'Obviously, the hat provoked some of the stuff,' said fellow passenger Alexis Zimmerman
(
The Washington Post
)
Like some bizarre parody of a Trump rally, a belligerent man in a “Make America Great Again” hat was booted off a plane in Shanghai on Sunday - defiantly waving as a crowd of passengers jeered in the terminal: “Lock him up! Lock him up!”
It's unclear whether Chinese police did jail the man or who he was. As others on the United Airlines flight described it, he started arguing before he stepped onto the plane.
“Obviously, the hat provoked some of the stuff,” said Alexis Zimmerman, who was flying back to Newark from a business trip.
The man took an aisle seat three rows in front of her. She said he refused to let anyone sit beside him.
“He wanted to sit in the whole row by himself,” Zimmerman said.
Her video shows him leaning back in his seat - hands folded behind his red hat, feet propped on someone else's arm rest - while a woman in crutches and many others stand in the aisle, snap photos and glare.
“This young lady's not going to make it to her classes tomorrow and her tests she has to take, thanks to you,” a woman told the man. “Are you proud of yourself?”
“Guess what,” he replied. “In 45 minutes I'm going to collapse for not drinking my soda.”
The man said he was a diabetic, Zimmerman said. But at one point, passengers said, he also dared the flight crew to cuff him and drag him off the plane - reminding other passengers of last month's infamous deplaning, amid a barrage of in-plane horror stories that have plagued United and the rest of the airline industry in recent years.
But the United crew in Shanghai remained polite and patient throughout Sunday's ordeal, said Clark Gredoña, another passenger.
“He was trying to explain to the crew and captain.... because he had points, he felt he deserved an upgrade,” he said. “So this was his way of getting it.”
But he got no upgrade. And before long, as seen in video, the man was waving his arms and shouting: “I have a seat here!... Shut up!... Moron!”
This went on for the better part of an hour, passengers Gredoña and Zimmerman said. And somehow in all of it, US politics came up.
“I know people don't like my hat,” Zimmerman heard the man say.
“He berated a female passenger,” Gredoña said. “I think he called her Hillary. Then he called her a lesbian. I think he called a stewardess 'sweetheart.'”
The man became “increasingly disruptive when asked to deplane,” a United spokesman said in a brief statement. “Local law enforcement was called to assist.”
Police had no more luck persuading him than anyone else. So Zimmerman, Gredoña and every other passenger had to return to the terminal and wait for the officers to remove him from the plane.
Zimmerman said that took another two hours. Gredoña, who was partway home from a trip to the Philippines, had by then lost track of time.
He only knows a lot of it passed before the man finally emerged from the plane, escorted by police.
That's when the whole incident took on a very electoral vibe. Cellphone video shows the man, still in his Trump hat, ascending an escalator - waving what appears to be a seat cushion at dozens of angry onlookers.
Gredoña thinks the chanting started after the man taunted the crowd: “So I succeeded in making you guys waste three-and-a-half hours.”
People then shouted words unprintable.
And one shouted: “Lock him up!”
Then another, and another. “Lock him up, lock him up” - until a Chinese airport terminal sounded much like a latter-day Trump rally, when he and his crowds threatened his presidential campaign opponent, Hillary Clinton, with prison.
“I was one of those chanters,” Zimmerman said. “I didn't start it. But oh my God, it was so funny, I couldn't help myself.”
The man remained defiant until the end - jeered in multiple languages, surrounded by police, he finally walked down the concourse and out of sight to an unknown fate.
Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons
Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons
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Donald Trump's first 100 days in office were marred by a string of scandals, many of which caught the eye of the Independent's cartoonists
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Trump's first 100 days have seen him aggressively ramp up tensions with his nuclear rivals in North Korea
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Mr Trump has warned of a "major, major conflict" with the pariah nation lead by Kim Jong Un
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Mr Trump dropped the "mother of all bombs" on alleged ISIS-linked militants in Afghanistan, amid an escalation of US military intervention around the globe
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Mr Trump's leadership has been marked by sudden and unexpected shifts in global policy
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One major and unexpected setback came when Mr Trump's Healthcare Bill was struck down by members of his own party
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Mr Trump has been a figure of fun in the media, with his approval at record lows
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The alleged involvement of Russian intelligence operatives in securing Mr Trump the presidency prompted harsh criticism
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The explosive resignation of Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who lied about his links to the Russian ambassador, was just one scandal to hit the President
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Donald Trump cited a non-existent terror attack in Sweden during a campaign rally
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Donald Trump stands accused of stoking regional tensions in Eastern Asia
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North Korea has launched a number of failed nuclear tests since Mr Trump took power
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Theresa May formally rejected the petition calling for Mr Trump to be banned from the UK
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When Mr Trump's initial so-called Muslim ban was struck down by a federal justice, the President mocked the 69-year-old as a "ridiculous", "so-called judge"
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A week after his inauguration, Theresa May met with Mr Trump at the White House
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Donald Trump's first days in office were marked by a hasty attempt to follow through on many of his campaign promises, including the so-called Muslim ban
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Donald Trump's decision to ban citizens of many majority-Muslim countries from the US sparked mass protests
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British PM Theresa May was criticised by many in the press for cosying up to the new President
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One of Mr Trump's top aides, Kelly Anne Conway, was mocked for describing mistruths as "alternative facts"
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British PM Theresa May was quick to demonstrate that her political aims did not hugely differ from Mr Trump's
33/33
Donald Trump's inauguration, on 20 January 2017, sparked protests both at home and abroad
1/33
Donald Trump's first 100 days in office were marred by a string of scandals, many of which caught the eye of the Independent's cartoonists
2/33
Trump's first 100 days have seen him aggressively ramp up tensions with his nuclear rivals in North Korea
3/33
Mr Trump has warned of a "major, major conflict" with the pariah nation lead by Kim Jong Un
4/33
Mr Trump dropped the "mother of all bombs" on alleged ISIS-linked militants in Afghanistan, amid an escalation of US military intervention around the globe
5/33
Mr Trump has been accused of falling short of the standards set by his predecessors in the Oval Office, including Franklin D Roosevelt
6/33
The tycoon's ascension to the White House came at a time when the balance of power is shifting away from Western nations like those in the G7 group
7/33
Western politicians, including the British Conservative party, have been accused of falling in line behind Mr Trump's proposals
8/33
Brexit is seen to have weakened Britain, reducing still further any political will to resist American leadership
9/33
Mr Trump's leadership has been marked by sudden and unexpected shifts in global policy
10/33
Trump's controversial missile strike on Syria, which killed several citizens, was seen by some analysts as an attempt to distract from his policy elsewhere
11/33
The President has also spent a large majority of his weekends golfing, rather than attending to matters of state
12/33
Though free of gaffes, a visit from Chinese president Xi Jinping spotlighted trade tensions between the two states
13/33
One major and unexpected setback came when Mr Trump's Healthcare Bill was struck down by members of his own party
14/33
Mr Trump has been a figure of fun in the media, with his approval at record lows
15/33
A string of revelations about Mr Trump's financial indiscretions did not mar his surge to the White House
16/33
Outgoing President Barack Obama was accused of wiretapping Trump Tower by his successor in America's highest office
17/33
The alleged involvement of Russian intelligence operatives in securing Mr Trump the presidency prompted harsh criticism
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The explosive resignation of Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who lied about his links to the Russian ambassador, was just one scandal to hit the President
19/33
Many scandals, such as the accusation Barack Obama was implicated in phone-hacking, first broke on Mr Trump's Twitter feed
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Donald Trump's election provoked mass protests in the UK, with millions signing a petition to ban him from the country
21/33
Donald Trump cited a non-existent terror attack in Sweden during a campaign rally
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Donald Trump stands accused of stoking regional tensions in Eastern Asia
23/33
North Korea has launched a number of failed nuclear tests since Mr Trump took power
24/33
Theresa May formally rejected the petition calling for Mr Trump to be banned from the UK
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When Mr Trump's initial so-called Muslim ban was struck down by a federal justice, the President mocked the 69-year-old as a "ridiculous", "so-called judge"
26/33
A week after his inauguration, Theresa May met with Mr Trump at the White House
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Donald Trump's first days in office were marked by a hasty attempt to follow through on many of his campaign promises, including the so-called Muslim ban
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Donald Trump's decision to ban citizens of many majority-Muslim countries from the US sparked mass protests
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Revelations about Donald Trump's sexual improprieties were not enough to keep him from being elected President
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British PM Theresa May was criticised by many in the press for cosying up to the new President
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One of Mr Trump's top aides, Kelly Anne Conway, was mocked for describing mistruths as "alternative facts"
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British PM Theresa May was quick to demonstrate that her political aims did not hugely differ from Mr Trump's
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Donald Trump's inauguration, on 20 January 2017, sparked protests both at home and abroad
The plane would take off for the United States that evening, stopping for another delay in San Francisco so new crew could board, but eventually making it to Newark.
In the long and uneventful hours of the journey, passengers wondered who the man was - if he'd ended up in a Chinese jail, or if he'd been trying to provoke something with his political hat and escalating insults.
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