Donald Trump’s dangerous and toxic campaign for President continued this past weekend when Trump not only defended, but in fact encouraged the brutal attack of a Black Lives Matter demonstrator at a campaign rally.
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. In a new blog post America’s Voice documents other recent incidents of the “Trump Effect” on full display as other Republican candidates follow Trump on his race to the bottom.
The full piece is available online here, but key excerpts follow below.
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.
“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. Click here for a compilation of recent tweets displaying this growing sentiment.
Click here to view America’s Voice’s “Trump Hate Map” documenting instances where Donald Trump, his supporters, or his staff harassed or attacked Latinos and immigrants.