Canyon News Report of Pro-Trump Counter Protest at LAX, Jan. 29, 2017

From Canyon News:

LOS ANGELES—Thousands of protestors gathered in front of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX Sunday, January 29 in opposition to the Trump administration’s new policies regarding immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries.

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Across the street from the main group of thousands of anti-Trump protestors a tiny counter protest was held. The small group mainly stayed in their own area surrounded by police.

One pro-Trump protestor in a red “Make America Great Again” hat did venture into the larger group. He loudly proclaimed his views with a bullhorn, and was met with mostly argumentation and mockery before disengaging.

Arthur Schaper, President of the Beach Cities Republicans, was one of the few counter demonstrators. He rejected the idea that Trump is bigoted, and cited several Trump supporters of different races he knows.

“I support Donald Trump. I do support the temporary ban. I support the big, beautiful wall along our southern border,” Schaper said.

He expressed displeasure with people he sees as “miseducated, uneducated, or on purpose being distortionary” about the new laws, which he states are not a Muslim ban. He claims these countries both have a pattern of terrorism domestically, and of people leaving and committing acts of terror. He said there isn’t a reason to fear people just because they’re from those countries.

“For example, Christians from Syria, Christians from Egypt. I’m not afraid of them,” Schaper said.

He did state that while he is not against individual Muslims, he does have objections to Islam.

“The ideology of Islam, it teaches violence and death to those who don’t submit. In Islam, you’re taught that there are countries where it’s either nations of submission to Islam, or nations of war,” Schaper said. “We have to be realistic. Now Muslims in general. They could be apostate. They may not really believe it. They may call themselves Muslim but not adhere to anything in the Koran.”

He said he agrees with what he claims former Muslims say.

“They love Muslims, so do I, but I am very much against Islam, and I’m very much aware and very concerned about the terrorist threats that we’ve seen” he said specifically citing Syria, Libya and Egypt as causes for concern. He also said he believes a Muslim is more likely to commit a terrorist attack than a non-Muslim, although he said he didn’t know exact percentages and it depended on their level of entrenchment “in the ideology.”

Another counter protestor, Robin Hvidston, supports Trump’s immigration stance. She believes the government should be more focused on aiding constituencies like the American homeless population.

“The people of the world need to stand up in their own countries,” Hvidston said. “We want the world to be a peaceful, wonderful place, and we need the citizens of the globe to stand up and fight in their home countries.”

When asked if she had ever been in a situation like a civil war, she stated that she was currently in one as she considered the opposing protests Sunday to be similar to war torn Syria.

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