Of course, for those on the other side of the barrier, Trump’s appeal was all about the ‘-isms’. ‘The whole campaign is out of the fascism playbook’, said David, who was holding a placard depicting Trump standing next to Adolf Hitler. Pointing to Trump’s nasty calls to deport Mexicans and ban Muslims’ migration, he said Trump is ‘catering to the disenfranchised’ and ‘scapegoating Muslims and Mexicans for the ills of the country’…

On this point, animal-shelter worker Joe was unconvinced: ‘Trump is tapping into the people that are prone to hate, fearmongering and people who are just angry.’ As I move around the pen, ‘I get why they’re angry’ is said time and again. But it’s little more than a throat-clearing exercise. When it comes down to it, the anti-Trump protesters think his supporters are either racist, or plain stupid. ‘People who support Trump are uneducated’, said postgrad student Sally. ‘They don’t have broad minds about what’s going on. I think it’s intelligence.’

For all the talk of ‘making America hate again’, the people who were really being smeared or scapegoated at this rally were Trump supporters – working-class voters who dare to support someone who strays from the PC-politico script. Indeed, the only harsh words thrown at immigrants emanated from the designated free-speech area: as a group of Latin-American men walked past, heading to the rally, a gaggle of college students screamed ‘You’re on the wrong side!’.