Hello,

As I mentioned in a couple posts, I was going to attend the March4Trump event in Austin. If any of you were there, I was the guy draped in a Pepe flag.

I arrived quite early and the rain was getting worse and worse by the moment. Even still, the crowd at Woolridge Square kept growing steadily. There were a number of speakers, including the organizer of the event and Owen Shroyer from Infowars and several others. Before the speech a 'Veterans For Trump' representative gave security protocol in case attacks happened.

The speeches got pretty boring after awhile, and toward the end Antifa showed up standing on the side walk, taking pictures and taunting the rallygoers. A vanguard of about five or six guys who were obviously Alt-Right charged at the antifa people and several fights broke out almost instantly. Within a few seconds a large part of the pro-Trump rally, myself included, broke off and joined the vanguard of Alt-Right guys. Together they surrounded the Antifa people on two sides.

Veterans For Trump people had to pull the Alt-Right guys away until the Austin police arrived, who took a surprisingly long time to intervene. The Alt Right crowd had assembled into a larger force on the hill. It wasn't clear whether the alt-right all came together or just found each other at the rally. At least one ANTIFA person was arrested by the police, and the Alt Right people began chanting things like "Good Night Left Side," and "Pinochet! Pinochet! Pinochet!"

"I am so pumped right now," one of the guys said.

By then a number of people had gotten between the pro-Trump and ANTIFA camps, including some of the Infowars people, who were urging the angry mob of guys to return to the rally. Someone from the alt-right side called Infowars reporter Millie Weaver a "3D waifu."

At that point the alt-right people disappeared into the larger crowd, and the crowed began its march down to the State Capitol and back. The person I was with was a baby-boomer conservative Christian who had no clue what was going on whatsoever.

As the march began, a gaggle of late teenagers in skinny jeans and fashy haircuts ran through the crowd flashing Pepe signs with an impish glee: 'Alt Right Texas' and 'Free Helicopter Rides.'

As per usual, the Antifa people taunted from behind the rally and on the sidewalks. The police succeeded 80% of the time in keeping the two groups separate. I saw Owen Shroyer getting into arguments with the bulk of the antifa people.

Because I was wearing a Pepe flag I was continuously a target of the Antifa. One of them followed me with a camera repeatedly shouting that I was a 'Nazi.' When it became clear to him that I wasn't going to respond, he instead tried warning the other Trump marchers that I was "a neo nazi." I heard one older lady behind me tell him that she didn't care and that she "supported my free speech."

There was an Infowars-inspired scrum at the entrance of the capitol building. I wanted to join the crowd at the capitol, but unfortunately the person I was riding with wanted to go home, and that was effectively the end of the march for me.

Outside of the rally we went to a barbecue place a few towns outside of Austin (and I'd long put my Pepe flag away). As I was getting my lunch I was surprised at how unusually friendly people were acting toward me. I'd gotten several unsolicited smiles from customers and the staff. The cashier, an older Texan lady greeted me by saying "Hello there young man. Nice shirt!"

I looked down and realized I was wearing a Trump-Pence 2016 t-shirt. I'd forgotten entirely about it due to the Pepe flag. She even gave me a free drink to "help out a fellow Trump supporter." The positive vibes were frankly overwhelming.

I want to say this: People love the Pepe stuff. Pepe gets a lot of attention from enemies, but even more so from friends and also friendly media.

I will continue covering pro-Trump and similar rallies when I can. Feel free to like my group on Facebook, Trump Nationalists Texas. It is not an explicitly alt-right group (so no need to worry about Facebook), and its main focus is organizing "populism" and "nationalism" in the Republican Party which still hasn't really learned its lesson.

https://www.facebook.com/Trump-Nationalists-Texas-1222948491097302/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel