Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Will the Protesters, Demonstrators, and Rioters Elect Donald Trump President

Donald Trump may be a bombastic blowhard who issues inflammatory statements. He’s a veritable flamethrower. He may have trashed immigrants, African Americans, Mexicans, Muslims, women, and the POW’s. He’s called out FoxNews and the Wall Street Journal, Megyn Kelly and Hugh Hewitt. Anyone who opposed him is a loser. He’s trashed the Republican leadership. The Donald is an unabashed, narcissistic bully. Say what you want, Donald Trump is entitled to Freedom of Speech. The response to bad speech is more speech, good speech – not violence. His protestors and demonstrators also have First Amendment Rights - to peacefully demonstrate and protest on the public right of ways by his venues. The demonstrators, protestors, and rioters have no right to break up his campaign speeches or rallies. They have no right to interrupt his speeches. They have no right to interfere with the Free Speech rights of supporters. They may think they do because they have been interfering for decades with conservative candidates. They have stifled speech on campus, often supported by members of the professoriate. They have prevented speakers and commencement speakers from appearances on campus. It's a force of habit. They have demanded safe zones and trigger warnings for themselves while denying freedom of speech to political conservatives. Inciting violence and rioting though is not protected speech. Nor are they popular with the American public. The American people are appalled at the breakdown of law and order, campus unrest, and the collapse of civility in public discourses. They have seen the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore. They have seen a mob take over the University of Missouri. They witnessed an outbreak of political correctness a few months ago. The American people do not like what they see. Applications are in the tank at the University of Missouri. The radical left only believes in Freedom of Speech for themselves. All other speech is to be suppressed. The mainstream media is accusing Donald Trump of inciting the demonstrators and rioters. They don’t need incitement, as they proved in the 1999 World Trade Organization riots in Seattle. They don’t need incitement as they have proven on our campuses and in the Occupy Wall Street protests. They don’t need an incitement to riot – just an excuse. Then comes the public backlash. The 1984 Democratic National Convention was in Chicago, Illinois. It was met with large-scale, nationally televised rioting. Richard Nixon was elected President, campaigning not to the radial protestors, but to the “Silent Majority.’ President Nixon learnt from Ronald Reagan in 1966. Berkeley, the city and university, were racked with riots, beginning with the Free Speech Movement in 1964. The popular incumbent Democratic Governor Pat Brown was salivating at the prospect of running against the ignorant actor. Reagan won by almost 1 million votes. He fired the leadership of the University of California Berkeley. The Republican primaries show the American people are fed up. The Republicans, including crossover Reagan Democrats, are voting in large numbers for Donald Trump, and in lesser numbers for Senator Ted Cruz, also an opponent of The Establishment. Donald Trump would not have had a prayer in normal times. Secretary of State Clinton may be winning by large numbers in most of the Democratic primaries, but Democratic turnout is substantially down If Senator Cruz and Governor Kasich were clever, they would support Donald trump against the demonstrators, decry the violence and support his right to speak, and his audience’s right to hear.

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