Don's Tuesday Column

            THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson  Red Bluff Daily News   3/15/2016

            Free speech for them, not you

          Lawless mobs showed up to (by their own words) shut down a political rally by businessman Donald Trump; progressive, radical leftist organizations have spent decades intimidating those with whom they disagree. The right of (Trump’s) people “to peaceably assemble” and, broadly, “petition the government for the redress of grievances” has been infringed upon by advocates for the expansion of government power by liberal Democrats.

Their two-pronged strategy embraces turning out their voters (legally or not), as well as threatening or disrupting the opposition’s events. The news media swing into action by 1) focusing on supposed incitement to violence by Trump’s rhetoric, which simply empowers his audience to respond to unlawful leftist disruptors, 2) downplaying the plans for, and braggadocio over, the cancellation of the Chicago rally, and 3) avoiding any comparisons to the many other examples of left-wing violence. It is a form of violence to shut down someone else’s rally.

My caveats: I don’t support Trump for the Republican nomination and would approve of another candidate emerging from the convention. I have found little to celebrate in Trump’s style, verbiage or thin conservative resume. I will vote against Hillary Clinton regardless of the Republican nominee. His encouragement of “roughing up” protesters is unseemly. A Trump supporter, that cold-cocked a middle-finger-waving disruptor being escorted out of a rally, committed aggravated assault.

Cruz and Rubio phrased their comments in such a way as to cast disapproval on Trump’s rhetoric for political gain; that regrettably helped to shift blame away from leftist disruptors. The violence of the left has, most recently, shown its ugly head in both the “black lives matter” -inspired riots, as well as the quasi-violent intimidation by “social justice warriors” and “cry-bullies” on college campuses.

What if Donald Trump had never entered the race for president? These thugs, hooligans and graduates of IMF riots, environmentalist lawlessness, Occupy Wall Street and race-grievance “community organizing” would simply aim their “brown shirt” tactics at whoever was leading the conservative/libertarian electorate. I don’t honestly know if Trump was strategizing a) that a cancelled rally would only stoke the fire of his supporters, b) out of a genuine concern for safety, given that the police were ill-suited to maintaining the peace inside the venue, or c) that he’d best rethink and re-plan to avoid the leftist mobs.

The last two give this writer concern that a message has been sent that what gets rewarded—what works, in other words—gets repeated. In an otherwise anti-Trump article on Bloomberg.com (“Republicans Despair…”), I found an insightful observation from Ben Carson. He suggested that more violence is possible if protesters continue to antagonize the billionaire’s supporters:

“I think certainly if the protesters continue with their Alinsky-ite tactics there is a real possibility of escalation because those who are the victims of them have two choices. They can submit to them and meekly just do whatever those protesters want them to do or they can fight back and if they decide to fight back there could be an escalation.”

Following are items collected over the weekend: “Hey, it’s 1968 with Internet.” “…anti-Trumpers need to learn the difference between protesting and eradicating speech (aka the “heckler’s veto”) in the public square,” Glen Reynolds. Paul Mirengoff at Powerlineblog.com wrote, “With no sense of irony, the protesters, having successfully shut Trump down, chanted ‘this is what democracy looks like.’ Many of them also chanted ‘Bernie,’ suggesting that they really mean ‘this is what Democratic Socialism looks like.’ They probably aren’t wrong.”

AP reported (Sat. Daily News, “Trump calls off rally due to security concerns”), “Chicago community activist Quo Vadis said hundreds of protesters had positioned themselves in groups around the arena, and that they intend to demonstrate right after Trump takes the stage. Their goal, he said, is ‘for Donald to take the stage and to completely interrupt him. The plan is to shut Donald Trump all the way down.’” Nick Gillespie: “The Main Casualty of Canceled Trump Rally is the ‘Idea’ of Free Speech.”

They are proud of their violent cancellation of Trump’s free speech. Yes, it’s their violence when the choices are either physically throw them out or cancel the rally. Ja’Mal Green, a prominent black activist and Bernie Sanders supporter in Chicago, posted on Facebook: “Everyone, get your tickets to this. We’re all going in!!!! #SHUTITDOWN”. Ilya Sheyman, executive director of  (George Soros-funded) MoveOn.org Political Action, “has taken credit for the violence (at the cancelled rally) and promised similar violence and disruption will occur at future Trump events.” (Infowars.com)

“Remember the #TrumpRally wasn’t just luck. It took organizers from dozens of organizations and thousands of people to pull off. Great work. We are the danger” tweeted People for Bernie, a large unofficial pro-Sanders organization founded by veterans of the Occupy movement and other lefty activists” (via pjmedia.com/Instapundit). “Ber-nie” was repeatedly chanted by the mobs. Admitted terrorist Bill Ayers cheered on anti-Trump protesters, “We shut Trump down!” “MoveOn, BLM, Socialists, remnants of Occupy Wall Street, Bill Ayers…Getting the band back together for 2016” (tweet, M. Crowley).

Buzzfeed reporter Tracy Clayton: “wow this (protesters clash with Trump supporters) is beautiful”. Former Comcast-NBC mouthpiece Melissa Harris-Perry: “Chicago. Raise up. Stand up.” WaPo’s Ruth Marcus, MSNBC, Chris Matthews and his guests all thought Trump had it (violent demonstrations) coming. Eye on Politics: “So whose bright idea was it to have a Trump rally in the middle of uber-liberal Chicago?” Glenn Reynolds replied: “Somebody who thought this was still America." Still doubt my take? Some black protesters/disruptors wore t-shirts hand-written with “Vote for Trump. You get jumped.”