San Francisco Foghorn

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THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016  • VOL. 114, ISSUE 5
NEWS
SCENE
OPINION
SPORTS
03
The McCarthy Center
hosts California State
Senate Race Debate
between Jane Kim and
Scott Wiener.
07
Check out the best short
student films produced
for the 2016 Campus
MovieFest.
08
For politics to evolve,
writes freshman
Daaniyal Mulyadi, we
must accept there will
be conflict along the
way.
11
HoopSFest rang in the
new basketball season
with intros, dancing,
lip-syncing, prize
winning and all-around
fun for everyone.
Our opinion editor made his way to Novato in Marin County to observe a Trump watch party. GABRIEL GRESCHLER/FOGHORN
A BLUE DOT IN A RED SEA:
Liberal Observations of the Second Debate from Trump Headquarters, Marin
GABRIEL GRESCHLER
Opinion Editor
After having watched the first presidential
debate with liberals in San Francisco, I was curious what the second debate would be like in
a room full of conservatives. It was then that I
called up the Marin GOP Election Headquarters to reserve a spot for their debate watch party
this past Sunday.
I found it necessary to shed my own identity
as a Clinton supporter, and instead donned a
bright red polo shirt ro fully adopt the aura of
a Trump crusader, as I believed people would
be more forthcoming with their opinions about
Trump with me. With this identity, however, I
have chosen to censor out any interviews, as it
would not be fair to the interviewee.
My job that night was to be an observer, and
I intended to watch the second debate as if I
was a conservative, since I feel there is a lack of
understanding among liberals concerning sup-
portets of Trump. While I strongly condemn
and disagree with his rhetoric, I am as much
concerned about the polarization of our politics.
San Francisco is indeed a bubble that I hoped to
pop.
An hour before the debate, my ftiend Mustafa and I made our way across the Golden Gate
Bridge and into the knobbly, green hills of Marin County. We drove into Novato, a city in
northern Marin County, eventually rolling into
a cul-de-sac that would reveal what we had been
looking for: a building adorned in randomly assorted Trump banners, posters, and American
flags. Heading up the stairs of the musty office
building, we were greeted in the lobby by a
gathering of hospitable and eager voters milling
around sporting "Make America Great Again"
t-shirts. The demographics of the headquarters
was a culture-shock coming from USF, yet predictable for Marin County. With a median age
ten years older than that of the rest of California, Mustafa and I were the youngest attendees
of the watch party; almost 30 yeats younger
than anyone else. Looking around the room,
it was apparent that the diversity in the room
was lacking. We were surrounded by the old,
white vestiges of Novato. We wete approached
a few times with the question: "You both are so
young... do you even support Trump?" It was
as if they thought someone our age could never
support him.
There was an electric excitement in the air
as the clock counted down to the start of the
debate. This crackling optimism refused to be
dampened by the damaging news of a tape released by the Washington Post two days prior,
with Trump having been caught saying sexually
suggestive comments, some amounting it to sexual assault. I had been expecting was a group of
CONTINUED ON PG. 9
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