Source: Getty / Getty
‘Plaid shirt guy’ kicked from Trump rally
The high school student who went viral for making faces behind President Donald Trump during a rally in Montana Thursday thinks he was kicked out of the event for not being “enthusiastic” enough.
Tyler Linfesty — who became knows as “plaid shirt guy” on social media — was removed from his position behind Trump at a rally in Billings, Montana Thursday. Afterward, Secret Service looked at his ID and told him to leave, Linfesty told CNN Friday.
He said no one specifically told him why he was being kicked out, but he suspects he wasn’t showing the proper amount of excitement during Trump’s speech.
Linfesty, a high school senior, said the people set to stand behind the president were told: “you have to be enthusiastic, you have to be clapping, you have to be cheering for Donald Trump.”
He said he and his friends were asked to wear Make America Great Again hats, but he declined.
He was positioned right behind the president, a spot visible in most TV camera shots. Linfesty, who wears a Democratic socialist pin, reacted in real-time to what Trump was saying by raising his eyebrows and mouthing responses.
Linfesty said he disagreed with “plenty” of what the president said but wasn’t against all of it. In fact, he said he clapped when Trump “railed against” the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and when the president said the 2016 Democratic primary was stolen from Bernie Sanders.
Linfesty said the facial expressions that caused him to go viral were just his natural reactions to what the president was saying.
“I wasn’t trying to protest, those were just my actual honest reactions,” Linfesty told CNN.
READ MORE: WKYC.com
Article Courtesy of USA Today and WKYC Channel 3 News Cleveland
First Picture Courtesy of The Washington Post and Getty Images
Second Picture Courtesy of Getty Images
Video Courtesy of YouTube, CNN, USA Today, and WKYC Channel 3 News Cleveland
