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Donald Trump Tag

By now you likely have heard of The Thing. I've waited for some public comment from people allegedly involved in The Thing before posting anything about it, even though a couple of our commenters have done so in the comment section to other posts, and it's going wild on Twitter. The thing is about The Thing is that I don't want to spread what might be false rumors, on the other hand, The Thing is now a thing on TV and elsewhere, so it can't be totally avoided. In the age of Bill Clinton, John Edwards, and many others, I'm hesitant to say The Thing is not a thing because even the National Enquirer has gotten someTHING right in the past. The National Enquirer, though, carefully couched its reporting as there being rumors into which investigators are looking, not actually having evidence. It may have evidence, and it may just be doing a slow baited roll out getting people to commit publicly before revealing the evidence. Or it may have nothing but rumors, and is hoping the publicity draws out witnesses and other evidence.

Professor Jacobson recently wrote about how Donald Trump's rise is driving countless people into the offices of mental health professionals. The latest example of Trump induced psychosis is unfolding at Emory University where students were horrified this week to find someone took a piece of chalk and wrote pro-Trump messages on campus sidewalks. The horror! Rather than simply ignoring this like any normal person would do, certain activists within the student body are demanding that the university president denounce this message of hate. Yes, really. The Emory Wheel reports:

This may now officially be a series, "Can you imagine Trump in control of ...." Prior posts on topic: Current entry in the series: A small SuperPAC founded and run by Liz Mair did a mailer in Utah showing a public photo of Melania Trump from a magazine shoot 15 or so years ago. I have to say, Melania looked marvelous in the shoot. It's almost -- almost -- enough to make some anti-Trumpers reconsider. But it was a completely sleazy tactic attempting to "slut shame" Melania.

Didn't feel like staying up until 3:00 in the morning to watch election returns? Have no fear. I was dutifully eating gelato and cross-stitching, keeping tabs on the state of the union WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING. So here's what happened in no particular order:

On the Republican side:

Cruz won big in Utah, likely securing all 40 delegates there. Trump took Arizona where he won the state's 58 delegates. All 9 of America Samoa's delegates will go the the convention uncommitted.

All three remaining Republican presidential candidates are slated to speak at AIPAC's annual conference this evening, followed by Speaker Paul Ryan. Donald Trump is scheduled to speak first, beginning at 5:00 PM EST. However, it appears everything is out of order. Kasich and Speaker Ryan have spoken, still awaiting Cruz and Trump. Stay tuned!

The other day we showed the full Rebel Pundit video of the anti-Trump protest on the streets of Chicago. It was not hard to guess which segment would go viral. It is this woman demanding that the videographer (I think it was Andrew Marcus for that segment) either leave or dismantle his white male privilege. Now it is viral on Twitter: https://youtu.be/Vat_w4QV_uM https://twitter.com/PotluckPolitico/status/711327502371831809 Language Warning

Say what you want about Donald Trump, but he has an instinctive knack for zeroing in on an opponent's inherent weakness. With Jeb, it was "low energy." That term exploited a key perception problem of Jeb, and one he couldn't shake. So too did "Little Marco," which may have ended not only Marco Rubio's presidential campaign, but his political career -- it's a term I just can't shake from my current perception of Rubio, and I suspect that a decade from now his political opponents will be referring to him as Little Marco. As to Hillary, Trump went straight for her supposed strength -- supporting women and women's rights -- by zeroing in on Bill Clinton's serial abuse of women and Hillary's silence or connivance. Now comes Elizabeth Warren, who harshly criticized Trump this week. Trump's response zeroes in on Warren's key perception problem, that she dishonestly claimed Native American, and specifically Cherokee, heritage for professional purposes. The research on Warren's Cherokee problem is at Elizabeth Warren Wiki. Trump is quoted by Maureen Dowd in a column at the NY Times, Will Trump Be Dumped?, responding to Warren's criticism, as follows:

Donald Trump's quest for the Oval Office certainly has been fascinating. This weekend, protesters in Arizona and their anti-Trump road blockage made for breathless press coverage. I suspect the organizers of that inanity are going to be shocked when they learn that it helped Trump win more votes and gave the business mogul free media attention. Now, Trump is being blamed by the elite media for the impending death of the Tea Party. For example, the Los Angeles Times engages in fantasy reporting with this analysis:
...Trump’s candidacy has not only fractured the Republican Party, it’s threatening to break apart the tea party movement and erode a once-powerful voting block that has driven conservative politics and elections for the past seven years. In addition to grass-root defections by activists like Dooley, tea party leadership has split over Trump’s presidential bid. Some conservative activists met this week to try to stop him, while others have joined his campaign. Meanwhile, major financial backers, including groups funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, have been sidelined from publicly backing GOP primary candidates, partly out of fear they might alienate their divided base.

Shutting down major highways as a protest tactic is extremely dangerous. Not only does it create the possibility of car accidents, it also traps motorists behind the road blockage, making it impossible for emergency vehicles or vehicles with people in distress to pass. This tactic was used by anti-Israel protesters who hijacked a Martin Luther King Day protest on the San Mateo Bridge and blocked the span at its highest point, trapping hundreds of motorists. [caption id="attachment_113857" align="alignnone" width="600"]https://twitter.com/farah_salazar/status/558214869648814080 (via Farah Salazar Twitter)[/caption] In that instance, there were in fact motor vehicle accidents and at least one report of a vehicle with a child in medical distress who could not pass.

There are many reasons and ways to oppose Donald Trump. Policy, temperament, qualifications are all in play. But leftists have come up with some very left-wing ways to protest. One of the left-wing ways is to shout-down and disrupt his rallies:

A few days ago we posted a preview of a video by Rebel Pundit about the anti-Trump protests and deliberate disruption of a campaign rally in Chicago. The protests and near-riots were not caused by Trump. This is the same radical, institutionalized left which populated the Occupy protests. If you think this is about Trump, you haven't been paying attention to what is going on at campuses:
Shout-downs and disruptions of non-leftist speech have become common on campuses. Remember, Chicago is one of the places where they tried to ban Chick-fil-A because it allegedly spread hate. So it doesn’t take much for leftists to shout about “hate” and to use that as an excuse to suppress the rights of others. Disruption of opposing speech is THE preferred tactic among campus leftists. If you think the disruption of Trump’s event was about Trump, then you haven’t paid attention to what is going on on campuses.

To all the Trump supporters out there, and to The Donald, don't get your hopes up about Trump defeating Hillary in New York State in a general election. It's delusion. Trump does have a strong base of support in Upstate NY, the vast area north and west of New York City. Upstate NY Map But the downstate Democrat vote will swamp him, which is exactly what a Sienna College polling institute poll shows:

Dr. Ben Carson is no longer running for president but he's had a rough couple of days in the spotlight due to his support for Donald Trump. First, Carson was grilled by a reporter for standing by Trump who at one point in recent months compared Carson to a child molester. Carson's response was baffling.

Last week's protests and mini-riot that prompted Donald Trump to cancel a rally in Chicago were the latest example of a concerted effort to disrupt candidates' campaigns. As Trump edges closer to locking up the Republican nomination, such agitation will likely grow more frequent and more extreme. The questions, then, are what limits hecklers from interrupting campaign events, and does enforcing those limitations work.

Legal Restraints on Hecklers

Two preliminary matters, though. First, although there is some First Amendment protection for "speech" in the form of physical action, it is inapplicable for this conversation.  Storming the stage is not protected speech; it is likely assault.  If a protester crosses the line and lays hands on a candidate or somebody attending an event, that would be battery, at a minimum.

There was supposed to be a Fox News Republican Debate Monday night. That was until Donald Trump did well last night, and decided he didn't need another debate. Trump says he didn't even know about the debate, even though everyone else did, and won't participate because he is speaking before AIPAC: Except that as of yesterday his speech was not scheduled for a specific time slot: