A ground-level sample of The Donald Experience

“Trump! Trump! Trump!” “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” I was one of the many curiosity seekers who attended Donald Trump’s GOP presidential campaign rally Monday night at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell.

I went not as editor of The Sun but as John Q. Publicone.

I stood in the cold for 40 minutes with thousands of other people, in a line that began just beyond the Wannalancit Mills, wound its way around the Post Office, past the John F. Cox Circle, and eventually funneled into the cozy, warm inside of the arena.

I passed on my VIP pass, which would have allowed me to circumvent the line, because I wanted to hear for myself why ordinary people from all walks of life would fight rush-hour traffic and endure cold noses and feet to see The Donald.

The couple in front me were from Juneau, Alaska, via a post-holiday visit with relatives in Weymouth. When they heard Trump would be 50 miles from where they were staying, they said they rented a car and drove to Lowell.

“This is like a sunny day in the park where we’re from,” said the husband standing in the 29-degree cold. “Trump’s got a following, that’s for sure,” he added, surveying the zig-zagging line that began to take shape at 3:15 p.m.

His wife said something unintelligible about Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and John McCain’s 2008 GOP presidential running mate, before brimming with excitement. “I think this is going to be great. Everyone’s energized. Even the protesters.”

Across the way, the anti-Trump faction, dominated by Black Lives Matter members, held signs and shouted any number of things that routinely began with the word “racist.” At one point, three college-aged kids jumped out of the spectator line to show off their own signs — “Hillary for Prisoner.” It drew a lot of chuckles.

Behind me stood another couple, coffee cups in gloved hands and big furry hats on their heads. They were Trump loyalists from Moultonboro, N.H. “This is our fourth Trump event,” said the husband. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. The best democratic show of its kind. I’ll go anywhere in New England to see Trump.”

His wife shook her head in agreement.

What will Trump say?, I asked the husband, a pleasant chap in his 40s who said he was self-employed.

“Oh, the same,” he replied. “It’ll be immigration, Hillary, Obama, maybe Jeb Bush or (Ted) Cruz, security, jobs … he’ll bring up the media too.”

Greatest show on earth?

As we moved closer to our destination, I couldn’t help but be amazed at the sight over my left shoulder. The end of the line — where I once stood — had expanded to a point where I could no longer see beyond the corner and around and down Father Morissette Boulevard.

It was 5:55 p.m. as I entered the bright lights of the Tsongas Center and the two-tier security — first Trump volunteers validating email tickets and then Homeland Security personnel manning metal detectors and body wands. The efficiency of the process amazed me. I was through security in 60 seconds. Why couldn’t airports be like this? I thought.

I was escorted to a VIP seat on the main floor, about 12 rows back from the stage and the podium where Trump would stand. I saw a lot of people from the Lowell area, including the few Republicans I knew to be registered Republicans.

At 6:30 p.m., the arena was 75 percent full. A Trump worker said 8,200 people had come through the front doors. Forty minutes later (Trump was scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. but was busy taking photographs with supporters backstage), nearly every seat in the place was taken.

Not even the Scott Brown-Elizabeth Warren U.S. Senate debate, which got national TV attention, could fill the place, but Trump did.

Anticipation continued to build. On the overhead Jumbotron, famous Trump media nemeses — Washington Post columnist George Will, Fox TV show host Megyn Kelly, etc. — could be seen hurling criticism at The Donald. The music was rousing. I found it fascinating that Trump’s largely working-people crowd would be treated to Twister Sisters’ “We’re Not Gonna Take It” to Puccini’s famous operatic aria Nessun Dorma (“None Shall Sleep”). (Trump must love the song’s powerful climax: “All’alba vincero! Vincero! Vin-cheer-roh!” Translation: “At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!”)

Trump came on stage a bit after 7:20 p.m. and spoke for about 70 minutes.

The Sun headline in Tuesday’s newspaper said it all: “Trump electrifies Lowell.”

A lot was made of the protesters but they were merely commercial breaks. Trump took it all in stride; he made a point or two about the detractors, which, in turn, ignited the crowd to rise and loudly chant down the group. Then, with a wave of his hand, like the boss man on the set of his TV show, The Apprentice, he delivered an order to the businesslike security staff, “All right, get them out of here.” And it was done.

The script followed almost exactly as the Trump supporter I met in line said it would: Fifteen minutes in, Trump declared he’d build a wall on the southern border to keep illegal immigrants out. He’d get Mexico to pay for it, he said. The crowd applauded. He went after Hillary, more so Jeb Bush, and attacked U.S. policies — from the economy to foreign policy — as “stupid.”

Where’s the beef?

Like any and all Trump appearances (they’re not speeches, in my book, because he says everything off the cuff, without papers or teleprompters), the candidate provided no details or specifics about his plans and promises. Trump boasted that the government will do things “smarter” if he were president because he knows the right people to get the job done. At one point he mentioned his pal Carl Icahn as a great job creator who could help. I almost fell off the chair. Icahn’s a ruthless corporate raider who makes Mitt Romney look like the tooth fairy. He’s probably second to the Chinese in stripping U.S. companies of assets and jobs since the mid-1980s.

But Trump’s reference to Icahn went way over the crowd’s head. It didn’t matter. No one ever gets a chance to question Trump at these events. Instead, he’s the master of theatrics who never misses a queue to break the lull. “Don’t you want to make America great again?” he tells the 9,500 Americans before him. There’s thunderous applause. Some begin chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” Others launch into “Trump! Trump! Trump!”

The man on the stage takes it all in with a confident, beaming smile. His fashionable blue suit and tie radiate. So does his meticulous, golden-orange hair that ends flawlessly atop his forehead in a gravity-defying hoodcover of a wave. I must admit he looks good. He’s got energy. He knows how to connect with people. He’s a force, but I don’t know exactly where the force is headed or what it can do.

Epilogue: Something’s brewing!

As the impressive night comes to a close, I don’t know anything more or less about Donald Trump’s plans for America than when I first joined the line of spectators. It’s clear to me, however, that Trump is a phenomenon; rivals who underestimate his anti-establishment, anti-politically correct mantra are perilously ignoring a live (and highly charged) wire of the U.S. electorate. How so? A Washington Post reporter interviewed me earlier in the day, working off the premise that Trump shows up in places where he can attract an “angry America” crowd. I told her that while Trump’s strategy might be true, Lowell doesn’t fit the pattern. It is far from an angry place, especially on immigration where most Lowellians can trace their roots to hard-working immigrant ancestors dating back to the mid-19th century. I said the migration continues to this day, seamlessly, with immigrants from Southeast Asia, Iraq, Liberia, Libya and Pakistan. Trump didn’t come to Lowell to make a stand against immigration, I said. (My thoughts were borne out later at the Tsongas. While Trump’s call to stop “illegal immigration” elicited loud applause, so did his endorsement of “legal immigration” for those embracing American values.)

And that’s why Trump’s appearance in Lowell was so impressive. He attracted a largely white, every-day crowd of people who are bankers, teachers, truck drivers, nurses, police officers, grandparents, and college students — among others I saw and recognized.

So why did Trump come to Lowell?

In my view, the author of the book Trump: The Art of the Deal got his money’s worth while Lowellians and others got a free ticket to a unique political experience.

As any Realtor worth his license will tell you, it’s “location, location, location.” Trump knew all about the Lowell area, its border location, and the high number of independent voters who never admit to pulling the GOP lever, even when they do. Trump was able to play to two key audiences — New Hampshire and Massachusetts — by paying one rental fee ($30,000 according to sources). The Tsongas Center is the perfect venue, situated between Manchester, N.H., and Boston.

Give Trump credit. He’s a business genius.

Can Trump be the GOP presidential nominee? After what I saw the other night, I wouldn’t bet my entire 401(k) against it. Just 20 percent.