Did Donald Trump ask for the rioters to incite violence in Chicago?

The protest in Chicago that turned into a violent riot has been a hot topic of discussion all weekend in the news and political world. Leftwing protesters successfully shut down a Trump rally by organizing massive numbers and creating unsafe conditions that eventually devolved into a riot. Punches were thrown, people were hurt, and the situation became chaotic.

And many absolutely overwhelmed with Trump hatred claim that Trump asked for this and thus it’s his fault.

As covered recently in Undercover Porcupine, both Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz agree with self-described socialist Senator Bernie Sanders in blaming Donald Trump for the actions of leftwing thugs inciting violence. The logic? Trump regularly calls for violence.

Senator Sanders in a statement slammed Trump for promoting violence against protesters, specifically referencing a time when Trump stated he wanted to punch a protester in the face. Actions like this Senator Sanders rightfully denounced, as aggressive violence is not the answer.

The problem is it’s all politics and it is disingenuous. Did Senator Sanders speak out against the leftwing thugs who showed up and promoted violence? Not at all. It was all about blaming a political opponent and feeding the flames of the anti-Trump movement.

Senator Sanders states that Trump was wrong to want to punch a protester in the face, but apparently has no problem with protesters actually punching others in the face.

When discussing Trump’s refusal to speak out against his own supporters, Senator Marco Rubio refused to speak out against the leftwing thugs who actually incited the riot:

So it tells you, it tells you in many ways he doesn’t want to say anything to his supporters because he doesn’t want to turn them off. Because he understands that the reason why they are voting for him is because he has tapped into this anger. The problem is leadership has never been about taking people’s anger and using it to get them to vote for you. If it is, it’s a dangerous style of leadership.

Like with Senator Sanders, Senator Rubio has a problem with words but not with the actual act of violence. This is a disturbing trend that relives the individual of responsibility and exploits violent acts for political gain.

Senator Ted Cruz, however, is joining his neoconservative colleague in agreeing with a socialist:

“When the candidate urges supporters to engage in physical violence, to punch people in the face, the predictable consequence of that is that it escalates,” Mr. Cruz said. “And today is unlikely to be the last such instance.”

Again, the individuals who incited the violence themselves are apparently not responsible. There is no accountability for either of these three Senators, who are desperately exploiting every opportunity to lash out at a political opponent. This instance was a dangerous one that resulted in injuries and it could have resulted in damaged property and even death.

It begs the question at this point: if another riot is triggered by violent leftwing thugs and it results in someone getting killed, will Senators Cruz, Rubio, and Sanders speak out against acts of violence, or will they exploit a tragic murder for political gain as they did with what happened in Chicago?

If you want to stop Trump, then don’t be like Trump. If Trump is asking for violence, don’t resort to violence. It’s not rocket science.

Chris Dixon

About Chris Dixon

Chris Dixon is a libertarian-leaning writer and managing editor for The Liberty Conservative. In addition to his political writing, he also covers baseball for Cleat Geeks and enjoys writing on a number of other topics ranging on Medium.