President Trump, during his bizarre, often rambling speech in front of the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), lauded a young conservative activist assaulted on the University of California at Berkeley campus last month, vowing to sign an executive order in support of far-right speakers.
Trump urged the man, Hayden Williams, to “sue the college, the university. And maybe sue the state” over the assault, which was spurred on by signage at the Turning Point USA booth Williams was stationed at on the Berkeley Campus.
“He’s going to be a very wealthy young man,” said Trump. “Go get ’em, Hayden.”
Williams is not a student of the university, but was asked to be at the booth that day by members of the UC Berkeley chapter of Turning Point USA to attend. His suspected attacker, Zachary Greenberg, is also not a UC Berkeley student.
According to Williams, a pair of men had initially been angered by a sign referencing Jussie Smollett, and began cursing at the group. One of them, allegedly Greenberg, became physically aggressive.
Cell phone video of the assault shows Williams recording his attacker up close, before the assailant shoved Williams away, then punches Williams.
The school’s Chancellor, Carol Christ, spoke out about the attack in a message sent to the university.
“Let there be no mistake, we strongly condemn violence and harassment of any sort, for any reason,” read the message from Christ and the Vice Chancellor for student affairs Stephen C. Sutton. “That sort of behavior is intolerable and has no place here. Our commitment to freedom of expression and belief is unwavering.”
The president also announced that he will “very soon” sign an executive order requiring schools to “support free speech” as a requirement to receive research money from the government.
“If they want our dollars, and we give it to them by the billions, they’ve got to allow people like Hayden to speak,” said Trump.
It is unclear how such a statement would enhance already existing protections under the United States Constitution, nor if such an executive order would be limited to conservative speakers.
View the exchange below:
Image via screen capture from video source.