Michael Skolnik decided to do a minor social experiment when visiting Texas. Skolnik, an entrepreneur who was formally a campaign surrogate for Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election, decided to wear a shirt bearing the famous Obama “HOPE” photo around a small Texas town where 80 percent of the citizens voted for Trump.
When the media makes it sounds like everyone is politically at each other’s throats, what kind of reaction did he get? Read his account below:Walking around a very small Texas town that voted 80% for Trump with my Obama t-shirt on this morning has been quite the experience.
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) September 2, 2017
In the restaurant I had breakfast at one of the cooks came out from the kitchen and came over and said, "I just wanted to see your shirt."
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) September 2, 2017
In the gun store that I wanted to check out, the nice lady behind the counter told me when I walked in that "I looked like was lost."
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) September 2, 2017
It's a very beautiful town + the people are very nice. Here for a wedding of a friend who worked for Obama, so I wore t-shirt to represent.
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) September 2, 2017
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) September 2, 2017
In other words, exactly what you would expect. Despite the characterization of conservatives as the intolerant ones by the media, does anyone truly think that such an experiment would’ve gone the same way had Skolnik worn a pro-Trump t-shirt in a city like Berkeley, or New York City? In the latter case - we don’t even have to wonder.
[Note: This post was written by Matt Palumbo. He is a co-author of the new book A Paradoxical Alliance: Islam and the Left, and can be found on Twitter @MattPalumbo12]
