Candidate Pushes Back Against GOP Frontrunner’s Attacks
Bernie Sanders on Saturday called Donald Trump a “pathological liar.” The candidate for the Democratic nomination for president was responding to the GOP frontrunner’s attacks that blame Sanders for the thousands of protestors who showed up in Chicago at a scheduled Trump rally Friday night. Trump falsely claimed law enforcement urged him to cancel the rally, and later falsely and repeatedly claimed his First Amendment rights, and those of his supporters, were violated as a result.
“As is the case virtually every day, Donald Trump is showing the American people he is a pathological liar,” Sanders said in a statement. “Obviously, while I appreciate that we had supporters at Trump’s rally in Chicago, our campaign did not organize the protests.”
Trump, who promised recently he would shred the First Amendment to allow politicians to sue reporters, on Saturday falsely claimed he and his supporters were “not allowed to exercise our First Amendment rights,” after he shut down his own rally.
“What caused the protests at Trump’s rally is a candidate that has promoted hatred and division against Latinos, Muslims, women, and people with disabilities, and his birther attacks against the legitimacy of President Obama.”
Sanders then detailed some of Trump’s comments this week that many say created the environment for Friday’s hostilities.
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“What caused the violence at Trump’s rally is a campaign whose words and actions have encouraged it on the part of his supporters. He recently said of a protestor, ‘I want to punch him in the face.’ Another time Trump yearned for the old days when the protestor would have been punched and ‘carried out on a stretcher.’ Then just a few days ago a female reporter apparently was assaulted by the campaign.”
“When that is what the Trump campaign is doing, we should not be surprised that there is a response.”
“What Donald Trump must do now is stop provoking violence and make it clear to his supporters that people who attend his rallies should not be assaulted, should not be punched, should not be kicked. In America, people have a right to attend a political rally without fear of physical harm.”
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Image by Scott Pelkey/ne014x via Flickr and a CC license