At a Trump campaign rally in St. Louis, MO., Mr. Trump was interrupted several times by multiple protesters. Lamenting that it was taking so long, he said:
Part of the reason it takes so long is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore!
Later Trump complained:
See, nowadays we have to say that, right? We have to be politically correct: “Oh, please don’t hurt them.” They’re allowed to get up and interrupt us horribly, and we have to be very, very gentle, and very gentle. They can swing, they can hit people, but if we hit them back, it’s a terrible, terrible thing, right?
They can get up and when they’re being whisked out, they can raise their bad finger up in the air … and some people get very angry at that. Because you know what that represents. And then when they get a little bit overly angry, they’re in trouble. The guy that raised his finger, that’s no problem. No, that’s no problem.
That’s when men starting walking of the rally with bloody faces.
Anthony Cage, 50, said he was demonstrating peacefully outside St. Louis’ Peabody Opera House March 11 when he was attacked by a Trump supporter.
“I was just standing still,” Cage said. “Somebody tapped me on the shoulder, and when I turned he sucker punched me. Of course, I tried to defend myself. We were on the ground when I was tackled by law enforcement.”
With thousands of people already packed into stands and music blaring to warm up the crowd, Donald J. Trump’s campaign abruptly canceled his rally here on Friday night over security concerns as protesters clashed with his supporters inside an arena where he was to speak.
Minutes after Mr. Trump was to have taken to a podium on the campus of a large, diverse public university just west of downtown, an announcer suddenly pronounced the event over before it had begun. Hundreds of protesters, who had promised to be a visible presence here and filled several sections of the arena, let out an elated, unstopping cheer. Mr. Trump’s supporters, many of whom had waited hours to see the Republican front-runner, seemed stunned and slowly filed out in anger.
The canceled rally came on a day that Mr. Trump sought to move past the primary fight, saying that the party needed to come together behind him.
Elsewhere, Mr. Trump’s security has tried to identify and exclude potential demonstrators before they enter his events, but large groups of protesters had waited in line for seats here, and engaged in tense disputes with Trump supporters even as the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion was still filling up. For more than an hour before the event was to begin, security teams led protesters out, one by one, but many more remained, sparring with Trump supporters.
In a statement, Mr. Trump’s campaign said:
“Mr. Trump just arrived in Chicago, and after meeting law enforcement, has determined that for the safety of all the tens of thousands of people that have gathered in and around the arena tonight’s rally will be postponed until another date,” the man said from a podium. “Thank you very much for your attendance, and please go in peace.”
Several fistfights between Trump supporters and protesters could be seen after the announcement, as a large contingent of Chicago police officers moved in to restore order.
Supporters of Trump still inside chanted “We want Trump” after the event was canceled. Protesters, meanwhile, shouted “We shut shit down” and “We stumped Trump.” Others chanted “Bernie” as supporters whipped out Bernie Sanders campaign signs.
On MSNBC, Mr. Trump said that after meeting with the law enforcement authorities, “I felt it was just safer. I don’t want to see anybody get hurt.” and again during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity after the event cancellation, Trump stood by his campaign’s statement that they chose to cancel a Chicago rally Friday night at the recommendation of the Chicago Police Department:
We met with security and the law enforcement, who I think did a terrific job, and they told me it’d be best not to go in and do the speech.
Reality
Unfortunately for Trump the Chicago police spokesperson says there were no meetings between police and the Trump campaign about security:
CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Associated Press that police never told the Trump campaign there was a security threat at the venue. He said the department had sufficient manpower on the scene to handle any situation. Guglielmi said the university’s police department also did not recommend that Trump call off the event. The decision was made “independently” by the campaign, according to Guglielmi.
Trump also accused Bernie Sanders’ supporters of sowing unrest at the event. Fox News and other right-wing media jumped on this and blamed Sanders for the protest. Watching the video it is obvious there was a handful of protesters on the first floor that started chanting “Bernie” but there is zero evidence Sanders orchestrated the protest. The more likely scenario was the racist and xenophobic Trump had his first rally at a liberally leaning city which resulted in a semi-organized pushback.
In an article in Breibart, reporter Michelle Fields explains how Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski grabbed her by the arm and threw her towards the ground.
When [Trump] approached me, I asked him about his view on an aspect of affirmative action.
Trump acknowledged the question, but before he could answer I was jolted backwards. Someone had grabbed me tightly by the arm and yanked me down. I almost fell to the ground, but was able to maintain my balance. Nonetheless, I was shaken.
The event was corroborated by eye-witness and fellow journalist Ben Terris in his Washington Post article. Not surprising, Trump’s campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks claimed the accusation is “entirely false” and said:
As one of dozens of individuals present as Mr. Trump exited the press conference, I did not witness any encounter. In addition to our staff, which had no knowledge of said situation, not a single camera or reporter of more than 100 in attendance capture the alleged incident.
When asked about the incident directly, Donald Trump claimed Fields “made it up.” Then, in a strange twist, the right-wing rage-factory breitbart.com, publicly threw their own reporter under the bus and published an article “debunking” Fields’ claims, going so far to show video just before the incident occurring as evidence that nothing happened. What was most interesting was in the same day Politico published the audio recording of the event.
Fields: “Mr. Trump, you went after the late Scalia for affirmative action, do you — are you still against affirmative action?”
A black man, Rakeem Jones, protested a Donald Trump rally in North Carolina. As he was being escorted out of the rally by men in “Sheriff’s Office” uniforms, Jones was punched in the face by a Trump supporter, John Franklin McGraw, wearing a cowboy hat. The officers then quickly wrestled Jones (the victim) to the ground, pinned his arms behind his back, and led him out of the venue.
The man who punched the protester, identified as John McGraw, toldInside Edition that his actions were justified.
The next time we see him, we might have to kill him. We don’t know who he is. He might be with a terrorist organization.
Protests at Trump rallies do not occur in a vacuum. Since he first announced his candidacy, Trump continues to make racist, sexist, and authoritarian remarks that marginalizes anyone who do not meet his view of white and conservative enough. A full list of protests can be found here.
Update
John Franklin McGraw pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of assault and battery and disorderly conduct. A judge also ordered McGraw to pay $180 in court costs, a $250 fine, and was placed under one year of probation.
Donald Trump says a violent episode involving a protester at one of his rallies “was amazing to watch.”
The Republican presidential front-runner told a Warren, Michigan audience on Friday that he’s tired of political correctness when it comes to handling protesters. He was interrupted several times during his remarks by yelling protesters, as he often is at his events.
During one interruption, Trump said:
“Get him out. Try not to hurt him. If you do I’ll defend you in court. Are Trump rallies the most fun?” He then asked the crowd. “We’re having a good time.”
He then recalled an incident at a New Hampshire rally where a protester started “swinging and punching.” Trump said some people in the audience “took him out.”
It was really amazing to watch.
Reality
Comments like these add to the growing evidence that Donald Trump supports and condones violence against people with different ideas.
Three people were assaulted at a Donald Trump rally in Louisville, Kentucky, and have since filed a lawsuit against the Republican presidential candidate, saying he “incited a riot.”
Molly Shah, Kashiya Nwanguma and Henry Brousseau filed the lawsuit on Thursday in Jefferson Circuit Court in Louisville, claiming that Trump’s repeated calls of “get them out” at a rally at the Kentucky International Convention Center on March 1 was intended to direct his supporters to “use unwanted, harmful physical force to remove protesters, including the plaintiffs.”
The lawsuit also names as defendants the Trump campaign and three individuals who the plaintiffs claim assaulted them at the rally.
Protests at Trump rallies do not occur in a vacuum. Since he first announced his candidacy, Trump continues to make racist, sexist, and authoritarian remarks that marginalizes anyone who do not meet his view of white and conservative enough. A full list of protests can be found here.
It wasn’t long before protester, Shiya Nwanguma, was being pushed, shoved, and forcibly removed from a rally by white supremacists after Donald Trump noticed a sign she was holding and yelled, “Get her out of here.”
“I was called a nigger and a cunt and got kicked out,” said Shiya Nwanguma, a University of Louisville student. “They were pushing and shoving at me, cursing at me, yelling at me, called me every name in the book. They’re disgusting and dangerous.”
This was not the only incident at the Louisville rally. Donald Trump promised to pay the legal fees if anyone roughs up a protester, what the hell did you think would start to happen?
A photographer covering a Donald Trump rally in Virginia said a Secret Service agent choked him and slammed him to the ground Monday as he tried to leave a media pen at the event where a protest erupted.
A video of the incident shot by an attendee at the rally and later posted on social media shows the agent putting two hands on the photographer’s neck and slamming him to the ground.
Time magazine photographer Chris Morris told CNN that as he tried to exit the media pen, a Secret Service agent began choking him.
“I’m not pressing charges,” Morris said Monday. “I stepped 18 inches out of the pen and he grabbed me by the neck and started choking me and then he slammed me to the ground.”
At Radford University, a group of young black organizers interrupted a Trump rally. With fists raised, they chanted, “Black lives matter,” as they were quickly escorted from the premises by the police. Trump responded, “All lives matter,” a refrain often used to dismiss the specific concerns of the black community. He also asked a Latina woman who was being led out of the auditorium whether she was from Mexico.
