Trump supporters fueled by fear and anger at Saginaw MAGA Rally

Delta Collegiate reporters were abruptly forced off the premises of former President Donald Trump’s campaign rally without reason

By Mikaila Bluew and Onnie Stone

Donald Trump spoke about his campaign for the upcoming Nov. 5 election on Oct. 3 at Saginaw Valley State Universities Ryder Center. 

Hundreds of people lined up, some starting as early as midnight the prior night to wait for the arrival of the former president. SVSU students, community members, and people from across Michigan came to share support for the campaign. 

“Well of course, here in the United States of America we’re blessed to have a constitution that guarantees us freedom of speech, and what that means is the government doesn’t get to tell you what’s allowed and what’s not allowed,” said Republican Congressional Candidate Paul Junge. “The government doesn’t get to play referee for this is true and this isn’t true.”

Junge shared his feelings surrounding regulation on the misinformation and disinformation being spread in the local and federal elections. Other attendees shared some of the concerns they hoped Donald Trump would address during the event.

Among the people interviewed, each shared a common concern over illegal immigration affecting United States’ affairs.

“The other thing is, of course, is the economy,” rally attendee Shelley Zehnder said. “Which goes hand in hand to me with illegal immigration because we can’t afford all these people, so prices have gone up.”

Prior to the rally, attendees were sent surveys regarding topics surrounding the election. Within those surveys were questions that seemed to intentionally ignite panic, specifically around the topics of illegal immigration and voter security. 

“(We need to) make sure that a lot of people that have come to our country aren’t going to be able to vote,” said rally attendee Kelly Elias. 

The Trump campaign has been spreading disinformation about election security since he lost in the 2020 election. According to a recent poll among Trump supporters, 88% said they are concerned there will be fraud in the upcoming election.

Though many of the people we spoke to share the views above, we did hear from people with more neutral views on the election.

“Sometimes your guy doesn’t win. So I, you know, that’s the democratic process,” Zehnder said. “So, I think we should be gracious and just, you know, hope that our guy wins next time.”

Prior to the event the Delta Collegiate news team applied for press credentials, but our media request was denied. 

Following the denial, Collegiate reporters registered for general admission tickets the day before the rally to still hear the former presidents’ statements. 

While conducting interviews before the event began, several rally volunteers assisted Collegiate staff.

Volunteer staff assisting the press credential table instructed our team to ask for credentialing from the press coordinator conducting the verifications. The volunteers stated they witnessed smaller press teams get entrance without prior credentials earlier that day. 

It is uncommon for college media to be granted press credentials for events like these, so we were prepared to enter the rally using the general admission tickets we registered for the day prior. 

Upon speaking with the coordinator, we were abruptly forced to leave the premises. While expressing our intention to comply with their demand, we asked what the reason for our removal was. 

“Just (be)cause,” according to security. 

As we were being escorted through the rows of merchandise tables lining walkways of the SVSU campus, our students gave security many opportunities to express if or why they felt our team was a security risk. Security was getting increasingly agitated with us, so we felt it was no longer acceptable to ask questions. We were given no explanation.

After exiting the rally, we reviewed the email denying Delta College press credentials; nowhere within did it state we would be unable to attend general admission if properly RSVP’d. 

The team complied and did not return to the event. We hoped to represent Delta College students and listen to the former president speak.

We left with the sense that we were unwanted.