The man who earned the nickname “plaid shirt guy” for making exaggerated facial expressions during President Trump’s Billings, Montana rally on Thursday night was wearing a “Democratic Socialists of America” pin.
In a Friday night interview with CNN’s Don Lemon, high school senior Tyler Linfesty described his motivations for attending the rally, his reasoning behind the facial expressions he gave, and his experience being briefly interviewed by Secret Service.
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Lemon noted at the beginning of the interview that Linfesty isn’t a Republican and was wearing “a Democratic Socialists of America pin,” then asked him why he attended the rally.
“I originally signed up to go to the rally about a week before the rally was going to happen,” Linfesty told Lemon. “Honestly, I just wanted to go just to see the president and hear what he had to say. I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to see the president of the United States.”
“Were you deliberately making faces or was that a natural reaction?” Lemon asked.
“All of those reactions were my actual reaction,” said Linfesty. “I would have made those faces if anyone were to say that to me. I was not trying to protest. Those were just my actual, honest reactions.”
Linfesty added that he agreed and clapped when Trump spoke on issues he agreed with, such as NAFTA and the primary elections being stolen from Bernie Sanders. (RELATED: MAN WHO MADE ODD FACIAL EXPRESSIONS BEHIND TRUMP AT RALLY REMOVED)
The Montana high school student told Lemon that the person who came to replace him “really didn’t tell me anything,” but he speculated that the reason was because he “wasn’t enthusiastic.”
“So the woman she came in and she just said ‘I’m gong to replace you,’ and I just walked off,” he said. “I knew I was being kicked out for not being enthusiastic enough, so I decided just not to fight it.”
Secret Service “sat me down for 10 minutes, looked at my ID, and told me to leave,” said Linfesty.
They were “very respectfully told me to leave and not come back.”