This afternoon, at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, Donald Trump said about Hillary Clinton, “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the second amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.” Correct The Record President Brad Woodhouse released the following statement on this dangerous pattern of behavior — encouraging violence at his rallies — from Trump.
Today was a dark day for American democracy. In a rally in North Carolina, Donald Trump seemingly—and shockingly—encouraged violent action against Hillary Clinton. These comments are not only terrifying and dangerous, they betray our democratic values and our country’s history of peaceful and fair elections. This is the type of rhetoric we expect to hear from a demagogue in a third world country, not an American presidential candidate. Yet for more than a year, Trump has repeatedly threatened his opponents with physical abuse and sought to incite violence at his rallies. This is a time of reckoning for our country, and every Republican official must come forward and denounce this reprehensible rhetoric.
TRUMP HAS A HISTORY OF ENCOURAGING VIOLENCE AT HIS RALLIES
Donald Trump: “Part of the problem […] is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore.” [St. Louis, Missouri, 3/11/16]
Donald Trump on scuffle between protesters and his supporters: “This is what we should have been doing to the other side for the last seven years!”
Trump, meanwhile, gleefully narrated the madness from his podium like a tabloid talk show host presiding over an on-camera brawl between guests — egging on the confrontation, whipping the audience into a frenzy, and basking in his fans’ celebratory chants. ‘Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!’ ‘This is what we should have been doing to the other side for the last seven years!’ Trump exclaimed during one of the scuffles with protesters. At several points, Trump berated the reporters in the room for taking pictures of the clashes. ‘They are terrible!’ Trump hissed of the press. ‘The worst!’ Hundreds of riled-up Trump fans turned to face the press corps, and booed loudly.
Donald Trump recounted to his rally audience how one of his “great” supporters “cold-cocked” a protester in the face.
And the place is booing and booing. This African American gets up and, man, he slugged these guys. He slugged them. And by that time, their hat was off because they got ripped off as they were running up the stairs. But this guy, a great guy — I think he was a military guy for a long time. He slugged this guy wearing the Ku Klux Klan outfit. But by the time he got up to the top, you couldn’t see it was a Ku Klux Klan outfit. So when the African American cold-cocked this guy, this guy never knew what happened. Everybody thought the African American was against me. And it was the opposite. He was like this great guy, military guy. We have tremendous African American support. The reason is I’m going to bring jobs back to our country. We’re going to bring jobs back.
Donald Trump: “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of ‘em, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell – I promise you, I will pay the legal fees.”
At a rally on the day of the Iowa caucuses this year, Donald Trump told the audience that he’d been warned about protesters with tomatoes in the audience. ‘So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of ‘em, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise.’
Donald Trump said he wanted to punch a protester in the face and lamented ‘we’re not allowed to punch back anymore,’ in the old days, “they’d be carried off a stretcher, folks.”
Oh, bye-bye. Good job, fellows. Bye-bye. But see, [that protester is] smiling. He’s having a good time. I love the old days, you know? You know what I hate, there’s a guy totally disruptive, throwing punches. We’re not allowed to punch back anymore. I love the old days. You know what they used to do guys like that when they were in a place like this? They would be carried out in a stretcher, folks. It’s true. … Honestly, I hate to see that. Here’s a guy throwing punches, nasty as hell, screaming at everything else when we’re talking and he’s walking out and we’re not allowed — the guards are very gentle with him. He’s walking out with big high-fives, smiling, laughing. I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you.
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Donald Trump on whether he regrets comments about punching protestors and sending them out on stretchers: “No, I don’t regret it at all.”
LEMON: “Do you regret saying any of those things? Especially the things that you have said about punching protesters, sending them out on stretchers.” TRUMP: “No. I don’t regret it at all. Some of these protesters were violent, there were swinging, there were hitting people and they were really doing damage. And frankly the crowd turns on them or the police said turned on them in most cases it was the police.”
Donald Trump: “I’ll tell you what, it was really amazing to watch…we had four guys, they jumped on [a protester], they were swinging and swinging.”
Yeah, get him out. Try not to hurt him. If you do I’ll defend you in court. Don’t worry about it. You know, one of the things that happened – he wasn’t, he wasn’t bad – but some of these protesters are really violent people. Now, if we’re tough with them, we get criticized. We had one guy, in New Hampshire, actually, who was a rough guy. He was swinging and swinging and punching. He was really going down for the count. And we had a couple of people in the audience who were equally tough and they took him out. They took him out. No, they took him out. And I’ll tell you what, it was really amazing to watch. This was a seriously tough cookie. The guy looked like an NFL football player. We had four guys, they jumped on him, they were swinging and swinging. The next day, we got killed in the press, that we were too rough. Give me a break, right. We don’t want to be too politically correct anymore, right folks. So, no, it’s very unfair. They’re allowed to swing and punch the hell out of people, but if we get a little bit rough in taking them out, ‘Oh, we’re terrible people.’ You know, that’s the way it is. That’s one of the many reasons our country is going to hell.
Donald Trump: “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 protesters.”
But when there’s a protesters up in the corner it’s great. The cameras all turn because it’s a negative as opposed to a positive so they turn. We’ve had a couple really violent. The particular one when high said, like to bang him. That was — a very vicious — you know, he was 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 protestors. This was a guy who should not have been allowed to do what he did. 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. OK.
Donald Trump on protesters in his audience: “There used to be consequences, there are none anymore. […] Our country has to toughen up folks. We have to toughen up. These people are bringing us down.”
You know part of the problem and part of the reason it takes so long is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore, right? And they’re being politically correct the way they take them out. So it takes a little bit longer. And honestly protesters they realize it, they realize that there are no consequences to protesting anymore. There used to be consequences, there are none anymore. So that’s it. Alright, thank you very much. Are they gone? Yeah, they’re gone. Our country has to toughen up folks. We have to toughen up. These people are bringing us down. Remember that. They’re bringing us down. No reason for it.
Donald Trump on the protesters in his audience: “In the old days, they didn’t come back! I can tell you that, they were gone. They were taken out, they were gone.”
Get him out! What’s the same guy tried to come back? Right? See that? In the old days, they didn’t come back! I can tell you that, they were gone. They were taken out, they were gone.
Donald Trump refuses to say what would be “so nice” to do with the protesters.
Oh, I’d be so nice. It would be so nice. I won’t say what’s on my mind, folks. So nice. I won’t say it. I refuse to say it. I’m a nice person, I refuse to say it.
Donald Trump said he had instructed his people to look into paying the legal fees of a supporter who sucker punched a protester at his rally in North Carolina.
TODD: “I’m just curious, do you plan on paying for the legal fees of this older gentleman in North Carolina, who sucker punched the protester?’ TRUMP: ‘Well, I’m not aware. I will say this, I do want to see what that young man was doing because he was very taunting. He was very loud, very disruptive. And from what I understand, he was sticking a certain finger up in the air. And that is a terrible thing to do in front of somebody that, frankly, wants to see America made great again. And so we’ll see. I’m going to take a look at it’… TODD: ‘So it’s possible — it’s possible you could help him with legal fees if this man needs it?’ TRUMP: ‘I’ve actually instructed my people to look into it, yes.”