Congratulations! We’ve finally succeeded in making the “Both sides do it” claim a reality.
Via TPM (Be sure to watch the videos):
At the end of a Donald Trump rally in San Jose, California, on Thursday night, protesters began throwing eggs and punches at Trump supporters leaving the event, according to several news reports.
[…]
Several fights broke out between Trump protesters and supporters. One man was punched and knocked to the ground, leading one person’s arrest, according to CNN. And at another point, a crowd surrounded a Trump supporter, punching him in the face, CNN reported.
[…]
A video from Marcus DiPaola, described by the Washington Post as a freelance photographer, shows one instance of someone getting punched in the face.
[…]
ABC News also reported that protesters smashed the taillights of a car they believed belonged to a Trump supporter and also began banging on police cars.
Protesters jumped on cars, threw eggs and water bottles at Trump supporters, according to the Washington Post. The paper also reported that protesters took “Make America Great Again” hats and burned them.
[…]
In one video posted to YouTube, a Trump supporter with blood on his head and neck told reporters that someone grabbed his Trump sign, began following him, calling him a racist, and spitting on him.
What the hell is going on? There is no excuse for this behavior – and if you think there is you have a serious problem. If you come here touting conspiracy theories about how these were really Trump supporters you have even bigger problems. Our government endures due to a peaceful exchanging of power through elections. Yes, Trump introduced violence into this election – and up until recently he 100% owned that – but we should know better. Lord knows, we crow about knowing better often enough. I’m actually beginning to doubt that claim, since it seems to not take much to have us raising our fists and throwing things. Behaving like adults is so 2008/2012.
So, non-Trump supporters behaving like Trump supporters hurts us. This behavior has only resulted in validating the “Both sides do it” argument. Congratulations.
John Podesta, Hillary’s campaign chair, condemned the violence: “Violence against supporters of any candidate has no place in this election.” Good. Keep it up.