Newt Gingrich’s visit to Kennesaw State University drew vocal opinions from both ends of the political spectrum.
After the town hall meeting ended, a small crowd of students gathered in the student center to debate some of the issues the major party candidates have brought up recently.
The debate boiled down to a heated discussion between two students, surrounded by supporters and, sometimes, TV cameras as well.
“I’m still not understanding how you can bend the truth,” said sophomore professional sales major Daeshia Rogers. She made it clear she is not a Trump supporter.
“He’s not bending the truth at all,” said Katy Sissine, the other student. “He’s stating the straight facts.”
Sissine, a Trump supporter, hosts a political show on Owl Radio called Politronics every Tuesday.
Rogers explained that she appreciates Trump’s honesty on certain issues, like the economy and even many of Hillary Clinton’s mistakes.
“I appreciate that honesty,” she said. “But when he makes blatant disrespectful over-generalizations based off of stereotypes, that’s what we’re talking about.”
Sissine admitted that Trump is not perfect, because no one is.
“He does need to be more formal with his speech,” she said.
Rogers confronted her and asked
“You’re confidently standing in front of me and telling me that Donald Trump has never over-generalized people of color,” Rogers said. “You’re telling me none of this stuff exists, that we’re making it up?”
“Correct,” Sissine said. “I think it’s a lack of studying and a lack of research on your part.”
When Rogers and others in the crowd asked about Trump’s back-and-forth over many of his foreign policies, Sissine explained that it is a sensitive situation.
“Over the course of the last few months, events have developed, terrorist attacks have occurred, and things have changed,” Sissine said. “When you’re talking about an ongoing situation such as this that is constantly changing by the day, then yes, things are going to change as far as policy goes.”
With no “right” answers in a political debate, the discussion continued a couple hours after the town hall ended, and the crowd eventually fizzled out.