Art provided by Tessa Smith

Being from Sedro-Woolley, it may be hard to spot a plaid shirt in a crowd of hundreds of people. Especially at a rally for President Donald J. Trump, where there’s often more than one plaid shirt. But when someone wearing the now iconic plaid shirt is seen making faces directly behind the President, it’s a little hard to miss.
Plaid Shirt Guy, more formally known as 17-year old Tyler Linfesty, is a high school senior who recently attended Trump’s campaign rally in Montana. Despite identifying as a social democrat, Linfesty didn’t want to miss a chance to see the President of The United States speak in his home state. According to CNN, on the morning of September 6, Linfesty received an email saying he was selected for V.I.P status despite not having applied for it. This meant he would be able to briefly meet Trump and take a picture with him. He asked organizers if he and his friends could sit behind the stage, and they were given approval. Organizers asked the group of teens to wear the well known ‘Make America Great Again Hat.’ Linfesty was seen without a hat, yet wearing a Democratic Socialists of America pin.
“When I got back there, I knew that I was going to be genuine. I was going to give my actual reaction to the things he said. So whenever I disagree with him, you could tell that I disagreed. But whenever I agreed with him, you know, I clapped,” Linfesty told New York Times Reporter Doug Mills.
From the start, Linfesty was told to “keep clapping, you have to smile, you have to look enthusiastic.” For most of Trump’s speech, Linfesty was anything but enthusiastic. He was seen making disapproving or critical faces whenever something was said that Linfesty didn’t agree with. When Trump remarked that he has “gotten a lot of support” in response to the anonymous letter addressing a resistance against Trump within the White House, Linfesty mouthed the words “have you?” Later, he shook his head at Trump’s words, and mouthed “What?” with wide, confused eyes.
Once his actions were made aware of, he was promptly removed from the scene. A woman simply walked to Linfesty and told him, “I’m going to replace you.” Linfesty cooperated and was escorted to a back room by secret service agents. The meeting lasted for ten minutes, and consisted of Linfesty being asked to show his I.D. The Secret Service agents then respectfully told the teen to leave and not come back.
“That was not me trying to protest,” Linfesty said in a later interview with Mills. “That was just my honest reactions to the things that he was saying.” Linfesty claims he knew he was removed for not being enthusiastic enough. The women who took his place was pleasantly smiling and being fairly enthusiastic. Since then, Linfesty has updated his Twitter profile picture to the famed face he made doubting the President’s words. Linfesty will turn 18 in October and looks forward to voting for the first time.