As all 15,000 journalists in Cleveland this week have noticed, it’s a hostile environment out here for Hillary Clinton.
T-shirts and buttons scream “Trump that bitch” and “Hillary’s lies matter.” “Hillary for Prison” t-shirts are everywhere. (And as I type this sentence, the InfoWars truck with the same slogan is circling the block I’m on.) Inside the convention, there are cries to “lock her up.” This afternoon, in an alley crowded with reporters, t-shirt sellers, and Republicans eating salad on patios, I spotted a lone woman wearing a “Hillary for President” button. I’ve seen plenty of counter-protesters this week, but they’re more focused on issues than enthusiastic support for Clinton. So, I asked the woman, Cleveland resident Marlane Weslian, how it was going.
“Mostly people have just touched me on the shoulder and sort of given me the high sign,” Weslian told me, making a thumbs up. “It’s kind of like, ‘Oh you’re brave.’ And then a woman at Public Square came up to me and said, ‘We’re here and we’d like to pray with the sick and the diseased. Do you want me to pray for you?’ And I’m like, ‘No, just pray for yourself.'”
Yessssss, Marlane.
“It’s incredible how bold people are to try to push their beliefs on other people,” Weslian continued. “For me, it’s all about peace, equality, and justice… I actually for the first time in my life watched the Republican convention on TV and all I see is just people spewing hate and trying to make people more fearful and that’s really not the world we live in.”
More from Weslian:
This is Cleveland resident Marlene Weslian. She’s out here at #RNCinCLE sporting a @HillaryClinton button. pic.twitter.com/IMf6ZtWTrG
— Heidi Groover (@heidigroover) July 21, 2016
