thanks. That's too bad.

Such a shame all that Brainwashing and gaslighting is going on. They Can't Handle Reality. RF.

[betsuni]

17. Me too.

That's a religious belief with no basis in reality. He has two things in common with Trump. The other is that trade deals are bad.