Donald Trump recently cancelled a campaign rally on the campus of the University of Chicago when a large number of protestors were observed inside the arena where he was scheduled to speak and thousands more lined the streets outside.<\/p>\n
Staging mass protests has generally not been a tactic of the right, possibly because conservatives have other things to do, and they value their time too much. But it has a long tradition among those on the left.<\/p>\n
Of course, the media was there to cover it live, desperately searching for scenes of violence and punches being thrown; almost hoping a riot would break out that would boost their ratings. We have seen this over and over again, where the presence of TV cameras at a protest is like throwing gasoline on a fire. But this time there was little more than sign-waving and name calling.<\/p>\n
The debate following Trump\u2019s aborted Chicago rally focused on two issues: if Donald Trump\u2019s inflammatory language is inciting his supporters to violence (a few days earlier a Trump supporter was caught on camera sucker-punching a protestor and Trump vowed to pay his legal fees); and where the line is between a person\u2019s right to free speech and the protestors\u2019 right to object to what is being said.<\/p>\n
In defense of Trump, his rallies have generated virtually no violence despite the angry rhetoric. Trump supporters do not pour out into the streets setting fire to buildings or attacking minorities and immigrants with baseball bats as is often seen in other countries (Russia has become a major market for baseball bats, though they sell few baseballs or baseball gloves.) The issue here is not whether Trump is responsible for the presence and rowdy behavior of the protestors \u2014 he is not \u2014 but whether his rhetoric is becoming of a presidential candidate who claims to want to unite the country.<\/p>\n
As for the right of protestors to disrupt the speech of others, this has little to do with Trump, per se. It is part of a disturbing pattern of behavior by the left in America that we have seen with increasing frequency over the past few years: young people, mostly college students, disrupting and shouting down those with whom they do not agree. It could be Black Lives Matter, pro-choice activists, anti-war activists, LGBT activists or those offended by any of a number of \u201cmicro-aggressions\u201d \u2014 such as social injustice or white privilege \u2014 that these people do not want espoused. This intolerance may not be government censorship, but it is censorship.<\/p>\n
So where do we go from here? The primary elections that will take on March 15, before this magazine goes to press, should tell us a lot. Trump is expected to win by a wide margin in Florida. But the races in Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois and Missouri could be up for grabs. Florida is a closed primary in which only registered Republicans can vote, but the others are open to independents as well as Republicans.<\/p>\n
If Trump wins big in these states, it will probably be due to a large turnout of independents who tend to favor Trump, which could mean Trump has benefitted from his confrontation with the protestors. If Trump loses in those states, it could signal that his raucous rallies have worked against him.<\/p>\n
Trump has held the media spotlight by being the master of personal insults. But he has been trying to act more presidential to win over mainstream Republicans. It hasn\u2019t been easy: at times he looks like the kid who promised not to eat any of the freshly baked cookies.<\/p>\n
If he wins these states by a large margin on March 15, he is likely to see it as an invitation to encourage even more confrontations with protestors while calling on mainstream Republicans to stand behind him and defend his right to free speech against their common enemy: Bernie\u2019s army of young, left-wing protestors.<\/p>\n
There is also drama on the Democrat side. Hillary Clinton\u2019s supporters are not likely to show up at a Donald Trump rally waving \u201cHillary Now\u201d signs: they are too old and dignified for that. But Bernie Sanders scored a major upset over Clinton in Michigan, and he could score more in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri over her scandal-plagued campaign. The more Bernie wins, the more enthusiastic his supporters become, and the more likely they are to want to vent their energy by showing up at Trump rallies, waving signs and shouting insults. Such a development could set the stage for a long summer of protests, taunts and heated rhetoric.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Donald Trump recently cancelled a campaign rally on the campus of the University of Chicago when a large number of protestors were observed inside the arena where he was scheduled to speak and thousands more lined the streets outside. Staging mass protests has generally not been a tactic of the right, possibly because conservatives have [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":1498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[1061,79],"yoast_head":"\n