President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. AP Photo by Andrew Harnik
The recent violence at Donald Trump rallies has been met with no outrage from the Republican front-runner’s camp, and many blame the violence on President Obama.
Since the beginning of March, protesters — mostly Black — and journalists have been forcefully tossed out of Trump’s rally venues. Videos of a young woman being shoved, a Black man being punched in the face, and a TIME magazine photographer being choked by secret service have all gone viral on numerous media platforms.
Texas Senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Obama is to blame for the multiple incidents of violence at Trump rallies.
The President responded at a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:
“I have been blamed by Republicans for a lot of things, but being blamed for their primaries and who they’re selecting for their party (nominee) is novel,” Obama told a news conference on Thursday. “What I’m not going to do is to validate some notion that the Republican crack-up that’s been taking place is … a consequence of actions that I’ve taken.”
Conservatives wholeheartedly believe in the spirit of individualism but have yet to blame the individuals who have attacked the many protesters.
Trump’s campaign went a step further to support the violence that their rally-goers have displayed. His campaign manager Corey Lewandowski stated:
“I think Mr. Trump’s people are very, very passionate and they’re angry because of the way that this country has been taken advantage of from so many other countries,” Lewandowski said. “That’s a frustration level I think a lot of people in this country feel and people express it in different ways.”
Lewandowski has not been excluded in this violence. In fact, he allegedly got physical with a conservative reporter. Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields said Lewandowski assaulted her at a campaign event on Tuesday, pulling her to the ground and leaving bruises on her arm, Think Progress reported. The campaign manager dismissed all wrongdoing. Today, Fields filed a criminal complaint against Lewandowski on Friday morning for a misdemeanor battery.
In regards to the violence at the rallies, he said:
“What we want is to have the opportunity to bring Mr. Trump’s message to everyone in a respectful manner,” he said. “That’s why we make an announcement at the beginning of our rallies to say: ‘Please if you want to protest, just feel free to leave.’ I understand the notion of free speech but you also have the privilege of being in a private setting where other people want to come and listen to Mr. Trump.”
The campaign attracts the underprivileged and poorest factions of the Republican party who are angry at many different things. That anger has been channeled by Trump to propel him to the front-runner position. That anger has been fueled into xenophobic, anti-Black Lives Matter, and anti-Islam sentiments that have made the Republican establishment uneasy. His supporters have assaulted countless people, and Trump has on many occasions encouraged that violence.
Historically, white fear has been used to justify the thousands of lynchings of Black men. The fear of miscegenation, economic competition, and “otherness” is responsible for the racial violence toward Black people. Now, Trump’s campaign is using fear to justify violence once more.
