The Republicans go into a huddle. The Democrats (or just Sanders supporters?) organize protests. It all backfires.
It ain't happening, folks. Get used to it. The monster has arisen from within. Maybe historians will learn the lesson of connection between otherwise reasonable and liberal people falling under the spell of fear of the other and the rise of fascism. But not today. Today, we reap the whirlwind.
Sounding almost like a bystander to the fury consuming his campaign, Trump told Fox News he felt no responsibility for the violence.
“I don’t use hate speech,” Trump said. “There’s tremendous division in our country. I’ve seen it, I’m watching it, I’ve been witness to it, and something has to be done.”
[...]
Trump even used his speech to create more tension, labeling the protesters “troublemakers,” ordering them to “go home to mommy” or “get a job” because “they contribute nothing.”
[...]
“Our country has to toughen up, folks,” he told the crowd following one dustup. As one protester was removed, and the crowd chanted “U.S.A.” and the lyrics to “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye,” Trump told the riled up crowd that “part of the problem, and part of the reason it takes so long (to remove protesters), is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore.
[...]
Anthony Cage, 50, who used a bullhorn to denounce the GOP front-runner as a racist outside the opera house, was later captured on video — his face and shirt bloodied — as he was led handcuffed by police into an ambulance.
[...]
“And they’re being politically correct in the way they take them out,” Trump added of the police officers tasked with removing the protesters.
“And honestly, protesters are realizing that there are no consequences to protesting anymore. There used to be consequences, there are none anymore.”
[...]
The protests, the bigoted billionaire told the masses, “add to the flavor.” Trump also dismissed the pattern of stomach-turning violence as “politics.”
He even appeared to defend supporters who physically attack protesters earlier in the day, saying that’s “what we need a little bit more of.”
[...]
During a news conference in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump was asked about his comments during a Las Vegas event in which he said of a protester” “I’d like to punch him right in the face.”
“It’s politics,” Trump replied.
NY Daily News
That picture should get the hounds excited. They smell blood now.
Expect Trump supporters to bring guns to future rallies. (Kansas City, Missouri, today.)
Remember in the wake of college student protests against the Viet Nam war at Kent State, during which the Ohio National Guard killed four and wounded others, many conservative citizens, including parents, were saying they should ALL be shot. These days, they may well be.
Right on cue. Big talk. He wouldn't have, actually. But there may well plenty with his attitude who don't publicize it and yet, act on it.
UPDATE:
What's exceptionally disturbing (revealing, considering readers of Turley's posts are probably in large majority legal freaks and Libertarians, not Trump's base) about this post is that the majority of the comments are in defense of the man who did the punching. Check them out.
We often discuss how defendants undermine their cases with statements to the press or on social media. The latest example is John McGraw, 78, who assaulted a protester, 26-year-old Rakeem Jones, at a Donald Trump rally in North Carolina. Despite already being in hot water over the disgraceful attack, McGraw told Inside Edition “Next time we see him, we might have to kill him!” That should make for an interesting sentencing hearing.
[...]
The attack was not only criminal but cowardly. Jones was being escorted out and McGraw sucker punched him. He then bragged on television: “You bet I liked it . . . Knocking the hell out of the big mouth.”
Jonathan Turley
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
(Video of the "punch" - it was an elbow to the face, actually.)
FURTHER UPDATE:
And...another UPDATE:
There's a "Rally Against Donald Trump" on Saturday, March 19, 9am, in New York at Columbus Circle. It won't help.
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