TRUMP RALLY AXED OVER SAFETY FEARS
CHICAGO• Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cancelled one of his signature rallies on Friday, calling off the event in Chicago due to safety concerns after protesters packed the arena where it was to take place.
Announcement of t he rally’s postponement until another day led a large portion of the crowd inside the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion to break out into raucous cheers. Many rushed onto the floor, jumping up and down with their arms in the air.
“Trump represents everything America is not and everything Chicago is not,” said Kamran Siddiqui, 20, a student at the university who was among those celebrating. “We came in here and we wanted to shut this down, because this is a great city and we don’t want to let that person in here.”
Some supporters of the Republican front- runner started chanting “We want Trump! We want Trump!” in response to the celebrations, and there were some isolated physical confrontations between members of the crowd. Chicago police said there were no immediate arrests.
“It’s a shame,” said Trump supporter Bill Tail, 43, of the Chicago suburb of Oaklawn. “They scream about tolerance, but are being intolerant themselves, that doesn’t make sense.”
As the billionaire businessman attempts to unify a fractured Republican Party ahead of next week’s slate of winnertake- all primary elections, the confrontations between his supporters and protesters who accuse him of stoking racial hatred have intensified.
A North Carolina man was arrested after video footage showed him punching an African- American protester being led out of a rally in that state on Wednesday. At that event, Trump recalled a past protester as “a real bad dude.”
“He was a rough guy, and he was punching. And we had some people — some rough guys like we have right in here — and they started punching back,” Trump said. “It was a beautiful thing.”
Trump said the anger on display in Chicago wasn’t directed at him or his campaign, but rather was a manifestation of the public’s deep frustration with economic conditions in the country.
But many of the protesters in Chicago said they were there to specifically to stop Trump from speaking.
“Our country is not going to make it being divided by the views of Donald Trump,” said Jermaine Hodge, a 37- year- old lifelong Chicago resident who owns a trucking company. “Our country is divided enough. Donald Trump, he’s preaching hate. He’s preaching division.”
Indeed, Trump taunted the protesters in St. Louis, panning t hem as weak “troublemakers,” and ordered them to “go home to mommy” or “go home and get a job” because “they contribute nothing.”
“These are not good people, just so you understand,” Trump said. “These are not the people who made our country great. These are the people that are destroying our country.”
One Trump supporter at the Chicago rally said Trump had created the environment that led to Friday night’s melee by holding the event at the school — a civil and immigrant rights organizing hub with large minority student populations.
“I think he was kind of provoking t hings, to be honest with you,” said Dan Kozak, 23, from south suburban Tinley Park.
Earlier Friday Trump collected the endorsement of Ben Carson, his former rival, and said Republicans must begin to unite to reclaim the White House in the fall.
Also on Friday, a top aide to Trump rival Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said the best way to stop Trump on Tuesday, when voters in a slew of Midwest states as well as Florida and North Carolina will head to the polls, was for the senator’s supporters in Ohio to vote for Gov. John Kasich in the primary.
‘ THERE HAVE BEEN DARK HINTS THAT THE UNTHINKABLE MAY NO LONGER BE SO UNTHINKABLE
(IN GERMANY).’ — MATTHEW FISHER