After Denouncing Violence at His Rallies One Day Earlier, GOP Frontrunner Now Calls for More
Donald Trump is calling for more violence at his campaign rallies. The GOP frontrunner at a Friday morning press event told reporters “we need a little bit more of” Trump supporters punching protestors.Â
Wednesday night as a man who was protesting at a Donald Trump rally was being escorted out by police, a Trump supporter cold-cocked him, knocking him to the ground. Police who were standing right there ignored the assault until the next day when video of the attack went viral. They then arrested 78-year old John McGraw, apparently caught on video punching 26-year-old Rakeem Jones in the face.
Claiming “we’ve had a couple” of protestors who were “particularly violent,” Trump admitted he had said there was one protestor he had wanted to hit.
“He was swinging at the audience, and you know what? The audience swung back,” Trump told reporters Friday morning. He called it “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.â€
Trump claimed the protestor “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.”
NBC News’ Katy Tur, who says she has been to more Trump rallies than anyone except Trump, Friday morning on MSNBC disputed the GOP frontrunner’s claim that there have been violent protestors at Trump rallies. There is also no evidence that Rakeem Jones in any way was violent.
Tur made similar remarks Thursday night:
Trump’s call for increased violence conflicts with his comments made the night before.
“During Thursday’s GOP Debate, Jake Tapper asked Trump about the exact same incident,” the Daily Beast reports. “He replied: ‘I certainly do not condone that all, Jake.'”
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Image: Screenshot via MSNBC/Twitter
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