"Plaid shirt guy" removed from T-rump's camera shot for 'being honest' at Montana rally
Tyler Linfesty, a Billings West High School senior, has become a social media sensation after being removed from a 'T-rump' camera shot at the T-rump rally Thursday night in Montana. His transgression? Not being 'enthused' enough, and giving 'honest facial expressions'.
Linfesty, who was standing just over Trump's right shoulder in the camera shot, was making faces and mouthing responses as T-rump spoke at the podium. Viewers caught on and quickly dubbed him 'the plaid shirt guy'. After about an hour, he was removed from the position and replaced by a young female who cheered like a high school cheerleader behind T-rump.
Linfest explained what happened on a CNN interview this weekend.
"I just wanted to go, just see the President and hear what he had to say. I mean, I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to see the President of the United States," he told Don Lemon on Friday evening. "I was not trying to protest," he said, explaining those were his honest reactions to the President's speech.
"When I got back there, I knew that I was going to be genuine. I was going to give my actual reaction to the things he said. So whenever I disagree with him, you could tell that I disagreed. But whenever I agreed with him, you know, I clapped," Linfesty explained.
At one point, viewers can see him mouth the question "Have you?" in response to T-rump's claim that he has "gotten a lot of support" in the wake of the anonymous New York Times op-ed author and the writer's claim of a "resistance" within the White House administration.
"Before the rally, they told us that, you know, you have to be enthusiastic and be clapping and cheering for Donald Trump. And I wasn't doing that because I wasn't enthusiastic and I wasn't happy with what he was saying," Linfesty admitted.
An hour into the interview, a young woman came up to him and told him she would take his place behind the President, which she did - and cheered and smiled enthusiastically.
"The woman she came in, and she just said, 'I'm going to replace you.' And I just walked off. I knew I was getting kicked off for not being enthusiastic enough so I decided not to fight it," Linfesty said.
Linfesty claims he was then escorted to a room where he was detained for ten minutes, as they checked out his ID. He was then escorted out of the rally by Secret Service agents, and he's not sure why. No one gave him an explanation as to why he was forced to leave.
Before the rally, he was given a "Make America Great Again" red hat by organizers and told to wear it at the rally. Instead, he opted for a "Democratic Socialists of America" pin. As he explained, he was being his 'honest' self.
Unfortunately, being honest doesn't go far in the GOP.