Ann Althouse has this summary:
Anti-Trump protesters surround one woman and throw eggs at her head and watermelon straight into her face.
Yells of "Fuck you!" are heard, along with vuvuzelas and chants of "Trump go home!"
And there's more video and other reports in the Twitter feed of ABC's Tom Llamas (who's the reporter Trump called a "sleaze"). Two that have video: "Outside Trump rally protestors chased down this kid and tackled him" and "Our video of Trump supporter who says he was beaten up coming out of @realDonaldTrump rally." And, from another ABC reporter: "One more-- the moment lone Trump supporter tried to stand her ground. Had her sign ripped up, glasses snatched."
No matter how hostile the press may be to Trump, violence like this is going to get photographed and will become viral. What idiots these protesters are (and how unfair they are to nonviolent Trump opponents).
Here's the NBC report: "Donald Trump supporters were mobbed and assaulted by protesters on Thursday night after the candidate's campaign rally in California."
Some Trump supporters were punched. One woman wearing a "Trump" jersey was cornered, spit at, and pelted with eggs and water bottles. Police held back at first but eventually moved in....
Lan Hoang said anti-Trump protesters stole his "Make America Great Again" hat off of his head and set it on fire as he was leaving the rally. The 24-year-old said he saw "a lot" of Trump supporters get attacked on the walk back to his car after the rally.
Protesters also smashed cars in a nearby parking structure and surrounded and taunted an elderly couple, according to Steve Tong. "It was unbelievable," he told NBC Bay Area. "I've never seen anything like that in America before."
From the Buzzfeed report (which has more video, including the burning of an American flag):
In at least two instances Trump supporters engaged with protesters, chanting “Donald Trump” and walking directly into the thickest, most angry portions of the protests. But things quickly spiraled, and rallygoers simply trying to get back to their cars were chased down and beaten — often at the feet of San Jose Police, who stood by motionless....
A police source told BuzzFeed News that officers were under orders to not break ranks, and that while “nobody wants to see somebody beaten… we had a global plan.” The source added that the department did not want officers to step in for several reasons, notably out of fear for individual officers’ safety, as well as concerns that breaking up a fight may end up escalating the violence....
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, a Clinton supporter, praised the police... “At some point Donald Trump needs to take responsibility for the irresponsible behavior of his campaign”....
Incredible. Liccardo isn't some small-town naif. This is San Jose, and Liccardo is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
ADDED: I'm having flashbacks to the Wisconsin protests of 2011, which were big and rowdy but did not have this kind of violence. You felt a threatening atmosphere, because there were so many people, so angry, and so seemingly irrational with all the drum-beating and chanting. It's amazing really, that they were able to create such a big drama, with the feeling of a revolutionary uprising, without cracking up into violence.
In any case, those protests looked unruly and anti-democratic from the outside, and the Wisconsin protesters did not have good awareness of the effect they were having on the mind of the electorate in general. Their target, Governor Scott Walker, survived a recall election and then got reelected.
Now, these anti-Trump protesters are much worse than the Wisconsin protesters. They have devolved into outright violence, including mob attacks on lone individuals. We shall see what effect they have. I'd say they undercut the argument that Trump is a horrible brute, and by intensifying the desire for order, they strengthen support for the strongman that Trump seems to be.
1 comment:
Can this lead to anything but the second American Civil War? And will Ken Burns make a historically inaccurate PBS movie about it?
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