Fresh violence at Trump rally as supporter allegedly punches protester

A Donald Trump campaign rally was marred by violence yet again on Monday as the Republican nominee attacked Hillary Clinton for calling his supporters deplorable.

A Trump supporter apparently punched a protester at a rally held at the US Cellular Center in Asheville, North Carolina. The scuffle was the first violent incident at a Trump rally in months. Although throughout the primary season, Trump campaign events had been marked by violence by both Trump supporters and protesters, culminating in near riots in Chicago and San Jose, California, they had been comparatively peaceful in recent months. Prior to being punched, the protester reportedly directed an obscene gesture in Trump’s direction.

The incident happened as Trump attempted to attack Clinton for her statement that half of his supporters belong in “a basket of deplorables”. Although the former secretary of state has since backed down from the comment, she has continued to insist her opponent has “built his campaign largely on prejudice and paranoia and given a national platform to hateful views and voices”.

Trump has tried to paint this as an attack by Clinton on blue-collar Americans. “Hillary Clinton spoke with hatred in her heart for these working-class Americans,” he said in Asheville on Monday night, in an effort to reinforce his attacks on his opponent as an insider member of the Beltway elite. The Republican nominee went on to repeat of Clinton: “She talks about people like they are objects, not human beings.”

The attacks come as Clinton has been forced off the campaign trail for health reasons. The Democratic nominee was forced to cancel a campaign trip to California after being filmed losing her footing while abruptly leaving a ceremony to commemorate the terrorist attacks of September 11 on Sunday. Eventually, after initially claiming that she was “overheated”, the Clinton campaign admitted that the candidate had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday. 

In a phone interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday night, Clinton said she was feeling better and insisted that she did not faint on Sunday. The Democratic nominee said “we know the least about Donald Trump than any candidate in recent American history” and that he should be held to “the same standard” as any other candidate.

She noted the only medical information released by Trump was a letter addressed “to whom my concern” that proclaimed, if elected, Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”. Clinton said “that’s not even serious” and went on to hammer Trump for refusing to release his tax returns.

Trump, who has long made jibes about Clinton’s “stamina”, did not address his rival’s illness on Monday night. Earlier in the day he had said he hoped she got better soon but added that her illness was “an issue

Instead, he continued his offensive against his opponent by claiming that she was running a pessimistic campaign of scare tactics. “Our vision of hope stands in stark contrast to my opponent’s campaign of hate,” Trump said. “Hillary Clinton has been running a hate-filled and negative campaign, with no policy, no solutions and no ideas. By contrast, I’ve been going around the country offering very detailed plans for reform and change.”

The Republican nominee’s statement was curious considering that his campaign has long focused on concerns about immigration and crime. He announced his campaign by saying Mexico was deliberately sending rapists to United States, accepted the Republican nomination by saying Americans were living in a “more dangerous environment than I have ever seen or anyone has ever seen”, and has repeatedly suggested that if Clinton is elected, we will “no longer have a country”. Trump amplified this rhetoric on Monday by telling the crowd: “You can go to Afghanistan, you can go to war-torn countries and you will find that it is safer than some of our inner cities.”

Further, on most issues, Trump has been relatively light on policy. According to an Associated Press report in late August, the Republican nominee has only posted seven policy proposals totaling 9,000 words on his website. In contrast, Clinton had released 112,735 words of proposals in 65 different issue fact sheets at the time.

The rally took place in North Carolina, a state won by Mitt Romney in 2012 where Clinton and Trump are neck and neck in polls. The increasingly diverse Tarheel State is considered Clinton’s best opportunity to turn a red state blue. In contrast, Trump is hoping to play the offensive in blue-collar industrial states in the midwest.

(The Guardian UK)