Over the weekend, we witnessed what was perhaps the most surreal incident to occur at a Trump rally yet when a protester, dressed in an American flag shirt and donning a KKK hood was punched and then repeatedly kicked by a black Trump supporter who apparently did not appreciate the implication that some folks in the African American community were inadvertently cheering for a fascist bigot.
There was a time not so long ago when the protests at Trump rallies were limited to a handful of people waving signs along the back wall or to a few rabble-rousers who managed to sneak their way in amongst the billionaire’s ardent supporters only to be escorted out once they started “trouble.” Trump loved it. His go-to line: “We love protesters; it’s the only way the cameras will turn away from me and show how big our crowds are!”).
But that’s all changed since a rally in Chicago was cancelled after thousands of protesters showed up. Trump’s crowds are still large (and they’ll probably get larger) but the protests have gone from handfuls of individuals each intent on being the lone voice of “reason” in a crowd full of what they believe are followers entranced by a demagogue, to organized groups hell bent on derailing the Trump campaign and sending a message to the country (and the world for that matter) that the billionaire doesn’t represent the views of most Americans.
As is clear from the indelible image shown above, this is causing problems. Trump’s supporters believe they should be free to hear their candidate speak without throngs of obnoxious, sign-waving liberals trampling the billionaire’s First Amendment rights while the protesters accuse Trump of hate speech and inciting riots. Of course there wouldn’t be any riots if the protesters weren’t there shouting in the first place, but to that charge they assert their own First Amendment rights.
(Trump is always tasteful and “PC” – so are protesters…)
This is all complicated by the fact that, as the incident in Tucson makes clear, Trump’s support base isn’t confined to poor, uneducated whites. The man who attacked the protester was an African American wearing a collared polo shirt. That would seem to suggest that protesters are effectively being a bit paternalistic and that paternalism isn’t welcome among Trump’s support base.
Anyway, the Trump campaign is now set to add security in an effort to quell the violence and alleviate his staff of the responsibility to “intervene” when things get ugly. Here’s more from Bloomberg:
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign will add security to larger events so campaign staffers don’t assist in removing protesters, as boisterous confrontations between the Republican front-runner’s supporters and detractors escalate.
The decision follows instances this month during which Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, helped local authorities remove protesters. That included an incident caught on video in Tucson, Arizona, on Saturday in which Lewandowski grabbed the collar of a demonstrator who wouldn’t leave the venue. Trump’s campaign has said another man pulled the protester to the ground.
The billionaire real-estate mogul praised Lewandowski on Sunday in a telephone interview on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.”
“I give him credit for having spirit,” Trump said. “He wanted them to take down those horrible profanity-laced signs.” Brief footage of the incident in Tucson indicated the demonstrator who was involved with Lewandowski wasn’t carrying a sign.
A reporter has filed a criminal complaint against Lewandowski for allegedly manhandling her at an event on March 8. The Trump campaign has denied the account.
Anti-Trump activists were in part responsible for the physical confrontations, the Republican front-runner said. “These are professional agitators,” said Trump, in comments similar to those made last week tying protests to progressive groups such as MoveOn.org and the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. “There should be blame there, too.”
Right. And in some locales, Trump has the wholehearted support of law enforcement:
In Tucson, Trump was accompanied by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who endorsed the candidate in January and, like Trump, is a staunch advocate of deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally.
Arpaio, whose jurisdiction includes most of the Phoenix area, introduced Trump and criticized the protesters for trying to “intimidate” people who wanted to attend the rally. He said he would “lock up the demonstrators and throw them in jail.”
Arizona state Treasurer Jeff DeWit, a Republican who backs Trump, also criticized the protesters, asking the crowd if they had seen “the jerks standing outside the door” at the rally while adding, “they have a First Amendment right to be as stupid as they want.”
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks says that while punching people in the face probably isn’t the ideal solution, it’s protesters’ bad language that often triggers the melees. “These are private events paid for by the campaign, and while we do not condone violence or interactions of any kind, that kind of language is not acceptable for the families and television cameras in attendance,” Hicks said in an e-mail to Bloomberg.
Right. That kind of language “isn’t acceptable for the families in attendance.” So if a protester or two happens to get “schlonged” on the way out the door, don’t blame Trump.
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