Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to volunteer at President Donald Trump’s rally hosted at the Des Moines International airport. For me this was an amazing experience, I got to see first hand what goes into making a political rally happen. This rally was however seen quite controversial, some people were calling it a “Superspreader event” because of the amount of people attending this rally  amid the looming COVID-19 pandemic. The numbers have not been released on this matter but it appears that there was no major spread of the virus because of this event. At the rally every person in attendance was required to wear a mask especially the people that were volunteering and working the event such as myself.

I got to the rally early to help set up for the event. I was assigned to the merchandise tent where we sold items such as hats, shirts, masks and signs, but I ended up doing many more things than just merchandise. Before the rally we had to make sure that everything was exact in the way it was set up. We were told that everything must look perfect for when people take pictures and when this event is broadcasted to the nation on TV. There were some unexpected parts to this rally, for example It turned out that we did not end up actually selling anything but instead it was decided to give everything away. This decision came as a surprise to the people who had been setting this stand up in the previous time before this event. Once people were seated they had a few of the workers throw all the hats out into the crowd. The people in the crowd were thrilled to get a hat because the “Make America Great Again” hats are a staple in President Trump’s presidential campaign. 

I have now been to two presidential rallies, the other being last February at Drake University and I must say that it was quite a thrilling experience. If I were given the option I would not hesitate in volunteering in other political rallies, I truly loved seeing crowd reaction and what actually happens behind the scenes at these political rallies. Jarrett Swan says “It is necessary because it really helps draw in new voters for politicians, as long as everyone is wearing a mask there should be no issues” Overall Rallies are vital to any politician’s campaign and have been since the beginning of the United States.