In August, Steve Mumford attended two rallies for Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president of the United States. Mumford went to Portland, Maine, and Fredericksburg, Virginia, to draw the crowds, the fans, and the candidate himself as the election season drew to a close. The rally in Portland was held just over a week after the Democratic convention, when Trump trailed Hillary Clinton by 8 points in national polls. By the time of the Fredericksburg rally, two weeks later, Trump had begun closing the gap.
Though these two rallies proceeded without major incident, Trump events have been marred by…