1 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, this is Robert Evans. Welcome to It Could 2 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,720 Speaker 1: Happen here, a podcast about things falling apart, and occasionally 3 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,040 Speaker 1: about how to stop things from falling apart. Today we're 4 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 1: doing one of those latter episodes. I'm happy to say 5 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 1: we've we've actually got kind of something that's that's overall 6 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:25,639 Speaker 1: uplifting to talk about. If you are someone who pays 7 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,479 Speaker 1: much attention to the right wing, and particularly to the 8 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:32,880 Speaker 1: current right wing campaign against LGBT and most particularly the 9 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: transgender people, you are aware of a guy named Matt Walsh. 10 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: He is a you might call him a pundit at 11 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 1: the Daily Wire who has taken it upon himself to 12 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: become kind of the one of the central figures in 13 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: the present campaign against trans people to limit their rights 14 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: to transition, to you know, push laws that criminalize their 15 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: existing in public spaces. He's a real piece of shit, 16 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: one of the one of the worst people in the 17 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: country presently, and like all terrible peace people, he has 18 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: been going around in a series of speeches invited generally 19 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:08,399 Speaker 1: by local student body republican organizations at universities. It's not 20 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:10,360 Speaker 1: the only people who invite them to speak, but that's 21 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: what we're talking about today. Oliver Wyline is a local 22 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,680 Speaker 1: community activist who showed up at one of these events 23 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:20,759 Speaker 1: and who recorded what was happening the reaction to Matt 24 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,680 Speaker 1: Walsh being invited to speak at a college in Iowa City. 25 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:27,960 Speaker 1: And yeah, Oliver, welcome to the program. 26 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 2: First off, Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. 27 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:32,960 Speaker 1: And yeah, I just kind of wanted you to start 28 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,120 Speaker 1: with how did you become aware of what was happening 29 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 1: and decide, you know, to show up and do what 30 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: you did because I became aware of you just reading 31 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: your thread, which was a mix of you know, Twitter 32 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: posts on what was happening in some videos of what 33 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: had been happening on the ground. 34 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 2: Yeah. 35 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 3: So I am a towney here in Iowa City. I'm 36 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 3: not a student, but I have you know, I'm very 37 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 3: close both physically and you know, just personally with lots 38 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 3: of activists on campus at Iowa City, lots of young activists, 39 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,639 Speaker 3: particularly organizations like the y DSA. They have a couple 40 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 3: immigrants rights associations, some lgbt q i A associations and everything. 41 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 3: So when this was made public that the YAF the 42 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,079 Speaker 3: Young Americans Foundation, that's what it stands for, right, I think. 43 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 3: But they announced that Matt Walsh was indeed going to 44 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 3: be speaking in April, and of course, you know, lots 45 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 3: of people just started sending me things like, wow, I 46 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:46,679 Speaker 3: can't believe these motherfuckers are bringing Matt Walsh out of everybody, 47 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 3: even though it wasn't very surprising because they love to 48 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:54,080 Speaker 3: have the yaf here, loves to bring people to speak 49 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 3: that are objectively terrible people. They just recently had al 50 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 3: Alan West. 51 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,639 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I'm sure you know all about. 52 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 1: Oh no, yeah he's yeah, yeah, playing the hits with 53 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: Alan Dubbs. 54 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 2: Yep. 55 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:13,960 Speaker 3: So yeah, the reaction was, you know, just kind of 56 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 3: like a general we should do something about this, that 57 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 3: Matt Walsh has come to campus or is going to 58 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 3: come to campus. So you know, there was lots of 59 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:30,119 Speaker 3: flying campaigns, lots of calls online. There is a petition 60 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 3: circulating trying to get the university to not allow Matt 61 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 3: Walsh on campus. But here in Iowa, the board of 62 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 3: regents is all just appointed by our Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, 63 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 3: so you know, there's no way that they would do that. 64 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:52,560 Speaker 3: And yeah, so that's how everybody found out about it, 65 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 3: and you know, it was just a lot of the 66 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 3: YAF would put up flyers and then they would instantly 67 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 3: get torn down and they would cry about it. Yeah, 68 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 3: that was a lot of the build up to this event. 69 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's how I knew. And one of the things, 70 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: I mean, the thing that because obviously there are different 71 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: right wing shitheads speaking in various places and protests against them, 72 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: you know, every day that go a variety of ways. 73 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:18,919 Speaker 1: One of the reasons I was interested in what you 74 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:20,719 Speaker 1: had to say and I think that this is a 75 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: worthwhile want to talk to people about is that I 76 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: think the Young America's Americans Foundation kids who invited him 77 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: wound up demoralized at the end of this. That was 78 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: my take on this. This is not an event that 79 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: seems to have gone well to them. So I want 80 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: you to walk through kind of what happened that night, 81 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:40,279 Speaker 1: both in terms of what you saw from the folks 82 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:42,200 Speaker 1: showing up to see Walsh and what you saw kind 83 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 1: of from the response to him. 84 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say it's a fair assumption that the 85 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 3: YAF people were demoralized after this. 86 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 2: So the protests. 87 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 3: It was last Wednesday, the nineteenth, and the protest was 88 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 3: very you know, there was no leader It was very decentralized, 89 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:04,479 Speaker 3: you know, just lots of people showing up, and instantly 90 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 3: when everybody showed up, like at four o'clock when the 91 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,159 Speaker 3: documentary was showing before Matt Walsh was going to speak 92 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 3: his you know, shitty documentary What is a Woman showed beforehand. 93 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 94 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 3: It was like a joyous occasion almost. People just were 95 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 3: trickling in on the park right across the street from 96 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:24,359 Speaker 3: the IMU, and more and more people. There's hundreds of 97 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 3: people came, you know, not just students, but like people 98 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 3: from Iowa City and Cedar Rapids and you know, just 99 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,719 Speaker 3: eastern Iowa in general that were just like, we do 100 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 3: not you know, we're feeling really bad that this absolute 101 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 3: fucking shithead is in our state right now. You know, 102 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 3: the air smells bad, so we you know. Yeah, So 103 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,320 Speaker 3: it was it was very joyous. And then people were like, Okay, 104 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:52,080 Speaker 3: the documentary is about to get out. And the way 105 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,159 Speaker 3: this event was set up was the documentary was being 106 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 3: shown in a theater that's in the IMU, the Memorial Union, 107 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 3: a student hangout spot basically, and then all the people 108 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 3: that were in the documentary were going to then file 109 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 3: into the main lounge whereas where he was speaking. And 110 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 3: so when the documentary got let out, all the activists 111 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:20,040 Speaker 3: or just the people that came to protest him were 112 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 3: just like, all right, we're going inside, you know, We're 113 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 3: not We're not gonna, you know, just stand out here. 114 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:28,039 Speaker 3: You know, we're going to make sure that they know 115 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:32,599 Speaker 3: every second that this is bullshit that you came to 116 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 3: see this guy speak, and especially in Iowa City, this 117 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 3: isn't going to fly, you know, without some type of resistance. 118 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 3: So everybody that lined up for the Matt Walsh speaking 119 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:47,360 Speaker 3: event and who came out of the theater after watching 120 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 3: his documentary had to wait in line and be screamed 121 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:55,880 Speaker 3: at by protesters for like an hour at least. And 122 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 3: it was so funny just these people like they arted 123 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 3: out at first, you know, for a few minutes being 124 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 3: like haha, look at all these triggered libs. But then 125 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 3: after like twenty minutes they were just kind of like 126 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 3: thousand yards steering, you know. 127 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, that's really interesting to me because obviously, like 128 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: one of the particularly with the younger right right, you know, 129 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: I think there is sort of a dividing line both 130 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: in my head and in physical behavior between kind of 131 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: like older and maybe even less radical Republicans who are 132 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: really tied to this idea of the silent majority and 133 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: get a degree of emotional comfort from the idea that 134 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,000 Speaker 1: most people do think like them, they just don't want 135 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: to talk about it. And then there's sort of not 136 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: an entirely separate, but certainly much more common attitude among 137 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:48,680 Speaker 1: the younger right wing activists, people who were raised online 138 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: in places like four chan about the where a lot 139 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 1: of their focus is on the joy of triggering the left, 140 00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: which they see as like controlling the culture to a 141 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: large degree. And so it's interesting to me, you know, 142 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: that's something that these people like to talk about a lot. 143 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: They like to at least portray themselves as sort of 144 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: above caring, but very few people are capable of like 145 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: just being screamed at by a crowd of people and 146 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: not feeling shitty after a while. That makes a lot 147 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:21,960 Speaker 1: of sense to me. 148 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it was definitely breaking through to a 149 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 3: lot of them, I could tell, And I even heard 150 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 3: some conversations amongst them, like very taken aback and like 151 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 3: in shock, you know, like voice shaking when talking about it, 152 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,240 Speaker 3: just like why are they doing this? You know, I 153 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:41,959 Speaker 3: mean like putting two and two together, Like it was 154 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:46,480 Speaker 3: very fascinating to hear to eavesdrop on these conversations, and 155 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:50,320 Speaker 3: it was a lot of that, and it was also well, 156 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,679 Speaker 3: one thing that happened is I don't know if they 157 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 3: oversold tickets or just didn't track like how many people 158 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 3: were going to be there. But the people that showed 159 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:03,240 Speaker 3: up to see Matt Walsh I would estimate about half 160 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:05,079 Speaker 3: half of them were not able to go see him. 161 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 3: They were told they were keeping track of how many 162 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:12,480 Speaker 3: people were going into the main lounge, and then just 163 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 3: randomly they were just like, all right, that's it. You know, 164 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:20,479 Speaker 3: the cops there and the staff and Matt Walsh's private security, 165 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,280 Speaker 3: which I will say there was more private security, or 166 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 3: there was more security there in general than when Mike 167 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 3: Pence spoke at the exact same place. 168 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 1: At least obvious security with Pench. 169 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 2: More obviously more obvious security. 170 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know they had bomb snipping dogs and everything. 171 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: Oh wow. Interesting. Do you know how full the actual 172 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: theater was. 173 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:47,479 Speaker 2: The YAF claims seven hundred. 174 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:50,840 Speaker 1: People, and what's capacity for them. 175 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:54,839 Speaker 3: I don't exactly know, but they said that seven hundred 176 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:57,000 Speaker 3: people were able to see Matt Walsh. And then so 177 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 3: I would say more people came to see Matt Walsh, 178 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 3: if thousand or something, that's another number that the YAF 179 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:07,679 Speaker 3: threw out there. But I would say there was at 180 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:11,080 Speaker 3: least an equal amount of protesters there at its peak too. 181 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:15,440 Speaker 3: And I will also say that there were people keeping 182 00:10:15,559 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 3: track of the cars leaving when they were able to leave, 183 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,480 Speaker 3: and there was a considerable amount of out of state 184 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 3: plates and out of county plates. People traveled pretty far 185 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 3: to see Matt Wall's speak, is kind of and there 186 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 3: were people that showed up that, you know, the right 187 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 3: wing weirdos that I know that live in Des Moines, 188 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:39,599 Speaker 3: which is like two hours away, and even some in 189 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:43,000 Speaker 3: Omaha that came that I recognized personally. So yeah, people 190 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,719 Speaker 3: came pretty far for this, and a bunch of those 191 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 3: people that came pretty far were not able to see 192 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:50,079 Speaker 3: Matt Wall's speak and they were extremely pissed. And so 193 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:52,679 Speaker 3: I was watching a lot of these people yell at 194 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:58,160 Speaker 3: staff and trying to bargain with police officers, like come on, 195 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:02,320 Speaker 3: we drove, like, let us in everything. The cops were 196 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:08,559 Speaker 3: just not having it, and so the mood turned pretty angry. 197 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:08,840 Speaker 2: At that point. 198 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:22,360 Speaker 1: I would say, I'm interested in sort of are you aware, 199 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:25,240 Speaker 1: kind of like who was organizing the counter response and 200 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:28,559 Speaker 1: how that was. People were like informed that there was 201 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:32,120 Speaker 1: going to be something, because you know, it's not usually 202 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 1: a simple matter to get that folks many folks to 203 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 1: show up around one thousand for a counter protest. 204 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:42,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think mainly there were multiple student orgs. I 205 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:44,559 Speaker 3: think I named them a little bit earlier that you know, 206 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 3: there was the Graduates Union, a COGS union, a graduate students' union. 207 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 3: They put out a statement inviting you know, not only 208 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:55,559 Speaker 3: their members to come, but everybody to come. They do 209 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 3: a lot of good work around the university. The why 210 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 3: d Essay, the Young Democratic Socialists of America they have 211 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 3: a chapter here and they were organizing. They did heavy 212 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:11,320 Speaker 3: flying campaigns around town, not just campus, but around Iowa 213 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 3: City itself. And on top of that, I would say, 214 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:19,679 Speaker 3: just sharing flyers and word of mouth, like on the 215 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:24,920 Speaker 3: internet too. People know that Matt Walsh is kind of 216 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:30,440 Speaker 3: public enemy number one when it comes to the LGBTQ community, 217 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:32,679 Speaker 3: specifically the trans communities. So I think a lot of 218 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 3: people were just extremely pissed that he was here in 219 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 3: this town, in Iowa City, people call Iowa City a 220 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:42,000 Speaker 3: gayer town than San Francisco. 221 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:44,319 Speaker 2: People have referred to Iowa City as that. 222 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:47,320 Speaker 1: I don't know if trial hiar it is. San Francisco 223 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:48,480 Speaker 1: is a very gay town. 224 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:51,720 Speaker 3: Yeah, well if you Iowa City people call it little 225 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:53,359 Speaker 3: San Francisco for that reason. 226 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: That's sweet. I don't think I've actually been to Iowa City. 227 00:12:56,160 --> 00:13:00,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it is definitely the place in Iowa 228 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 3: where it is, you know, eastern Iowa. It's considered the 229 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 3: lib part of Iowa, but specifically Iowa City. People call 230 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:13,000 Speaker 3: it the People's Republic of Iowa City because like the 231 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 3: right wingers think it's so left wing here, but in 232 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:18,640 Speaker 3: reality it's our city council is run by like Pete 233 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,079 Speaker 3: Boodh Judge supporters, but you know, to them, that's communism. 234 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:23,240 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, So I think just. 235 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:27,719 Speaker 3: The spirit of Iowa City in general, like everybody was 236 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:29,559 Speaker 3: just pissed that this guy was coming to town, and 237 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:33,480 Speaker 3: everybody found out one way or another, and yeah, people 238 00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:35,400 Speaker 3: showed up and showed out for sure. 239 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:39,360 Speaker 1: When it comes to like kind of confrontations and stuff. 240 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:42,280 Speaker 1: How would you describe sort of the uh, the general 241 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:46,319 Speaker 1: mood towards that sort of behavior outside like, was this 242 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:50,600 Speaker 1: the kind of thing where there was there uh action 243 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:52,719 Speaker 1: sort of taken beyond like the yelling, or was it 244 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:57,520 Speaker 1: kind of like mostly focused on demoralization and providing kind 245 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:01,520 Speaker 1: of a visual show of how much resistance there is 246 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,200 Speaker 1: to walshit his ideas well. 247 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:07,920 Speaker 3: After a lot of them were denied entry, I think 248 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 3: a lot of them were extremely pissed off. And at 249 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:14,000 Speaker 3: that point I saw a bunch of old like, not 250 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 3: a bunch, I would say, a handful of almost scuffles 251 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:22,840 Speaker 3: breaking out. The couple I saw were definitely the vaults 252 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 3: and instigated by Matt Walsh attendees, because you know, they 253 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 3: probably drove really far and weren't able to get in, 254 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,800 Speaker 3: and now you got all these people with trans flags 255 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 3: screaming at you and calling you a Nazi and a 256 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:39,280 Speaker 3: fascist and that you're a piece of shit, you know, 257 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 3: and so but there was a lot of people and 258 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 3: a lot of cops that were really, really really wanting 259 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:50,000 Speaker 3: to make sure that that didn't happen. So after these 260 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:53,960 Speaker 3: people weren't allowed in, they were being escorted towards the 261 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 3: back entrance where they came in. And so they all 262 00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 3: went back towards the back entrance, and that is when 263 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,080 Speaker 3: somebody or some people I didn't see it. I only 264 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:08,520 Speaker 3: heard it dumped thousands and thousands of marbles by that exit. 265 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, that was my favorite thing that I saw in 266 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 1: your thread. Yeah. 267 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:14,760 Speaker 3: So then the cops were like, well, shit, sorry, guys, 268 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 3: you can't come this way, so you have to go 269 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:20,800 Speaker 3: back through the gauntlet of screaming protesters to get out. 270 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: I love that. Yeah, area denial, taking a yeah, area 271 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: denial and also kind of re routing them from an 272 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: area that's going to force them to confront the least 273 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: pleasant aspect of it. Yeah, that's very smart exactly. 274 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:36,240 Speaker 3: And then even after that, lots of people were going 275 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 3: to like the way the imus set up. There is 276 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 3: a park by it, and there's also a parking garage 277 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 3: right across the street from it, and there's a one 278 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 3: way out of the parking garage, so there's one way 279 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,480 Speaker 3: out if you parked in the parking garage. And towards 280 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 3: the end of his talk, and when everybody was filing 281 00:15:55,480 --> 00:16:00,400 Speaker 3: out of the Matt Walsh event, protesters had completely taken 282 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 3: over that street, So there was no way any of 283 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 3: these people were getting out. They just kind of like 284 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 3: came out in a giant like horde of people, and 285 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:12,840 Speaker 3: then they slowly started realizing, you know, since all these 286 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 3: people were blocking the street and there is a pet 287 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 3: band in the middle of the street playing, you know, yeah, 288 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 3: they were starting to understand that, oh shit, we're not 289 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 3: gonna be able to leave. 290 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:24,800 Speaker 2: So a lot of them were really mad about that, 291 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 2: and they. 292 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 3: Started going up to police officers and staff saying like, 293 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 3: you got to get these people out of here. I'm 294 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 3: trying to leave, you know, and the cops there was 295 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 3: only like outside, I would say, there was only like 296 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 3: seven police officers and there is no way, Like the 297 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 3: cops tried to get people to move out of the street. 298 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:44,280 Speaker 3: They even put their hands on some people to try 299 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 3: to move them, but then forty more people would just 300 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:48,720 Speaker 3: get in the street, and so they realized that that 301 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 3: wasn't going to happen. So after going through a gauntlet 302 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:57,080 Speaker 3: of protesters and stepping over marbles, you know, these people 303 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 3: are then also not able to leave the event when 304 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 3: they want to. And I would say the road was 305 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:08,160 Speaker 3: blocked probably for like an hour hour fifteen minutes until 306 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:12,160 Speaker 3: the police were finally able to kind of like wedge 307 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:15,960 Speaker 3: a way out for these people. And that's when one 308 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,280 Speaker 3: confrontation that I know happened where one of the Matt 309 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 3: Walsh attendees started shining a strobe light in people's faces 310 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 3: and someone put a sign in front of it to 311 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 3: stop them from doing that, and then that person grabbed 312 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:31,880 Speaker 3: the other person and there was kind of a fight 313 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:35,639 Speaker 3: that happened. But that was the only physical confrontation that 314 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:39,120 Speaker 3: I saw the entire night, besides cops putting their hands 315 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 3: on protesters trying to get them out of the street 316 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:41,640 Speaker 3: at one point. 317 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:53,719 Speaker 1: So would you say, we're kind of the main takeaways 318 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:55,399 Speaker 1: from this for people? You know, this is going to 319 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 1: continue to be a thing. Folks are looking at participating 320 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: in or organizing responses to EVINCED like this in the future. 321 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:06,280 Speaker 1: What were your kind of big takeaways? My takeaways is 322 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: that marbles obviously great idea. Marbles, Yes, marbles are a 323 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: great idea, you know, But also what I think is 324 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:16,600 Speaker 1: kind of worth taking from that is that like it's 325 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:19,280 Speaker 1: not enough. We often see this when like different tactics 326 00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:22,359 Speaker 1: go viral. Don't like do the cargo cult version of it? Right, 327 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: The reason why the marbles were effective wasn't just that 328 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: like it made an exit inaccessible. It's that because it 329 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:31,000 Speaker 1: made it was in a situation where it rerouted people 330 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 1: back through that screaming gauntlet of counter protesters, which was demoralizing. 331 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: So strategy is also like worth taking into account when 332 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:40,120 Speaker 1: you're adopting new tactics. 333 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:41,439 Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly. 334 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:44,080 Speaker 3: And from how it seemed to me is that that 335 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 3: was intentional, that it was meant to block that exit, 336 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:50,119 Speaker 3: so they had to go back through the screaming people 337 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:50,920 Speaker 3: to get out. 338 00:18:51,359 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, definitely. 339 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,000 Speaker 3: You know, marbles are funny, but it was deployed in 340 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 3: such a way where it was even more funny, Yeah, 341 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:03,320 Speaker 3: and effective. A takeaway that I had was that, you know, 342 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:06,479 Speaker 3: there's always going to be risk with this type of thing, 343 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 3: risk of you know, risk of anything really you know, 344 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 3: physical harm, emotional harm, people getting in trouble at school 345 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:19,320 Speaker 3: or something. But I think these kids and a lot 346 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:23,679 Speaker 3: of these attendees went there expecting to own the libs 347 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:28,240 Speaker 3: and then walked away really demoralized, you know, And so 348 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,639 Speaker 3: I think it was definitely worth it to put our 349 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,800 Speaker 3: bodies on the line and everything and put ourselves on 350 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 3: the line to just send that message and also make 351 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:40,600 Speaker 3: it clear that other people can do this too. And 352 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:43,399 Speaker 3: Matt Walsh speaks, you know, just make it miserable. You know, 353 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:45,919 Speaker 3: you don't even necessarily have to prevent him from speaking, 354 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 3: even though that would be pretty cool. But even though 355 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:52,240 Speaker 3: he did speak, like, no one's talking about that, and 356 00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:56,119 Speaker 3: no one's talking about what he said. People are talking 357 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 3: about how all the Matt Walsh people got stranded, and 358 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,639 Speaker 3: how there were more bulls that blocked their exit, and 359 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:04,800 Speaker 3: how the pet band came and played to a cadence 360 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:05,840 Speaker 3: of Buck Matt Walsh. 361 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:10,159 Speaker 1: You know, yeah, yeah, all right, was there anything else 362 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:12,040 Speaker 1: you want to talk about before we roll out? 363 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:16,080 Speaker 2: I'd say that about does it for me, unless you 364 00:20:16,119 --> 00:20:18,359 Speaker 2: have any more questions about specifics of the night. 365 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:20,440 Speaker 1: No, thank you for coming on, Oliver. Is there any 366 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 1: sort of plugs you've got for anything you want to 367 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: direct listeners towards before we end? 368 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:28,959 Speaker 3: Yeah, there's an organization around here called Iowa Trans Mutual 369 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,440 Speaker 3: Aid that does a lot of really really really good 370 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:34,120 Speaker 3: work for people in the state of Iowa that currently 371 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 3: is experiencing, like so much of the country, really really 372 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:41,960 Speaker 3: really bad anti trans legislations. So if you find it 373 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 3: in your heart or have the means to donate to 374 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:46,920 Speaker 3: such an Iowa Trans Mutual Aid, I really, I really 375 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:47,960 Speaker 3: can't recommend it enough. 376 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:51,080 Speaker 1: Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Oliver, and a big 377 00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: thank you to everybody who showed up that night in 378 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:57,200 Speaker 1: Iowa City. That is it for us today. Everybody, have 379 00:20:57,440 --> 00:20:59,800 Speaker 1: a great rest of your day, all right, Thank you 380 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:06,399 Speaker 1: so much. It Could Happen here as a production of 381 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: cool Zone Media. 382 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,199 Speaker 3: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 383 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:13,360 Speaker 3: Coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 384 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:16,720 Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can 385 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,439 Speaker 3: find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated monthly at 386 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 3: Coolzonmedia dot com slash sources. 387 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:22,719 Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.