A young mother says she and her seven-year-old daughter with disabilities had to be escorted out of a Donald Trump rally by Secret Service officers after they were bullied by supporters.
Jennifer Mau went to the Republican nominee’s event in Loveland, Colorado on Monday night, saying she was curious what he would say about people with disabilities.
The mom, who is an undecided voter, said she decided to leave after about 20 minutes.
‘I just wanted to see what a (Trump) rally would be like, because I’ve watched them all over the country,’ she told KMGH.
But once Mau got up to leave with her daughter – who was born with multiple birth defects, including facial anomalies, and no jawbone or ears – that’s when she says the trouble started.
‘Somebody said, “why are you leaving”, and basically that struck a nerve and I said, “why are you here”, because it was all handicapped people, and I said, “why are you here, he makes fun of people like you”.’
She went on to say once she did decide to leave, a woman began following her and hurling abuse at her.
‘She was screaming and yelling at me, saying that if I loved my daughter I would vote for Trump and I need to get educated because he didn’t mock somebody on purpose.
‘It made me sad, it made me want to vomit. Chloe is my life, my heart, I live to advocate for Chloe, to be there for her.’
Mau also said other people at the event said her young girl was beautiful as she left.
Trump has been slammed for mocking a New York Times reporter who has a disability at a rally in South Carolina last November.
The Republican did an impression of Serge Kovaleski – a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who was born with arthrogryposis – that included him putting on a bizarre voice and flailing his limbs around.
Arthrogryposis can cause sufferers’ joints to get stuck in one position and can also see people born with weaker or missing muscles.
A man was captured on video appearing to choke a man and slap a woman who were with a group of protesters at a Donald Trump rally in Asheville, North Carolina on Monday.
The man, who was unidentified, was not arrested and was allowed to stay at the rally while the protesters were ejected from the event, CNN reports.
Prior to the incident, the protesters directed “an obscene gesture” in the direction of Trump, according to The Guardian.
The incident is the first instance of violence in months. During the primary season, there were multiple instances of violence at rallies, both among supporters and protesters.
Last month, the New York Times published a roughly three-minute video showcasing some of the obscenities hurled in the massive crowds in and around Donald Trump’s rallies.
At a Republican presidential debate in March, the brash billionaire said he doesn’t condone violence at his rallies, but at a previous event a month prior, Trump said of a protester: “I’d like to punch him in the face.”
Trump, on multiple occasions, has defended violence against protesters, encouraged violence against protesters, and promised violence. It stands to reason that it is Trump’s actions and behavior that creates an environment where violence against protesters is acceptable.
A man who identified himself as half-Indian was escorted out of a Donald Trump rally on Thursday out of concern that he was a protester, but the man insisted he was a Trump supporter and said he feels that he was racially profiled.
Jake Anantha, an 18-year-old from Charlotte, was approached by a member of Trump’s security team and then ushered out by police. He was told that he resembled another man who had previously disrupted Trump rallies.
“I told him I’ve never been to another rally in my life,” Anantha said. “I’m a huge Trump supporter. I would never protest against Trump.”
Anantha is a registered Republican, according to state voter records, who registered to vote in March. Anantha, who said he’s a student at Central Piedmont Community College, was wearing a pro-Trump shirt with another pro-Trump shirt underneath.
“I do think it’s because I’m brown,” Anantha said, explaining why he believes he was kicked out. He added that he was “totally shocked.”
Trump’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment about the incident. Requests for comment from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department have not been returned.
It’s not unusual for known demonstrators who have been previously spotted at Trump rallies to be asked to leave. A Muslim woman, Rose Hamid, was also kicked out of the rally Thursday night. She had been escorted from at least one Trump rally in the past for peacefully protesting and had previously been interviewed by major media outlets, including CNN.
Attempting to verify his political beliefs, Anantha said he was a conservative and expressed views in line with those of Trump, including opposition to Black Lives Matter protesters, who were demonstrating Thursday night outside the venue, and his belief that “radical Islam is a large threat to our country.”
“I couldn’t believe what was going on,” he said of the incident. “Obviously now I’m very angry. I’ve wasted a bunch of time coming here. I may have wasted six months of my life supporting Donald Trump, who doesn’t even let me come to his rallies.”
While Anantha said he was now questioning his support for Trump, he maintained he won’t be voting for the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.
Protests outside a Donald Trump rally in San Jose, California, descended into violence on Thursday night, with supporters clashing with anti-Trump demonstrators in running-battles around the convention center where the candidate spoke.
Hundreds of protesters, many of them Latino students and a large contingent of union members, had gathered peacefully outside in the late afternoon, at times jeering at his supporters as they passed by.
But after the rally finished, the protests turned violent as anti-Trump demonstrators chased – and in some cases punched and attacked – departing Trump supporters, some of whom appeared intent on provoking and fighting as well, while other protesters tried to prevent the attacks. Eventually riot police were deployed to control the crowd.
Inside the rally, the presumptive Republican nominee for president struck out at his main rival, Hillary Clinton, after her fiery attacks on him earlier in the day. In a blistering speech in San Diego on national security, the Democratic frontrunner lambasted him as “ temperamentally unfit” to be president and castigated his “thin skin”.
Trump, his voice brash, responded, saying he had thick skin instead of thin, but attacked her over her email controversy, even hinting that if he was elected he would send the former secretary of state to jail. He also said Clinton “wants to abolish the second amendment” and called her speech “pathetic”.
Sgt Enrique Garcia of the San Jose police department said police made “a few” arrests but could not provide details on numbers or charges. “There has been no significant property damage reported. One officer was assaulted,” he said.
The Clinton camp was quick to denounce the violence, with campaign chairman John Podesta tweeting: “Violence against supporters of any candidate has no place in this election.”
But the mayor of San Jose, Sam Liccardo, laid the blame squarely at Trump’s door. “We don’t appreciate [anyone] utilizing campaign tactics of demagoguery, and pitting members of our community against one another to propel their own political ambitions,” he told the Guardian.
The protests had started peacefully in the afternoon. Pooja Bachan, 18, attended with a group of her classmates who arrived from their high school graduation ceremony wearing baby-blue caps and gowns. “Donald Trump is misogynistic, xenophobic and racist,” she said. “I don’t support that for this country.”
“I have family members who are illegal immigrants and they’re scared,” said Monse Lozano, 18, of San Jose. “I’m a citizen and I can’t do much for them.”
Other demonstrators waved Mexican flags and chanted in Spanish and English. One man yelled at Trump supporters entering the arena: “Somos mas Americanos que todos ellos.”
Trump spoke to an audience of around 5,000 supporters, who barely filled a third of the cavernous space attached to the San Jose convention center. After his speech, as Trump supporters began trickling out of the venue, the tenor of the crowd outside shifted.
Bands of mostly young male protesters began chasing, and in some instances attacking, Trump supporters. As more fights broke out between pro- and anti-Trump people, the situation grew chaotic. After being spat on and punched by a protester, one Trump supporter turned to hit back and appeared to accidentally hit a pregnant woman standing next to his attacker, which further angered the crowd surrounding him.
The crowd moved into the street and began blocking traffic, while police maintained their distance. Some Trump supporters waded into the crowd, seeming intent on provoking scuffles.
Several protesters snatched red “Make America Great Again” hats from supporters, setting them on fire. Some burned small American flags and ripped up Trump signs.
At one point, a group of protesters entered the convention center parking lot, where Trump supporters were attempting to leave. Some banged on cars, yelling at the occupants, and one SUV’s tail light was broken. As protesters attempted to surround a Corvette, the driver gunned the engine, almost hitting several people and sending the protesters running.
“Now that I’ve turned 18, I want to be out there and stand up for what I believe,” said Martha Garcia, a student from San Jose, early in the afternoon. “The blood that runs through my veins is Mexican.”
As night fell, and riot cops began to move in on the protesters, Garcia expressed disappointment in the violence. “It’s sad to see San Jose representing like this. Trump is the one igniting the hate. You can’t fight fire with fire,” she said.
Carlos Ceballos, an iron worker from Salinas who travelled to San Jose to protest Trump, was more understanding of the violent outbursts. “I guess it happens to the best of us,” he said as the final protesters retreated from riot cops. Ceballos said he does not like Trump supporters, but as for Trump himself, “I hate him.”
Violence has no place in our political process and should be condemned from all sides.
Donald Trump says a lot of divisive and hateful statements, escalation of tensions may only seem natural. However as a protester, engaging in violence only plays into the hands of Donald Trump and his supporters. It gives them justification for their false sense of being victimized and allows them to paint the opposition as “thugs” and side-step our real and valid arguments.
A black man, Rakeem Jones, protested a Donald Trump rally in North Carolina. As he was being escorted out of the rally by men in “Sheriff’s Office” uniforms, Jones was punched in the face by a Trump supporter, John Franklin McGraw, wearing a cowboy hat. The officers then quickly wrestled Jones (the victim) to the ground, pinned his arms behind his back, and led him out of the venue.
The man who punched the protester, identified as John McGraw, toldInside Edition that his actions were justified.
The next time we see him, we might have to kill him. We don’t know who he is. He might be with a terrorist organization.
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.
Update
John Franklin McGraw pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of assault and battery and disorderly conduct. A judge also ordered McGraw to pay $180 in court costs, a $250 fine, and was placed under one year of probation.
Donald Trump rewards a couple of supporters for helping to forcibly remove a protester.
Reality
Comments like these add to the growing evidence that Donald Trump supports and condones violence against people with different ideas.
By giving permission, and now reward, for confrontations by Trump will make only make violence more normal to his supporters and cause a continued escalation. A true president would work towards uniting and diffusing situations.
In a press release by Donald Trump’s campaign and reiterated in almost every Republican debate:
Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.
Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.
Reality
While Korematsu v. United States has never been challenged and could be a slim avenue for implementation, most legal scholars would deem this bigoted plan unconstitutional. Trump’s proposal would violate the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses, the equality dimension of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and the Constitution’s general prohibition on religious tests outside of the immigration context as it would also conflict with the spirit of the No Religious Test Clause of Article VI.
Ariel Rojas wasn’t the only protester inside Donald Trump’s campaign event at Trump National Miami Doral Resort on Friday. At least three separate groups could be heard interrupting Trump and chanting pro-immigration messages.
Rojas’ group, comprised of eight Florida International University students, each holding up one letter, spelling out the word E-Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y.
Rojas, a senior at FIU, was holding up the letter Q before, he said, the Trump supporters standing in front of him turned around, grabbed their signs, and tore them to pieces.
“There were some choice moments of irony,’ said Rojas, whose friend reported seeing a Trump supporter whacking a protester with a sign that read “The Silent Majority Supports Trump.”
A man can be seen dragging Rojas by the collar of his shirt before falling to the ground. While on the ground Rojas gets kicked by the man who was dragging him.
According to the campaign, the man who dragged Rojas is not a Trump campaign staffer or an employee of the Trump Resort, he was “merely an attendee” at the rally.
Once outside the event, Rojas and his fellow protesters were escorted off the premises by police.
“Donald Trump was right,” the two men said, according to police, as they beat the man with a metal pipe and then urinated on him. “All these illegals need to be deported.”
When asked at a press conference earlier this week, Trump said that while he hadn’t heard about the Boston incident, it would “be a shame.” But he didn’t stop there, as he quickly went to applaud those who echo his views.
“I will say, the people that are following me are very passionate,” Trump said. “They love this country, they want this country to be great again.”
Trump later tweeted that the incident was “terrible” and in subsequent interviews claimed he “would never condone violence.”
Boston incident is terrible. We need energy and passion, but we must treat each other with respect. I would never condone violence.
