Irving and Grand Prairie are both places you might imagine to be Donald Trump country – the mayor of Irving said Trump is welcome anytime, but not this week because of security concerns.
Both cities say there was not enough lead time to prepare for rallies the candidate’s team was asking for. In San Antonio, the story’s different. Just as state Democrats are in the middle of their convention on Friday, the presumptive GOP nominee will be stopping by the Alamo City. If comments on Facebook are to be believed, some 2,000 protesters will be on hand as well.
In the middle is the police. William McManus, chief of the San Antonio Police Department, says they have been working with the Secret Service to prepare for the candidate’s arrival.
“We have a great detail that handles these types of events for us, and we’re ready for him when he comes,” McManus says.
On the other side, he says he’s been coordinating with a leader of the protests.
“We’re not going to try to push anybody in a particular corner where they feel minimized,” he says. “We’re going to allow people to protest – we’re going to allow them to be on public space as long as its not a danger to other people.”
Listen to the full interview in the audio player above.
