Dump Trump: Liberals Show Tolerance By Beheading Donald Trump Effigy
“Dump Trump” Fights Intolerance with Violence
“Dump Trump” protesters ramped up their violent attacks against Republican frontrunner Donald Trump by beheading a look-alike effigy in Salt Lake City.
On Friday, KSL 5 reporter Nicole Vowell tweeted several videos of “Stop Trump” demonstrators protesting on the steps of city hall. (Source: “The #DumpTrump piñatas are out outside City Hall in SLC,” Nicole Vowell’s Twitter Feed, March 18, 2016.)
“I don’t like anything about Trump,” one man says before beheading the effigy hung by a noose. He then picks up the head and attempts to kick it like a soccer ball.
“How can Trump run a country when he can’t even do his hair right!” another protester screams into a microphone before beating the effigy.
Dump Trump demonstrators clashed with police after the protest, upset about the GOP frontrunner’s bigotry and intolerance toward opposing points of view. According to a Fox 13 report, rocks were thrown at Trump rally attendees as they exited the Infinity Event Center. (Source: “Protesters clash with SLC police outside Trump rally,” Fox 13, March 18, 2016.)
Donald Trump Is a Victim
If you want to fight racial tolerance, the last way you should be doing it is through violence or intimidation. Sadly, this isn’t the first time the Dump Trump movement has resorted to such measures.
On Saturday, dozens of protesters blocked traffic near a Donald Trump event in Arizona. To protest Trump’s anti-immigration views, demonstrators chose to disrupt the rally by building a wall of vehicles. Attendees, including a disabled veteran, were forced to walk miles to the event.
Last week’s shutdown of Donald Trump’s rally in Chicago was a direct assault on free speech and free assembly. Following the event’s cancellation, crowds began to chant, “We stopped Trump! We stop Trump!” The cheers had all the spontaneity of brown shirts in a beer-hall chant.
The media’s response? Blame Trump. He created the “toxic climate” responsible for all of this chaos.
Pfft. Hardly.
All of the above examples are deliberate acts of intimidation, tactics to scare and silence opponents. The use of such acts goes back to early 20th-Century communism, but they have become more common in recent years—and well before Donald Trump.
Rather than debate its opponents, the left prefers to quiet them. Liberals pride themselves on being tolerant and opened-minded. This applies, however, only to those who fall in line with their ideology.
You only need to visit a college campus for proof, where liberals have shut down speakers of every stripe.
For decades, researchers have surveyed college freshmen on everything from their majors to worldviews. Last year, about 43% of freshmen surveyed said they agreed with the statement “colleges have the right to ban extreme speakers from campus.” That’s nearly twice as high as the average share saying this in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. (Source: “CIRP Freshman Survey Results for 2015,” the Higher Education Research Institute, 2015.)
Who constitutes an “extreme speaker?” The list continues to grow. Among those forced to withdraw from campus speeches over the last few years are feminist critic Suzanne Venker, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, and International Monetary Fund Director Christine Lagarde.
Last month, right-wing activist Ben Shapiro tried to give a talk at Cal State about censorship on college campuses. Student protesters swarmed the auditorium and blocked the entrances. For his safety, Shapiro was forced to exit through a back door with a police escort. (Source: “Campus Protesters Try to Silence Conservative Speaker, Demand College President’s Resignation,” The Daily Signal, February 26, 2016.)
“Here’s my message to the bloviating jackasses outside,” Shapiro told the crowd. “Toughen up, you spoiled brat snowflakes, if you actually want a better world.” (Source: Ibid.)
The media is happy to play along.
There has been no pressure from media or the establishment to condemn violent actions. Rhetoric has borne nearly all the blame, with everyone overlooking the freewill of the protesters. But if, say, Trump supporters shut down a talk or rally, would they or their candidate be given the same slack?
Liberal pundits are quick to defend protesters. But what if the shoe was on the other foot? You wonder how the media would’ve reacted if the same thing happened to Barack Obama in 2008?
Of course, Donald Trump himself is hardly a friend of free speech. He chastised Pamela Geller’s “Draw Mohammad” event last May on the grounds that it was offensive to Muslims. He also wants to expand libel laws, making it easier to sue newspapers critical of public figures.
Ironically, such laws could make his own shots at Islam illegal. Trump, though, hasn’t borrowed these tactics from the far right. He’s taking them right about the Liberal playbook.
The Left’s War on Free Speech
For leftists, free speech is not a principle, but a weapon. They have no issue with suppressing the free speech of others. After all, sending out a mob is far easier than a debate.
Donald Trump’s words are hateful, offensive, and tactless. But the First Amendment requires neither taste nor politeness. The Dump Trump movement, however, is far more disturbing.
