As peaceful protesters were removed from a rally in St. Louis, Missouri, candidate Trump complained about how they were being peacefully ejected, lamenting how there used to be consequences for protest.
Part of the problem and part of the reason it takes so long [to kick them out] is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore. There used to be consequences. There are none anymore.
These people are so bad for our country. You have no idea folks, you have no idea.
The month prior, Trump promised to pay the legal fees for anyone who would “knock the crap out of” protesters, which he later reneged on when a supporter assaulted a protester.
In 2016, candidate Trump promised to pay the legal fees for anyone who would “knock the crap” out of protesters throwing tomatoes. When one of his supporters assaulted a peaceful protester, Trump backtracked, claiming he never made the promise.
If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Okay, just knock the hell – I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees, I promise. I promise.
A week prior at an Iowa rally, a protester had thrown a tomato at Trump, which missed:
Soon after Trump promised to pay legal fees, John McGraw, 78, struck nonviolent protester Rakeem Jones at a North Carolina rally.
Rakeem Jones and John McGraw. Photos by Liz Condo for The Washington Post
Immediately after, an Inside Edition reporter asked McGraw about the act. He replied,
You bet I liked it. Knocking the hell out of that big mouth. We don’t know who he is, but we know he;s not acting like an American….yes we deserved it. 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.
McGraw was charged with assault and battery, and called for Trump to own up to his word and pay his legal fees. Trump first said he “instructed my people to look into” the matter during an appearance on Meet the Press, but then later that same week on Good Morning America said,
Somebody asked me the question. And I hadn’t even seen it. So I never said I was going to pay for fees…I don’t condone violence at all. I looked and I watched and I’m going to make a decision, but I certainly don’t condone violence.
9 months after the incident, McGraw pleaded no content in court to assault and disorderly conduct charges. He was sentenced to a suspended 30-day jail sentence and a year on unsupervised probation.
McGraw shook hands with Jones in court, offering an apology which Jones accepted with an embrace.
The video in question was from a Twitter account named Cowboys for Trump. The speaker is an Otero County, New Mexico commissioner named Couy Griffin.
In the video, Griffin states that “the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat” to applause, then immediately backed away from the violent rhetoric.
I’ve come to a place where I’ve come to the conclusion that the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat. I don’t say that in the physical sense, and I can already see where the videos getting edited where it says I want to go murder Democrats. No. I say that in the political sense because the Democrat agenda and policy is anti-American right now.
The New Mexico Republican Party indirectly addressed the speaker’s comments, which were made a week prior to Trump’s retweet.
The Republican Party of New Mexico wants to state for the record that any statements, whether in jest or serious about harming another individual are just plain wrong.
Griffin has also previously made multiple remarks suggesting violence. He often accused several senior Democrats of treason, which he referred to as “a hanging offense,” and warned of possible Civil War. Many such comments have been in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, as when Griffin said that mask-wearing requirements might be the core divide.
This might be a lead up to a civil war and maybe one of the uniforms are going to have mask on and the other ones won't.
But we'll tell you this, if we tell you anything, we are going to live free or fight until the end.
As the COVID-19 pandemic began, Trump went from “It’s going to be just fine” to “I’ve felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic” in 56 days. As with that first timeline, COVID-19 case numbers for this post are taken from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/, and there may be a lag between Trump’s statements and the day’s reported numbers.
Mar. 18 – 10,091 total US cases, 171 deaths.
It’s not racist at all. No. Not at all. It comes from China. That’s why. It comes from China. I want to be accurate.
Mar. 19 – 14,896 cases, 240 deaths. Trump promotes unproven drug treatments, falsely claiming that it has been approved by the FDA for COVID-19.
And we’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately, and that’s where the FDA has been so great. They – they’ve gone through the approval process. It’s been approved.
America’s Private Sector is stepping up to help us be STRONG! Many of the Nation’s distillers, large and small, are producing and donating hand sanitizer to help fight #COVID19. THANK YOU! https://t.co/bcjKA9Janw
Mar. 20 – 20,873 cases, 310 deaths. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo orders all non-essential businesses to keep their workers home. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issues a “stay-at-home” order. Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana, and others follow.
Mar. 21 – 25,969 cases, 376 deaths.
HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains – Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents)…..
You look at automobile accidents, which are far greater than any numbers we’re talking about. That doesn’t mean we’re going to tell everybody no more driving of cars. So we have to do things to get our country open.
Mar. 24 – 58,021 cases, 962 deaths.
Ultimately the goal is to ease the guidelines…Easter is our timeline, what a great timeline that would be.
Mar. 25 – 71,638 cases, 1,269 deaths. 3.3 million Americans file for unemployment.
Mar. 26 – 89,513 cases, 1,629 deaths. The United States now leads the world in confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Our country has to go back. Our country is based on that. And I think it’s going to happen pretty quickly. A lot of progress is made, but we’ve got to get back to work.
Mar. 27 – 108,537 cases, 2,131 deaths.
You call it a germ, you can call it a flu, you can call it a virus. You know, you can call it many different names. I’m not sure anybody even knows what it is.
Mar. 28 – 127,827 cases, 2,781 deaths.
On the recommendation of the White House CoronaVirus Task Force, and upon consultation with the Governor’s of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, I have asked the @CDCgov to issue a strong Travel Advisory, to be administered by the Governors, in consultation with the….
Because the “Ratings” of my News Conferences etc. are so high, “Bachelor finale, Monday Night Football type numbers” according to the @nytimes, the Lamestream Media is going CRAZY. “Trump is reaching too many people, we must stop him.” said one lunatic. See you at 5:00 P.M.!
“President Trump is a ratings hit. Since reviving the daily White House briefing Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of ‘The Bachelor.’ Numbers are continuing to rise…
Mar. 30 – 171,640 cases, 3,150 deaths. American deaths from COVID-19 surpass 9/11.
Apr. 1 – 224,651 cases, 6,465 deaths.
Did you know I was number one on Facebook?
Apr. 2 – 255,276 cases, 7,676 deaths. Global cases reaches 1 million. Another 6.6 million Americans file for unemployment.
Apr. 4 – 322,790 cases, 10,537 deaths. More American deaths than those from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) combined.
I may take [hydroxychloroquine]. I’ll have to ask my doctors about that. But I may take it.
Maybe we could allow special, for churches, maybe we could talk about it. Maybe we could allow them, with great separation outside, on Easter Sunday. I don’t know, it’s something we should talk about.
Trump has no idea how coronavirus is transmitted from person to person and therefore doesn't get why packed churches amid a pandemic is a bad idea. This clip of him talking about how he considered an Easter exemption from social distancing shows it. pic.twitter.com/G4LXzNIGKf
Apr. 6 – 381,262 cases, 13,488 deaths. Trump interjects during a question for Dr. Fauci about hydroxychloroquine.
I answered this 15 times. You don’t have to answer.
Apr. 7 – 415,992 cases, 15,755 deaths. Trump echoes past claims of fraud with mail-in voting.
Mail-in voting is horrible, it’s corrupt…sure I could vote by mail, because I’m allowed to.
Trump falsely claims in a Hannity interview that the US is not experiencing a shortage of beds and ventilators.
The good thing is that the number of beds needed, I think we were right about that. I was right. My group was right.
I just saw on your show and a couple of other people just reported back to me that everyone is in great shape from the standpoint of ventilators, which are very hard, because they’re expensive and they’re big and like — it’s, you know — it’s — and they’re very high-tech.
Apr. 8 – 448,806 cases, 17,966 deaths. Trump threatens to halt WHO funding.
They really called every aspect of it wrong…recently social media said they seem to be very China-centric.
Apr. 9 – 482,724 cases, 20,113 deaths. An additional 6.6 million Americans file for unemployment. The Federal Reserve announces a stimulus of $2,300,000,000,000 ($2.3 trillion).
This is a very brilliant enemy. You know, it’s a brilliant enemy. They develop drugs like the antibiotics. You see it. Antibiotics used to solve every problem. Now one of the biggest problems the world has is the germ has gotten so brilliant that the antibiotic can’t keep up with it… We’re fighting – not only is it hidden, but it’s very smart, okay? It’s invisible and it’s hidden, but it’s – it’s very smart.
Apr. 11 – 546,923 cases, 24,460 deaths. The United States now leads the world in COVID-19 deaths. Reports surface of Trump asking Dr. Fauci, “Why don’t we let this wash over the country?”
So now the Fake News @nytimes is tracing the CoronaVirus origins back to Europe, NOT China. This is a first! I wonder what the Failing New York Times got for this one? Are there any NAMED sources? They were recently thrown out of China like dogs, and obviously want back in. Sad!
Great businessman & philanthropist Bernie Marcus, Co-Founder of Home Depot, said that Congress was too distracted by the (phony) Impeachment Witch Hunt when they should have been investigating CoronaVirus when it first appeared in China. Media played a big roll also!@dcexaminer
Apr. 13 – 600,825 cases, 27,963 deaths. Trump plays video in White House briefing room titled “The media minimized the risk from the start.” He claims total authority over state governors.
Well I have the ultimate authority. President of the United States has the authority to do what the President has the authority to do, which is very powerful.
Trump spars with a reporter over a gap in actions taken February.
You’re so disgraceful. It’s so disgraceful the way you say that…nobody thought we should do it, and when I did it, you know what we did? You know what we did? What do you do when you have no case in the whole United States…zero cases zero deaths on January 17. …we did a lot. Look, look, you know you’re a fake, you know that, your whole network is fake.
Apr. 14 – 629,827 cases, 30,592 deaths. Trump halts US funding to the WHO.
Apr. 16 – 691,619 cases, 35,537 deaths. Another 5.2 million Americans file for unemployment, totaling approximately 22 million. Trump declines to speak out against protests in Michigan and other states against closures and social distancing.
There’s death and there’s problems in staying at home, too. It’s not just isn’t it wonderful to stay at home. They’re having – they’re suffering. This country wasn’t built on that principle, it was built on an exact opposite principle, actually. And I watched in one particular state where they were, they want to get back, the want to get back… I think they listen to me, they seem to be protesters that like me, and respect this opinion, and my opinion is the same as all the governors. They all want to open.
Apr. 17 – 724,900 cases, 38,134 deaths. Trump tweets in response to reports of protests against state closures, even citing the 2nd Amendment, though he has suggested taking guns without due process.
After a 2019 mass shooting in El Paso that left 22 dead and 24 injured, Trump visited the scene to meet with survivors and first responders.
In one of the photos tweeted by wife Melania, he had a smile and a thumbs up as he stood next to her while she held an infant that had been orphaned by the killer. The infant suffered broken fingers as his mother collapsed on him to shield him from the attack.
I met many incredible people in Dayton, Ohio & El Paso, Texas yesterday. Their communities are strong and unbreakable. @potus and I stand with you! pic.twitter.com/SHzV6zcVKR
Trump grew angry when it began taking too long for the security to eject the female protester, mocking the guard with arm gestures for being “too politically correct” in not being rough enough in removing her. He said to the crowd, “I’ll tell you, law enforcement is so great. That particular guy wanted to be so politically correct. We don’t want to be politically correct. I don’t know who he was. He didn’t do the greatest job.”
Trump has repeated the remark several times at rallies, in interviews, and over Twitter, disparaging anything critical as fake news. He has also suggested taking the press credentials of those critical of him.
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
The press is doing everything within their power to fight the magnificence of the phrase, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! They can’t stand the fact that this Administration has done more than virtually any other Administration in its first 2yrs. They are truly the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!
The Fake News is working overtime. Just reported that, despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy & all things else, 91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake). Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? Take away credentials?
At Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, a rally named Unite the Right was held to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Those in attendance included the KKK, neo-Confederates, and neo-Nazis. The organizer of the rally, Jason Kessler, was a self-avowed white supremacist and Neo-Nazi.
Unite the Right Rally. Wikipedia
On the second day of the rally, a white supremacist drove a car through a crowd of counter-protesters, injuring 28 people, and murdering Heather Heyer, a 32-year old woman. It was ruled a terror attack by the city and the FBI. A police helicopter responding to the events also crashed, resulting in the deaths of two Virginia state troopers.
When questioned about the rally, Trump remarked, “you have blame on both sides,” and “you had very fine people, on both sides.” He went on to say, “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.”
