A protester ripping up a Donald Trump sign in Chicago. USA Today/AP.
As you probably already know, a major protest/riot broke out at a Donald Trump rally in Chicago last night. If you need to get up to speed, here is an article. I've got a lot to say about this issue, and I won't pretend to be objective about it, so I am skipping my normal format. I am mad as hell and I am disgusted at the actions of the protesters.
First of all, I don't think it is even fair to call these people protesters. This was political violence, plain and simple. People got hurt, and if the rally had gone on, more people would have been injured or perhaps even killed. These people were violent and out of control, and there is no place for that in this country. Their only goal was to impose their will on the American people through the threat and use of violence.
They also attacked a lot of innocent people. Regardless of what you think about Donald Trump, his supporters don't deserve to be attacked. Period. Even if you are one of those people that hate all of Trump's supporters and can somehow justify attacking innocent adults at a ralley, there were still children at this event as well as people that had to be there because they worked there. Indeed, a couple of police officers were hurt at this event, and they had to be there no matter who was speaking.
Second, this was a coordinated attack. If you look on twitter and facebook you can find the pages where this was planned. If you look hard you can also find people calling for violence or even the assassination of Donald Trump. The people that were behind this, moveon.org, Black Lives Matters, and the usual suspects of communists, anarchists and other leftist activists planned this out in advance.
Leftist protest usually involves trying to outrage people into responding. They often swear and harass people, sometimes even hitting them, with the hope that the people they are protesting against respond in any way. When someone does fight back, they can then play the victim card. This tactic is much older then Donald Trump and that's why it is so important for people not to try and fight back when this happens, as tempting as it is. Not only does it not solve the issue, it feeds the beast that these people are trying to unleash. It's obvious that this attack was just the largest and most coordinated attack, but this has happened dozens of times at Trump rallies. And the media never covers it when a protester harasses or attacks people at Trump's rallies, only when they fight back. I'm not saying it's right to fight back, indeed, it's counterproductive, but it's easy to see why people are responding with violence.
Third, I am utterly disgusted at the reaction of the other candidates in this race, both on the Republican side and on the Democrats. All three major GOP candidates blamed Donald Trump for this attack when it was clearly coordinated by leftist agitators. As far as I am concerned that is blaming the victim. Trump may use some questionable language once and a while but nothing justifies an attack on his rallies and his supporters. To blame him and his supporters for a coordinated attack which was targeted at them is sickening. The GOP needs to be rallying against this kind of attack because I guarantee it will be used on other candidates in the future.
I also want to say that Bernie Sanders needs to get his house in order. Many of the people that were involved in this incident were his supporters. He needs to condemn this kind of nonsense and do it now. Or, at the very least appeal for calm. Sure, it's wrong to blame Sanders for the actions of special interest groups and thugs, but he could help diffuse this situation and so far he hasn't done so. Hillary Clinton could do the same thing, but as of right now they are both blaming Trump. Barack Obama should also take a strong stand against this. Hell, everyone on the left that hasn't lost their mind should be condemning this. Not only because it is wrong, but it makes their political ideology look insane.
Fourth, I am amazed it took this long for political violence to erupt at this scale. After the riots in both Ferguson and Baltimore, it was only a matter of time before the leftist groups involved decided to try it again. After all, they got a lot of what they want when they destroyed those two cities. They got attention and that's the main thing they want. Attacking the GOP front runner has created a media firestorm and they are getting even more attention.
Fifth, this would have happened no matter who the GOP candidate was. If Trump had never ran or dropped out before this point and any of the other three candidates were still in the race, they would have attacked their rallies as well, depending on who the front runner was. The reason they haven't is because they aren't nearly as popular as Trump and don't draw anywhere near the media attention or crowds that he does. Remember, these people think that anyone who disagrees with them politically, even those that are not sufficiently leftist, are racist, sexist scum that deserve whatever is coming to them. It wasn't that long ago that they attacked Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley on the Democrats side.
Sixth, this has to help Donald Trump politically. I mean, the left just tried to shut down his campaign and threatened and used violence against his supporters. That makes me want to vote for Trump on principal alone. I don't like people who try to silence others, especially when those people include people with similar political beliefs as me, and that's what these protesters did. I also don't want to have to worry about getting attacked if I ever go to a Trump rally. No matter who I end up voting for, I wouldn't mind seeing Trump speak if for no other reason then I could then post about it here, but now I am asking myself if it's worth the risk. I don't think it is too much to ask that I should be able to attend a political rally without being worried about getting attacked or harassed.
That pisses me off and it is pissing off all of Donald Trumps committed and possible supporters. It will also piss off supporters of the other candidates. Indeed, one of my followers on twitter, a huge Ted Cruz supporter, stopped posting about how Donald Trump sucks and started posting about how the left has lost its mind. I personally wasn't sure that I was going to vote in my states primary, but now I will move heaven and earth to cast my vote, simply because these people don't want me too. And given how terrible the other GOP candidates have reacted to this event, I will most likely be casting my vote for Donald Trump. Before, I had many reservations about him, but all those are by the wayside now. Now I have to vote for him, just so these people don't win.
I think that is going to be the typical reaction to this, even if people don't express it as explicitly as I just did. I have a feeling that Donald Trump just won the nomination because of this protest. He was probably going to do so anyways, but now his supporters are even more motivated then they were before.
Finally, I think Donald Trump was right to cancel this event. There was a very large chance that this could have turned into something way worse then it was. Instead of a violent protest, it could have been a full blown riot and people could have died. Given all the people that I saw on twitter that threatened to kill Donald Trump, he could have been one of them.
The question now is how does the Trump campaign continue. Is this going to be the new norm for his rallies? Are fistfights and protests going to break out whenever he speaks. He has to keep doing these rallies, it's how he runs his campaign. But they just don't seem safe anymore...
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