Rachel Maddow: Donald Trump’s Violent Rhetoric Sparked Chicago Protest
On a night where Donald Trump‘s Chicago rally was cancelled after the mogul’s supporters clashed with protestors both inside and outside the UIC Pavilion, Rachel Maddow examined how the Republican frontrunner’s violent rhetoric at campaign rallies sparked Friday’s incident.
“This has turned out to be a night that may go down in history as one of the darker moments in American major party politics. Here’s the context, here’s how I think we got here: I think we got here by deliberate means; I don’t think this was an accident,” Maddow said, noting that Trump’s campaign touches down this weekend in St. Louis, Chicago and Cleveland, three cities still reeling from police-involved shootings of unarmed African-Americans.
Maddow then presents clips from Trump’s recent rallies where the tycoon threatens or endorses violence against his protestors, a stance which culminated in assault charges after a 78-year-old Trump supporter in North Carolina sucker-punched a protestor.
“Anybody who tells you that there is no connection between the behavior of the mob at these events and the behavior of the man at the podium leading the mob at these events is not actually watching he’s been saying from the podium. What he has been saying, and the way he has been egging it on, it has been escalating,” Maddow said.
“If you want to know why things escalated today to the point that this Donald Trump rally had to be cancelled tonight in Chicago because security feared that there was no way it could be kept under control and then was quickly proved the point, if you want to know why this happened tonight, consider that the Trump supporter was charged with physically assaulting that protestor at a Trump rally yesterday.”
Following the cancelation of Trump’s Chicago rally, the mogul’s Cincinnati, Ohio event on Saturday was also called off after the Secret Service security detail for the candidate were unable to complete their preparation for the rally. Trump is still scheduled to hold a rally in Cleveland on Saturday.