When asked about the arrest of one of his supporters for sucker-punching a protester on his way out of a rally, Donald Trump said, “The audience hit back. That’s what we need a little more of.”
Yep – his answer to the situation is that the protester, who was leaving without inciting any violence, got what he had coming to him.
Another reporter asked, “When you say things like, I want to punch a protester in the face… is it just politics or are you playing a character there?”
“Let me just tell you, we have had some violent people as protesters,” Trump responded. “They are not just people saying, ‘oh!’ These are people that punch, these are people that are violent people.”
Trump has attempted to portray the protesters, not his supporters, as violent. But no reporter covering his campaign says they’ve seen evidence of that. Quite the opposite. We’ve seen protesters raise their voices but not their fists, even as they are shoved and spit on as they exit Trump rallies.
The latest incident happened at Wednesdays’rally in Fayetteville, which was caught on camera from several angles. A white man identified as 78-year-old John McGraw approached a group of protesters and punched one, identified as Rakeem Jones, in the face.
Hope Hicks, the Trump campaign spokeswoman, called the violence unfortunate in an interview with the New York Times and said Trump’s campaign had “no control” over its supporters’ behavior.
