Comments

2
Shirer's "Berlin Diary" is a good read, but it was pretty much a newsstand quickie he put together after he was expelled by the Nazis. His "Nightmare Years" is an even better account of the same period.
3
The only thing they respect is money, so lawyer up and sue Mr. Protester!
5
i hope there are law suits. sue everyone! please!
6
I'd suggest reading about the period before the Nazi's really had control in Germany: hit the period 1929 to 1932. It's much more relevant to where we are now. The controlling system of government being pretty impotent to do anything, "news" being politicized by each of the political parties: each party had it's own news source like Fox News and MSNBC of the time.
7
sue the police/security. the puncher. and trump. and i'd love to see what trump will say about paying this puncher's legal fees. this protester deserves money/justice. this is insane. absolutely insane.
8
Here's a title for you Dan "Coming of the Third Reich" by Richard Evans. It's a heavy book but quite ..... frightening relevant to what we are seeing.

Along with that I'd suggest a book by Karen Stenner titled "The Authoritarian Dynamic".

9
I've seen mashups of Pink Floyds "In the Flesh" clips from The Wall and Trump rallys, it's pretty much right on.
10
Amerikkka needs to burn
11
Its hard to say just how real these events are. Given what happened to Bernie Sanders in Seattle last year all campaigns are taking precautionary measures to avoid disruption. If there are no lawsuits or criminal charges laid it's a safe bet that the whole thing was staged.
12

I don't know about this being "staged" - that seems a fairly far fetched notion. I just know it was disheartening and disgusting thing to watch, particularly with people cheering.

Is this not supposed to be "America", where freedom of speech is protected and people have a right to protest/heckle, if that is what this guy was doing? It doesn't mean you can disrupt an event, at least in an ongoing fashion, but whatever the guy was doing at the rally, even if he was yelling and flipping people off as he was being escorted out, the dude that sucker punched him needs to be charged with assault. Period. Surely the security should have grabbed him the moment he did this, right?


13
Looks like the puncher is going to be charged:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/201…
15
@12: Our free speech rights do not protect you from a random guy who wants to punch you, it protects you from government punching you in the face.

I can not find anything about this particular rally, but I know that other Trump rallies were technically private events, so no one really had a right to protest at them, legally speaking. This is not a free speech issue, it is just criminal assault by some asshole.
16
@11: Bertha, may I ask that you watch the videos and then please, for our edification, indicate what specifically leads you to the conclusion that these incidents are staged?
Keep in mind that the recent video in which a young woman is roughed up by a crowd of Trump supporters has been verified by none other than at least two of the attackers. Unless.....you think the young man booted from the Marine Corps delayed entrance program and the elderly veteran (who has since apologized) were both DNC plants.....?
17
Where are the white "allies" protesting at Trump rallies? Or is it only black and brown people who Trump's candidacy threatens?

1. I've heard of a few white people protesting at Trump rallies. Maybe the black protesters get more media attention? Maybe they're more likely to try to get into the crowd to protest (as opposed to protesting outside, a distance from the crowd)?

2. Maybe some people think there's a better way to oppose Trump than protesting at his rallies?

Why haven't the people committing violence at Trump rallies been arrested and prosecuted?

Can't say for certain. Maybe they haven't been identified? Maybe security had difficulty apprehending a second person when they had their hands full with another in custody?

Why hasn't a single white person intervened to defend black protesters at Trump rallies?

Because intervening in a violent situation is a good way to get your ass kicked? Maybe they figure security is there, and saw it, and should be the ones to handle it?

These aren't especially deep questions when a little critical thinking upturns the underlying assumption.
18

I swear to god, were this same thing to happen at my candidate's rally - some right wing guy infiltrating it in order strictly to heckle and protest (if that is what was going on here) - I would be annoyed with him/pissed at him; I would be happy, if he kept it up, to see him leaving, but the moment somebody on my side punches him in the face? I would fucking get in that guy's face so fast, all day long, as I know my friends/family members would. BECAUSE. We're adults! And human beings! And as grown ups we recognize when somebody has unnecessarily crossed a major line, and also because ... I don't want to be part of a party or a group of people for whom something like that is A-okay.

And, it sure as fuck makes your party and your candidate look bad.

I know this is Trump, but I'm still waiting for the first person at one of his rallies to act like an adult when this happens; to realizes that this shit is NOT OKAY, and fucking call it out - fucking DO something about it.

19
Also check out Defying Hitler, by Sebastian Haffner.
20
Trump's events are private which allows him the latitude to position them in such a way that he gets public exposure, but can limit the access the actual public is allowed. It's a neat trick.
The fact that most of the members of the public being banned from these events happen to be brown is I'm sure coincidental.
21
@20: It should probably be noted that Clinton kicks protestors out of her rallies as well, it just seems her supporters do not feel the need to assault them on the way out. Sanders seems to be the only candidate who actually allowed them to speak or attend.

Also, it is not just black protestors who are being kicked out of these rallies. The most notable case (aside from this one) involved a black person, a white person, and an Asian person.
22
@1 I recently read "In the Garden of Beasts" and saw som parallels between Germant and the mid-1930s and now, especially the phenomenon of pervasive denial.
24
@16.......Lissa,I do not know for a fact that this particular incident was staged though I do believe others have been. I watched the tape and I did see the man in the cowboy hat but I didn't see him punch anyone though I would stipulate that he did. At events like this opponents sometimes go in for the specify purpose of causing trouble to provoke such incidents; the more trouble caused the worse it looks. Sometimes this provocation is very organized as happened to Sanders last year in seattle.

As to staging, I think that the media participates in this, friendly media is alerted in advance that something will happen and they are there to record it. Getting back to Sanders, not long after the Seattle incident he was heckled at another all, this time Sanders fought back verbal and the heckler was escorted out by security; the heckler smiled and wave as he was leaving. This I believe was a staged event to help Sanders regain face after losing it in Seattle. Was it real or staged? We'll never know for sure

I have seen too much questionable reporting in media to really fully believe anything anymore; Just about all media does this, especially the Stranger.
25
Update: The video footage enabled an investigation, and the assailant has been identified, arrested, and charged.
26
Trump is giving people permission to indulge their dark sides. We all got that.
Reading about Nazi Germany, understandable. Be Prepared.
And? Where are the counter rallies,
"Never Again" type slogan. Nationwide demonstrations against where your country is heading, by those who aren't sheep.
And Hillary and Bernie need to promise the other the VP spot, so the Democratic supporters can stand together against this growing horror.
Register to vote. And Vote.


27
Flipping off an entire stadium of assholes as they boo you—protester is kinda my hero.

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