MILFORD, N.H. — Voters making their way to Donald Trump’s rally Tuesday evening were greeted by dozens of high school students who’d lined themselves along a driveway with homemade signs condemning the billionaire’s “xenophobic” and “racist” rhetoric.”
According to Claire Foley, a senior at nearby Souhegan Cooperative High School, she and her peers feel Trump represents an older generation that is “out of touch” with the inclusiveness other candidates are working to achieve. And after his second-place finish in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, the high school students claim they are dedicated to stopping Trump.
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“I made a Facebook group because all of my friends were talking about protesting and I invited probably 100 of my friends, and from there almost 1,000 people were invited,” Foley told the Washington Examiner. “I just figured out where we should meet, where we should carpool to [and] then we made signs beforehand.”
“We really saw this as an opportunity to support love and peacefulness in the face of hatred and bigotry,” she added. “We’re trying to show that even though Trump’s generation and some crazy people that support him, might be in favor of his racism and bigotry, we’re here to show that’s not going to be accepted.”
Among the signs Foley and her classmates carried, one read, “Make America Hate Again #Trump2016” while another stated, “Red, white and blue. Not red, white and racist.”
Foley herself supports Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who nearly beat Hillary Clinton in Iowa’s Democratic caucus Monday night. Though she isn’t eligible to vote until next November, Foley says she’s willing “to do whatever it takes” to ensure Trump doesn’t make it past her state’s primary and onto the general election.
“I can vote in the general election, but not in the primary,” she noted. “So I’m just trying to support Bernie in every way I can to make up for that.”
The high school senior said she would eventually like to venture inside one of Trump’s rallies to hear the candidate’s stump speech, but is also committed to protesting at other campaign events of his across the Granite State.
“I would definitely by interested in hearing what he has to say, but it’s not one of my top priorities,” Foley said. “I guess I’d rather go to one Bernie’s or Hillary [Clinton’s] rallies again.”
