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Trump Says “Maybe He Should Have Been Roughed Up” After His Fans Assault Black Lives Matter Demonstrator

by Gabe Ortiz on

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Donald Trump’s dangerous, toxic campaign for President reached another new low this past weekend.

Here at America’s Voice, we’ve been tracking instances across the nation where Trump, his supporters, or his staff have harassed or attacked Latinos and immigrants. Now, in an ugly new incident, Trump not only defended, but in fact encouraged the brutal attack of a Black Lives Matter demonstrator at his campaign rally this past weekend.

From CNN:

At least a half-dozen [Trump rally] attendees shoved and tackled the protester, a black man, to the ground as he refused to leave the event. At least one man punched the protester and a woman kicked him while he was on the ground.

All of the attendees who were involved in the physical altercation with the protester were white.

The protester appeared to be shouting “black lives matter” and later removed his sweatshirt to reveal a shirt with those words.

At least one attendee shouted “all lives matter” as the protester was eventually led out by police officers on the scene.

CNN captured the brutal attack on video:

The protester, Mercutio Southall, also told CNN that the Trump supporters called him and fellow Black demonstrators “monkeys” and the N-word.

When questioned by Fox News about the incident the next day, Trump said the demonstrator deserved it: “Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.”

Trump’s remarks came mere hours after his spokesperson Hope Hicks claimed the campaign  “does not condone” violence. But just a few weeks ago in Miami, Trump in fact encouraged violence against a group of Latino protesters, too:

“See the first group, I was nice. Oh, take your time. The second group, I was pretty nice. The third group, I’ll be a little more violent. And the fourth group, I’ll say get the hell out of here!”

The attack of the Black Lives Matter demonstrator at the hands of Trump supporters comes during a weekend where Trump not only attacked African-Americans, but the nation’s Muslim-American community as well.

On Sunday, Trump tweeted a blatantly racist — and false — “Black crimes” infographic from the non-existent “Crime Statistics Bureau” in San Francisco. After some digging, Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs uncovered the source of Trump’s claim — a white supremacist and admirer of Hitler who claimed “we should have listened to the Austrian chap with the little moustache.”

Also on Sunday, Trump stood by his outright lie that he watched “thousands and thousands” of Muslim-Americans cheer on TV as the Twin Towers came down, a lie repeatedly debunked by notable news outlets, police, government officials, and the simple fact there’s no news footage to corroborate his claim.

Trump’s race to the bottom has been dragging other Republican candidates down with him in what’s become known as the “Trump Effect.” We have watched this play out on immigration as 2016 GOP candidates move further and further to the right.

For example, earlier this month, Trump chastised one-time immigration reform supporter Marco Rubio for supporting DACA. The very next day, Rubio said he would end that program, putting hundreds of thousands of DREAMers at risk of deportation. Rubio is also following Trump’s anti-refugee ugliness – and, in some ways, trying to go even further than Trump.

According to ThinkProgress:

“Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) seems to be going further than even Republican frontrunner Donald Trump in advocating the crackdown of U.S. Muslims. He doesn’t just want to consider shutting down mosques, as Trump says, but wants to shut down ‘any place where radicals are being inspired.’”

“It’s not about closing down mosques. It’s about closing down any place — whether it’s a cafe, a diner, an internet site — any place where radicals are being inspired,” Rubio said.

Among media and punditry, there’s growing awareness of Trump’s campaign being ugly, racist, and increasingly dangerous: