The streets of Dallas bustled with supporters and opponents of President Donald Trump during the first-ever Republican Midterm Convention at the American Airlines Center.
The two-day convention featured several prominent right-wing speakers and Republican candidates with the hopes of energizing conservatives to vote in the upcoming November elections.
“You’ve got to pretend I’m on the ticket,” Trump said as he addressed his base at the convention. “Pretend I’m on the ticket because this is going to turn out to be one of the most important elections.”
Trump’s arrival in Dallas drew in crowds from all across Texas and the nation.
Convention attendees in star-spangled attire and business suits walked in the 100-degree heat to the center, which was guarded by high metal gates and U.S. Capitol Police.
Protesters, led by the Dallas Against the Trump Agenda coalition, a partnership of several different DFW leftist and anti-war groups, marched on the second day of the convention, Sept. 10, to voice their dissent and show unity.
Ruel Macaraeg, donned in a Superman tank top and matching beanie, walked with the crowd, chanting and holding up his DC comic book issue of “Superman Smashes the Klan.”
Macaraeg, a former NE English adjunct instructor and practicing attorney, said he felt a responsibility to “help out any way he can” and to “keep a watchful eye” on both the protest and America to ensure the law and democracy are in order.
“The fact that Donald Trump himself had to come out here to try and rally the Republican base even if Republicans are successful in keeping the seats, it shows that Texas is in play and it’s no longer reliable and something to be taken for granted,” Macaraeg said.
The protest began at Pike Park on Harry Hines Boulevard and headed towards the arena but was rerouted by police in riot gear on horseback. Protesters marched, chanting “Donald Trump’s not welcome here,” and “DPD, KKK, ICE — they’re all the same.”
Two protesters, identified as 19-year-old Adrian Garcia and 23-year-old Hunter Holmes were arrested by Dallas police during the Sept. 10 demonstration for alleged assault on a counter–protester and for blocking a road. No serious injuries were reported, and the victims were not hospitalized, police said.
Footage of the incident, obtained by YouTube channel Global Broadcasting Service, showed the three counter protesters pushing and being pushed by protesters. Shortly after the pushing began, police surged into the crowd and arrested the protesters.
For the duration of the protest and later that evening at a Democrat rally at City Hall, the counter protesters preached into their microphones and shouted slurs at protesteors.
“We’re living in an interesting time, and the world you inherit is not the best one that our generation left for you,” Macaraeg said.
Across the aisle, evangelical pastor and TCC graduate Omar Arteaga Munoz said he also thinks about the future for young Americans as he attended the convention.
“I really appreciate you guys as a young generation fighting either way,” he said. “If you fighting against it, you fighting for it, as long as you do it under the Constitution and the moral principles [of] respecting everyone. … Respect your elders, respect the law enforcements, right? Respect one another. Honor, gratitude, gratefulness — all those principles are fading out.”
Arteaga Munoz said that, as a father of three young men, he encourages his kids to stand out from Gen Z by deciding what they want their world to look like and then acting.
“[Gen Z members] don’t educate themselves to be prepared and say, ‘You know what? Well, this nation has been transferred from our ancestors. What are we collecting? We’re just gonna collect the crumbs that fell from the table, or are we willing to stand up for ourselves?'” he said.
Convention attendee Hal Lambert, a Fort Worth investor and past finance chair for the Texas Republican Party, said he believes that if the convention boosts voting for the Republican Party, midterm conventions will become a regular occurrence.
“I think President Trump highlighting a lot of his accomplishments in the first two years last night will remind people why it’s important to get out and vote,” he said. “If we don’t keep the House and Senate, it’s just going to be stalemates and hard to get anything done.”
That evening, at Dallas City Hall, several Democrat candidates, organizations and supporters gathered together at the “We The People” rally to counter the convention.
TCC graduate Jovany Trevino travelled from Oklahoma with a few other members of Women’s March, an feminist political organization focused on battling gender oppression in the U.S., to support one of the rally speakers and remind people to confirm their voter registration.
“I am super excited for James Talarico,” he said. “I’ve been telling a lot of my family to double check their voter registrations here that live in Tarrant County. He’s actually been able to reach across the aisle, across both left and right.”
One of the rally speakers was 17-year-old Booker T. Washington High School student Cat Krankota, who was an organizer for her school’s ICE Out walk–out in February. She said she was driven to action when one of her friends got a call during class that her parent’s nationality was no longer under temporary protected status in the U.S.
“She got the call, and she just started crying, and no one really knew what was going on,” Krankota said. “She explained what was happening, that there was a chance she would go home ‘tonight or tomorrow’ and her family wouldn’t be there.”
Krankota’s mother, Democratic candidate for Texas 282nd District Court judge Alison Grinter Allen, held onto Krankota’s speech notes while she and her daughter waited for the rally to begin.
“The enthusiasm is amazing,” Allen said regarding the level of public interest in the upcoming elections. “I’m seeing so many people who have never been a really active part of the political process get out and really demand to be heard, and I love to see it.”
— Ryleigh Roper contributed to the reporting of this article.
