"...until you see the whites of their eyes."

 "...until you see the whites of their eyes."

-Colonel William Prescott @ the Battle of Bunker Hill )

Yesterday, I engaged with the protester, who had a large Trump flag and some type of amplified gadget playing Trump speeches and "Hail to the Chief". Speaking with him, it turned out he was an activist with the Republican party in "the near beyond" South Mountain.

I determined that he had two missions: To show his support for Trump and to own the libs.

He was successful at both, gathering a cluster of counter-counter protester folks around him, one of whom kept screaming "F**K YOU!, F**K YOU in his face. Others, shouting, called him a racist or a Nazi.

It seemed obvious to me that this was not his first rodeo. He was cool as a cucumber while those accosting him had a complete meltdown.

As that storm ebbed and flowed as people moved about, some attempted to reason with him in a respectful way. He responded in a respectful way.

I listened to him, got some very basic info from him (mainly, how he came to support Trump and how he became politically active).

After that I backed away and continued to watch the drama with the sole intent of - if it came to it - photographing a possible violent incident and reporting to the police who struck the first blow.

HAD IT TURNED UGLY, folks would have certainly videotaped it, uploaded it, it would have gotten into the news media, and people would have seen a ground of peaceful liberals screaming at and beating the shit out of a Trump supporter.

I had to leave halfway through the event and, presumably, nothing "newsworthy" happened.

So I also had two missions: to remind both myself and the counter-protestor that we are both normal human beings and neighbors as well as to make some admittedly tiny effort to de-escalate the situation and - if necessary - accurately report how things started.

So he did what he came to do and I did what I decided to do in response to that unanticipated situation.

After a couple of years escorting at the Allentown Women's Center , it wasn't MY first rodeo either.