All the times Trump has called for violence at his rallies
By Kate Sommers-Dawes 2016-03-12 05:24:54 UTC
After he canceled a rally at a Chicago university Friday night due to safety concerns, Donald Trump told CNN's Don Lemon "I certainly don't incite violence."
Trump, however, has a history of calling for violent acts against those who protest at his events that goes back until at least August of last year.
Donald Trump: "I certainly don't incite violence and … I don't condone violence" https://t.co/NaKZenWl0z @CNNTonight https://t.co/Aq76HFtnQC
— CNN (@CNN) March 12, 2016
And after canceling the rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion, which devolved into mayhem when protesters and supporters faced off, Trump pointed the finger at detractors for the violence that erupted.
Below are the recorded instances in which the Republican presidential candidate has called for, rejoiced in, or otherwise encouraged combat between supporters and detractors, in reverse chronological order.
SEE ALSO: Chaos ensues after Trump cancels rally due to safety concerns
"I'll beat the crap out of you."
At a campaign rally in Kansas City on Saturday, the day after the unrest in Chicago, Trump addressed an earlier event in Dayton, Ohio, when a protester tried to storm the stage.
The candidate said he would have fought the person had he reached the lectern and mimed punching him a few times.
"I'll beat the crap out of you," he then mouthed.
"Part of the problem ... is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore."
Demonstrators interrupted a Trump rally in St. Louis, Missouri, Friday. As they were being escorted out of the venue, the candidate bemoaned the fact that there were no longer "consequences" to protesting and insisted the "country has to toughen up."
"You know, part of the problem and part of the reason it takes so long is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore, right?" he explained. His remarks are heard just after the seven-minute mark in the video above.
Outside the event, people screamed profanity and anti-Muslim rhetoric at each other while a bloodied protester was given medical treatment. Thirty two people were arrested.
"The audience hit back. That's what we need a little bit more of."
Donald Trump calls supporters' violence against protesters "appropriate," says "that's what we need more of."https://t.co/N28Wj5l3Ji
— Mashable News (@MashableNews) March 11, 2016
At a press conference in Florida earlier on Friday, Trump was asked about his rhetoric in the wake of an incident in which a supporter at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, sucker-punched a black man in the face.
While he wasn't asked about that specific altercation, Trump said of violent behavior in general at his events: "The audience hit back and that's what we need a little bit more of."
He also praised people using physical force at his rallies as "appropriate."
On NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, Trump said he would have his team look into paying the legal fees of 78-year-old John McGraw, who was charged with assault and disorderly conduct after attacking the protester.
"In the good old days this doesn't happen because they used to treat them very, very rough."
Trump in NC on Weds: "In the good old days this doesn't happen because they used to treat them very, very rough." pic.twitter.com/vccazscgjT
As protesters were being escorted out of the rally in Fayetteville on Wednesday, Trump told the crowd that the protesters were not being treated poorly enough.
"They used to treat them very, very rough, and when they protested once, they would not do it again so easily," he said, before lamenting "we've become weak."
"Try not to hurt him. If you do, I'll defend you in court, don't worry about it."
At a rally in Michigan in early March, Trump again seemed to give the green light to violent behavior. As a protester was being escorted out of the building, Trump marveled at what a "fun time" everyone was having.
"Get him out," he then said. "Try not to hurt him. If you do, I'll defend you in court, don't worry about it."
He then told an anecdote about a brawl at a prior rally that was "amazing to watch."
"I'd like to punch him in the face."
At a Las Vegas rally in late February, as a protester was again being removed from the premises, Trump lamented that "we're not allowed to punch back anymore" and reminisced about the halcyon "old days," when a protester would "be carried out on a stretcher."
The crowd is delighted, cheering, clapping and laughing.
He then said he'd like to punch the man in the face, again to cheers.
"Knock the crap out of them."
Trump: If you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, 'knock the crap out of them' pic.twitter.com/100AA2Bjww
— POLITICO Video (@POLITICOvideo) February 1, 2016
After a protester threw a tomato at Trump at a previous event, he encouraged fighting at a later campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in early February.
"If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously." He again promised to pay for any legal fees associated with an assault.
"Maybe he should have been roughed up."
After a Black Lives Matter activist was kicked, punched and, he said, called the N-word at a campaign event in Birmingham, Alabama, in November, Trump expressed his approval.
"Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing," the now frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination told Fox & Friends the next day.
Trump said the man deserved the treatment because he had been "very obnoxious" and "so loud." The remarks can be heard just after the 11-minute mark in the video above.
"I don't know if I'll do the fighting myself or if other people will."
Black Lives Matter activists took over a Bernie Sanders campaign event in Seattle in August, asking for a moment of silence for Michael Brown, the teenager who was killed by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. Trump was asked how he would respond to a similar situation.
The candidate was defiant, and curious about who would get into a physical altercation when faced with protesters — him or his supporters.
That much, now, is clear.
This post has been updated with the addition of Trump's comments at Friday's St. Louis rally, Saturday's Kansas City rally and Sunday's interview on Meet the Press.
On Aug. 9, Trump made comments at a North Carolina rally suggesting "Second Amendment people" could take action against Hillary Clinton if she were elected. Trump later insisted he was referring to their voting power, not inciting violence. More here.
Topics: Donald Trump, Protesters, Rally, Violence, World