Trump was on Saturday was briefly surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents on stage after a man allegedly tried to rush the stage as Trump delivered the speech blasting Chicago protesters.
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Later, a protester at Trump’s rally rushed the stage and attempted to jump on to the platform.
On Friday night, Donald Trump canceled a rally in the city of Chicago after protests started inside and outside of the venue he was scheduled to speak.
He recently said of a protester, ‘I want to punch him in the face.’ Another time Trump yearned for the old days when the protester would have been punched and “carried out on a stretcher.’ Then just a few days ago a female reporter apparently was assaulted by his campaign manager”.
There was no sign of the brash billionaire businessman inside the arena on the campus, where dozens of UIC faculty and staff had urged university administrators to cancel the rally, citing concerns that it would create a “hostile and physically risky environment” for students.
“I think we also have to look at the rhetoric coming from the front-runner in the presidential campaign”, Rubio told reporters in Largo, Florida.
“(Trump) felt us tonight and felt our power tonight”, said Angelica Salazar, 30, of West Chicago, Ill.
Trump supporter Veronica Kowalkowsky, 18, said she had no ill will towards the protesters but felt “a lot of hate” on their part. “My people are great”, he said amidst loud applause from the supporters.
Violence at Trump rallies isn’t a new thing.
Governor John Kasich, another GOP presidential candidate, in a statement blamed Trump for the atmosphere.
The theme of Trump as a divisive force echoed from his rival candidates in both political parties responding to incidents in Chicago ahead of Tuesday’s IL primary.
Police said the two officers were taken to a hospital for treatment and released.
“The organized group of people, many of them thugs, who shut down our First Amendment rights in Chicago, have totally energized America!” he tweeted.
“Go home to mommy”, Trump said as security personnel ejected one of the protesters in St. Louis.
“Leadership has never been about taking people’s anger and using it to get them to vote for you”.
Trump’s events have always been intense.
“Most countries around the world that are failures are because they deposit their hopes in a person, a strong leader who comes forward and says ‘Put me in power”.
Numerous protestors chanted “Bernie” in reference to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
Trump campaigned to thousands at the Dayton International Airport in an event that had a much different tenor and tone than the one that was planned for Friday evening in Chicago.
However, earlier on Saturday Trump continued to make the case that scenes of protesters clashing with supporters and police on Friday have emboldened those who back his campaign.
“Let’s address yesterday, should we?”
President Obama, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in Dallas, said those who aspire to lead the country “should be trying to bring us together and not turning us against one another”.
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The Chicago Police Department said on that four men and a woman were arrested at the rally after brief scuffles broke out at the event at the University of IL at Chicago Pavilion.
