The Boston 'Free Speech' Rally: Even Trump Liked It

The numbers said it all: 40,000 counter-protesters, 100 alt-right demonstrators, thousands of police and security forces, 33 arrests. On a warm Saturday afternoon, the Boston "Free Speech" rally became a happy celebration of just that, though it was clearly designed by the police and city authorities to prevent any direct confrontations with the alt-right advocates who sponsored the event. They were pretty much barricaded on the Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common - seen some 100 feet away from the huge crowd that thronged the park to protest their presence, and not heard at all. Suppose you held a free speech protest in the park and no one could hear it? That is what happened on the Common on Saturday.

There was a scattering of confrontations between alt-right proponents and the protesters. One that I witnessed was a heated exchange between a seemingly dumbstruck alt-right advocate and some angry protesters that admonished him. That the alt-right advocate was followed by a news reporter and camera made the moment seem less spontaneous than one staged for multiple impact. That didn't happen - people shouted, but no fists flew. Just a lot of angry words on one side and a surprisingly placid advocate on the other that made the moment seem like, well, fake news. Who knows where the footage ended up? Brietbart, perhaps?

Otherwise it was an overwhelming expression of liberal politics with a definite anti-Trump stance. It brought to mind the much larger event that happened in the park on the Saturday after Trump's inauguration, when more than 100,000 came to the park to protest the President's election. It was more a love-in than the contentious event many expected to happen. Much of the credit is due the diligence of the police and the shrewd planning of city officials that mitigated any friction. But you can't help but wonder why so many of the alt-right didn't show up? Why the event never morphed into our greatest fears was due to the sheer one-sidedness of the crowd.

Even the President got it right in a confused set of tweets he sent out about Boston. At first he focused on the (few) confrontations between the police and protesters in his usual blunt manner. But soon after (and one wonders if perhaps someone stole his smart phone) he tweeted praise for the marchers. In a dramatic turn, Trump went on to "applaud the many protestors in Boston who are speaking out against bigotry and hate. Our country will soon come together as one!" He also wrote: "Our great country has been divided for decades. Sometimes you need protest in order to heal, & we will heal, & be stronger than ever before!"