Category: Policies

Trump Incited Crowd Violence in Kentucky

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Trump at rally in Louisville, Kentucky

Three people were assaulted at a Donald Trump rally in Louisville, Kentucky, and have since filed a lawsuit against the Republican presidential candidate, saying he “incited a riot.”

Molly Shah, Kashiya Nwanguma and Henry Brousseau filed the lawsuit on Thursday in Jefferson Circuit Court in Louisville, claiming that Trump’s repeated calls of “get them out” at a rally at the Kentucky International Convention Center on March 1 was intended to direct his supporters to “use unwanted, harmful physical force to remove protesters, including the plaintiffs.”

The lawsuit also names as defendants the Trump campaign and three individuals who the plaintiffs claim assaulted them at the rally.

Reality

This was not the only incident at the event.

Protests at Trump rallies do not occur in a vacuum. Since he first announced his candidacy, Trump continues to make racist, sexist, and authoritarian remarks that marginalizes anyone who do not meet his view of white and conservative enough. A full list of protests can be found here.

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Woman Assaulted at Trump Rally

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Protester Shiya Nwanguma being forcibly removed.

It wasn’t long before protester, Shiya Nwanguma, was being pushed, shoved, and forcibly removed from a rally by white supremacists after Donald Trump noticed a sign she was holding and yelled, “Get her out of here.”

“I was called a nigger and a cunt and got kicked out,” said Shiya Nwanguma, a University of Louisville student. “They were pushing and shoving at me, cursing at me, yelling at me, called me every name in the book. They’re disgusting and dangerous.”

(h/t Washington Times, Insider Louisville)

Reality

This was not the only incident at the Louisville rally. Donald Trump promised to pay the legal fees if anyone roughs up a protester, what the hell did you think would start to happen?

Thankfully there has been repercussions for at least one of the assailants. Future Marine Joseph Pryor will no longer have the chance to be a future Marine.

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Trump Removes Black Students From Rally For Being Black

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Trump at Valdosta State rally

A large group of black students attending a Donald Trump rally at Valdosta State University Monday were escorted out by law enforcement before the event started.

The young people said they had planned to sit in silent protest, but were escorted out by security officials before the presidential candidate began speaking. The incident was recorded on video by several attendees. (Some of the footage can be found here, here and here.)

“We didn’t plan to do anything,” Tahjila Davis, a 19-year-old mass media major, told The Des Moines Register. “They said, ‘This is Trump’s property; it’s a private event.’ But I paid my tuition to be here.”

Brooke Gladney, a 22-year-old marketing and business management major, said: “The only reason we were given was that Mr. Trump did not want us there.”

News reports placed the number of students escorted out at about 30.

Kicking out anticipated protestors isn’t an uncommon practice for Trump events, but this was one of the largest groups so far in his campaign. It occurred hours after a Secret Service agent choke-slammed a Time magazine photographer attempted to capture images of #BlackLivesMatter protesters at an event in Virginia.

Though at least one outlet reported the students were kicked out based on a request by the Trump campaign, the campaign denies that was the case.

“There is absolutely zero truth to that,” says campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks.

Reality

MSNBC‘s Chris Hayes did some digging and no only were the kids there not to protest:

THIS IS NOT A CALL TO PROTEST. We honor Trump’s First Amendment right and do not wish to disrupt the rally.

But Capt. Stryde Jones from the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Dept. went on record and told MSNBC:

“A member of the [Trump] event staff approached a member of our agency and requested that the group be asked to leave.”

Furthermore, the Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress’ went on record and made a statement backing up Captain Jones’ account:

“I spoke to a Trump staffer, whose name I do not have, she told us that they needed to leave. Not only did I talk to a Trump staffer, so did the University police, and we were told over the radio by the Sheriff’s office that Trump staff wanted them out.”

Now a Trump supporter could easily dismiss this out of hand, call the students “thugs” or “potential thugs”, but think about this: Trump and his supporters constantly paint the African-Americans and the Black Lives Matter movement with disdain and contempt and usually counter with a call to support law enforcement and “police lives matter.” So how can they logically reconcile this belief when law enforcement publicly backs up African-Americans over their Trump??

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Links

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/01/politics/valdosta-state-university-students-escorted-out-of-trump-rally/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/02/29/donald-trump-georgia-rally-valdosta/81129964/

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/police-trump-staffer-told-us-to-remove-students-636706371914

Protesters escorted out of Donald Trump’s rally at Radford University

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At Radford University, a group of young black organizers interrupted a Trump rally. With fists raised, they chanted, “Black lives matter,” as they were quickly escorted from the premises by the police. Trump responded, “All lives matter,” a refrain often used to dismiss the specific concerns of the black community. He also asked a Latina woman who was being led out of the auditorium whether she was from Mexico.

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Links

http://wsls.com/2016/02/29/protesters-escorted-out-of-donald-trumps-rally-at-radford-university/

Trump Asks Protester If He Is From Mexico

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Reporters and rally attendees found themselves at the intersection of Trump’s feelings toward Mexicans and protesters when the GOP presidential candidate yelled at one from his podium, demanding to know their family’s country of origin.

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Links

http://www.mediaite.com/online/amid-usa-usa-chant-trump-grills-protester-are-you-from-mexico/

Donald Trump Confronts Protester Wearing ‘KKK Endorses Trump’ Shirt

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Protester wears shirt 'KKK endorses Trump'

Donald Trump paused a campaign rally Friday night in Oklahoma to stare down a protester who showed up wearing a white T-shirt stating in dark letters, “KKK endorses Trump.”

Trump walked to the edge of the podium, staring toward the man for several moments as law enforcement officials moved to escort him away from the area.

“In the good ‘ole days, law enforcement acted a lot quicker than this,” Trump said when he finally returned to the microphone.

“In the good ‘ole days, they’d rip him out of that seat so fast. But today everybody is politically correct,” Trump said. “You know, it is a shame, when you think.”

Media

Links

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/271022-trump-stares-down-protester-wearing-kkk-endorses-trump-shirt

Trump vs. the First Amendment

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During a rally in Fort Worth, Texas, Trump began his usual tirade against newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, saying they’re “losing money” and are “dishonest.” The Republican presidential candidate then took a different turn, suggesting that when he’s president they’ll “have problems.”

One of the things I’m going to do if I win, and I hope we do and we’re certainly leading. I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. We’re going to open up those libel laws. So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they’re totally protected,

(h/t Politico, National Review)

Reality

Freedom of the press in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This clause is generally understood as prohibiting the government from interfering with the printing and distribution of information or opinions.

If a President Donald Trump does attempt to go after journalists and media outlets it would be a clear violation of the constitution and highly anti-American.

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Rubio Claims Trump Hired Illegal Workers From Poland

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Florida Sen. Marco Rubio charged Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump with hypocrisy for hiring undocumented immigrants for his real estate projects instead of American citizens.

“He hired from Poland, and he had to pay a million dollars or so in a judgment,” Rubio said. “That’s a fact. People can look it up. I’m sure people are Googling it right now, ‘Trump Polish workers.’ You’ll see $1 million for hiring illegal workers on one of his projects. He did.”

Politifact did some Googling and also reached out to the Rubio campaign, which referred them to media reports about a protracted class-action lawsuit involving his hiring of Polish aliens 36 years ago.

Sometime between 1979 and 1980, Trump hired a contractor to demolish an old building in midtown Manhattan to make way for Trump Tower. The contractor signed on workers from a local union and, to meet Trump’s tight deadline, also brought on 200 undocumented laborers from Poland dubbed the “Polish Brigade.”

The Polish employees were off-the-books, working 12-hour shifts seven days a week for $4 to $5 an hour, with no overtime. Some workers were never paid what they were owed.

In 1983, union members sued a union boss, Trump and his contractor for cheating the union out of pension and welfare funds by hiring the Polish Brigade. Trump owed the union pension fund $1 million, the plaintiffs said.

Appearing in court in 1990, Trump blamed the violations on the contractor and denied knowing that the Polish workers were undocumented.

The case dragged on until 1999 when Trump quietly settled, according to the New York Daily News, but the agreement was placed under seal.

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Links

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/feb/25/marco-rubio/marco-rubio-says-donald-trump-had-pay-1-million-hi/

Trump Wishes to Punch Protester In the Face

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On the eve before the Nevada caucuses Trump publicly wished he could commit physical harm to a protester being escorted out of his rally.

I’d like to punch him in the face,” Trump said, remarking that a man disrupting his rally was escorted out with a smile on his face. “He’s smiling, having a good time.

Trump claimed the protester was “nasty as hell” and accused the man of trying to punch the security officers forcing him out of the rally, though the man did not appear to be fighting off those officers.

In the old days, protesters would be carried out on stretchers. We’re not allowed to push back anymore.

Reality

Comments like these add to the growing evidence that Donald Trump supports and condones violence against people with different ideas.

Media

Links

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/23/politics/donald-trump-nevada-rally-punch/

Trump on Waterboarding: ‘Torture Works’

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During a campaign event at the Sun City retirement community, Donald Trump said that he supports waterboarding and similar interrogation techniques because “torture works” in the questioning of terrorists.

Trump was responding to a question from South Carolina state Rep. Bill Herbkersman (R), who asked the candidate a series of questions in a fireside-chat-style event that lasted 33 minutes.

“On that whole thing of politically correct, would you allow U.S. interrogators to waterboard terrorist prisoners in order to extract information?” Herbkersman asked Trump.

“Absolutely,” Trump said to strong applause from the audience of about 500 retirees, who often laughed as Trump discussed enhanced interrogation techniques.  Trump emphasized his intention to reinstate waterboarding and techniques that are “so much worse” and “much stronger.”

“Don’t tell me it doesn’t work — torture works,” Trump said. “Okay, folks? Torture — you know, half these guys [say]: ‘Torture doesn’t work.’ Believe me, it works. Okay?”

(h/t Washington Post)

Reality

Torture is illegal, unethical, and simply does not work. When a subject is in pain, people will say anything to get the pain to stop. Most of the time, they will lie, make up anything to make you stop hurting them. That means the information provided during the time of torture is useless. It is irresponsible to forget the lessons we learned during the war against terror for Donald Trump to suggest a war crime.

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