Politics, free speech, and rent-a-mobs

art credit: www.blazingcatfur.ca

After the Trump rally was cancelled in Chicago a few weeks ago, Tiffany Gabbay reported at Truth Revolt: 

. . . The greater issue here is the psychosis currently gripping media, celebrity, and even fellow conservatives when it comes to the topic of Donald Trump.

This is dangerous ground on which to tread and reminds me of the knee-jerk reactions leftists had in crying "Racist!" anytime a person opposed Barack Obama on the basis of substance. So now Trump can be smeared as Hitler in much the same way, and anyone who supports him can be shamed as a person who "would have helped Hitler carry out the Holocaust." 

And this is part of what led to the riotous protests at the Trump rally in Chicago.

Does Donald Trump bear responsibility for the way he carries himself? Yes. But the media, along with the #NeverTrump crowd, conveniently leave out context and incite even more animus than was there to begin with. 

During several Trump rallies, aggressive -- not peaceful -- protesters have showed up to heckle Trump, his supporters, and attempted to disrupt these gatherings. Trump was reacting not to peaceful protesters, but to rabble rousers. Were some of the things he said in response to these agitators presidential? Perhaps not. But context in reporting and refraining from comparing Trump to Hitler on every news broadcast and print article would have been essential to quelling the rising tensions.

The truth is that those who protested Trump in Chicago are the same kind of people who needed no provocation at all to riot in Ferguson and in Baltimore and just about every other time and place in which they've tried to shut down free speech with aggression and militancy. This is the real fascism on display, not Trump. 

Conservatives, including other GOP candidates, who dislike Trump and wish to distance themselves from his rhetoric should think twice before embarking on the slippery slope of blaming Trump for the thuggery that occurred in Chicago on Friday. They should also look to their role in fanning the flames with every Trump-Hitler reference they make. This is not a road we want to go down. And if we do, there might not be a way of turning back. 

Think again about the violent protesting that resulted in Trump cancelling his March 11 rally in Chicago. One Twitter message reads:

Protesters celebrate chanting "We stopped Trump."

These protesters are not protesting just Trump, they are protesting free speech. And some of them, who knows how many, are bought and paid for.  Here is one of the ads in Craig’s List, posted on March 8 showing the hiring of the rent-a-mob protesters. Other reports on rent-a-mobs are here and here. 

Notice that one of the states listed at the end of the ad is Ohio. Hmm. Mid-July. Cleveland. Republican National Convention.

Fasten your safety belts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

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