Another day, another violent Trump rally. This time it was in St. Louis, and it wasn’t just one incident. Tensions ran high- multiple altercations were reported, and an ambulance was called for at least one of them.
One altercation was caught on video by Junius Randolph with St. Louis Today. The video shows a female protester lightly pushing a confrontational man away from her and telling him to keep walking, and in response he shoves her while other men step in to hold him back.
My mother told me to NEVER put hands on a woman… pic.twitter.com/tRXqm0aXN9
— Junius Randolph (@JuniusRandolph) March 11, 2016
Just last night at the Republican debate in Miami, Trump denied inciting violence, saying he truly hopes his tone has not encouraged violence, and that he “certainly does not condone that at all.”
But today? Today was a new day at a press conference instead of a live debate with millions of eyes of watching, and Trump proudly touted to reporters:
.@realDonaldTrump on audience swinging at protesters: “I thought it was very, very appropriate” https://t.co/CpEStDyiMN
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 11, 2016
Transcript
Trump: “We’ve had a couple that were really violent. And the particular one when I said, [I’d] like to bang him. That was — a very vicious — you know, he is a guy who was swinging very loud and then started swinging at the audience. And you know what? The audience swung back. And I thought it was very, very appropriate. He was swinging, he was hitting people and the audience hit back. And that’s what we need a little bit more of. Now, I’m not talking about just a protester. This was a guy who was — should not have been allowed to do what he did. And frankly, if you want to know the truth, the police were very, very restrained. The police have been amazing. But the police were very, very restrained.”
Unsurprisingly, there have been precisely ZERO documented cases of protesters initiating violence, reports NY Mag. Multiple security personnel have outed Trump for “over-exaggerating” his claims of protester violence. Yet he continues to blatantly lie about it, with no one calling him out on his false claims.
Let’s pretend for a minute that it was actually the case, that there were disruptive, violent protesters coming into Trump rallies and abusing innocent Trump supporters. It still would be morally bankrupt to suggest that two wrongs would make a right, that violence answered by violence would somehow be the correct decision even though there is security swarming the venue solely to handle those situations.
But, of course, that is not the case. Trump claims it is (with no proof), and here he is inciting violence again, noting he believes, “that’s what we need a little bit more of.”
But really, he truly hopes he isn’t inciting violence at his events. He totally doesn’t condone it. Wink.
And after holding it in most of the night last night, his inner fascist was unabashedly hanging out today, asserting:
“Missouri, I can’t believe this. There used to be consequences to protesting. There are none anymore. These people are so bad for our country, you have no idea folks.”
Yeah, because what is that pesky first amendment with its freedom of assembly? I mean, come on. It is so outdated. This is 2016 in Trump Land. The constitution is merely a dying breed.
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