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Donald Trump's Reaction To His Canceled Rally
The big news on the campaign trail this weekend is about an event that didn't even happen to begin with. A Donald Trump rally at the University of Illinois in Chicago was canceled on Friday due to security concerns. Those fears were not unfounded, as demonstrations turned violent before the event was set to take place and immediately following the announcement. Trump was set to take the stage mere minutes before he called off his appearance. The following day, he was able to successfully hold a rally outside Dayton, Ohio. It was at this event in nearby Vandalia that supporters got a taste of Donald Trump's reaction to his canceled Chicago rally.
The GOP front-runner repeated the claim that violence from pro-Trump audience members were due to the fact that they were simply passionate about the country. In Trump's eyes, nationalism is apparently grounds for a fanaticism that breeds physical altercations and verbal scuffles. The real estate magnate took a harder line when it came to his detractors and appeared to be concerned that the violence had been planned and was carried out by professionals. Such a claim implies some sort of ulterior motive. Trump apparently failed to acknowledge the fact that even peaceful protests rely on some means of promotion — some of them quite cleanly put together — and appeared suspicious of what he deemed "professionally done" posters.
Trump claimed that, had the event gone as planned, he would've seen crowds of over 25,000 people. He had this to say about the canceled Chicago rally:
We had a tremendous rally in Chicago planned. We were going to have over 25,000 people. The arena was seating about 11,000...
What happened was very interesting... These were people that want to make America great again. That's all that is. It's very simple. And they were pouring into the arena — good arena, everything nice — and all of a sudden, a planned attack. It just came out of nowhere and it was printed by people that were professional people. If you look at the posters, they're all printed. They have a mark on them. Who made them — all done by a group, all very professionally done. A disgrace, if you want to know the truth...
Fortunately, we were able to let them all know, "don't go" because we would've had a problem... I hated to do this because, frankly, it would've been easier to go — but I didn't want to see anybody get hurt, we could have had a problem, like you haven't seen in a long time.
The statement is particularly unsettling because so many people have gotten hurt in previous rallies, and yet Trump has failed to adequately address instances of physical violence towards members of the press as well as demonstrators, ultimately culminating in the arrest of a 78-year-old man who reportedly punched a protestor at a rally in North Carolina. It's unclear whether Trump will seek to cancel any additional campaign stops if protestors are present, nor is it clear whether additional security will be added to similar events. Trump's Saturday rally appeared to have gone as planned, though a protestor attempting to rush the stage was removed shortly after he addressed the canceled Chicago protest.
