By now, the legend of 'Plaid Shirt Guy' has pretty much been cemented into American folklore. How a high school kid from Billings could incur the wrath of Trump rally apparatchiks, simply with a well-timed raise of eyebrow or other incredulous look.
Seventeen-year-old Tyler Linfesty recounted to CNN how Secret Service detained him, and then told him not to come back.
Source: Billings Gazette
Early on in the Trump rally, a Billings Gazette reporter saw staffers in the press pen looking at a photo in which Linfesty was circled.
Later Linfesty pinned a stylized rose emblem representing the Democratic Socialists of America to his right breast. The same group of staffers reviewed a photo of the emblem and searched online for more information. A short while later, Linfesty was removed.
"I saw this woman walking toward me on the left," he said. "She just said to me, 'I'm going to replace you.'"
He said he recognized her as one of the staffers manning the VIP hand-shaking and photo opportunity.
He was escorted to a back room where police and Secret Service looked at his ID and then after about 10 minutes told him he could leave, Linfesty said. He said he didn't feel mistreated at all during the encounter with police and Secret Service.
"They treated me fine," he said. "They just told me not to come back.
Apparently no one noticed his Democratic Socialists of America sticker on his shirt.
Linfesty said he also had a picture taken by the Trump campaign before the rally while he was wearing the DSA rose and posing with the president. He has not seen the picture since, he said Friday. As a joke, he also gave a copy of the "Communist Manifesto" wrapped with an "Art of the Deal" cover to Secret Service in hopes of having the president sign it. Agents did not grant his request, and the president didn't sign the book, he said
Doubtful that photo with Trump will ever be seen now. Pity.
