# Sanders's Supporters Brownshirts Stop Trump Rally in Chicago **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 12, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710 "2016-03-12T02:28:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/461 "2016-03-15T16:41:35Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Trump has said that these protesters are swinging at the people around them. The protesters are there to attack free speech and to attack the people who came to hear free speech. He also said he’d consider paying the legal fees of someone who punched a non-violent protester who didn’t hit back. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/462 "2016-03-15T16:42:43Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Don’t see why not, she’s got more journalistic credibility than the whole Fox News team put together, and you know it. Being the best of a third-rate network which panders to the Democrat party does not make for an unbiased opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/463 "2016-03-15T16:46:00Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Trump has said that these protesters are swinging at the people around them. Donald Trump lies like a dog. Since they weren’t actually swinging at the people around them, we can safely ignore that part of his statement. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/464 "2016-03-15T16:46:16Z")
Did anyone else look closely at the clip of that incident? Didja notice the fucking huge black guy who was right behind the guy who got punched? Didja notice how he reacted? His glance of contempt and disdain said it loud: “Crazy ass cracker old fart, what the hell is wrong with you?” And that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/465 "2016-03-15T16:47:10Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Trump has said that these protesters are swinging at the people around them. The protesters are there to attack free speech and to attack the people who came to hear free speech. What color is your Kool Aid? Trump supporters attack people who [aren’t even protesting.](http://time.com/4255579/donald-trump-protesters-violent/) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/466 "2016-03-15T16:50:17Z")
We have some people here who are total and complete experts on lefties, what they think, how they act, so on and so forth. Trouble is, I don’t think they actually know any. I’ve been solidly lefty since I was old enough to know what I wanted, and I know oodles of them. If there were a Trump rally here in the People’s Republic of Baja Canada (AKA Minnesota), its entirely possible that the Central Committee for Political Action of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Revolutionary Cadre would issue a “Shut him down!” manifesto. I haven’t any doubt that all six of them would march in lockstep to demonstrate their solidarity with the proletariat. There would also be a contingent of people there to demonstrate for their political opinion, which is that Il Douche is a blazing asshole who should not ever, never ever, be President. I kinda lean towards that camp. So, anyway, if I got down to the Trump rally with my “Trump is a blazing pile of dog shit!” sign, that means I went there totally under the control and authority of the Central Committee for Political Action of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Revolutionary Cadre? That despite my stated intention to dis, degrade, and otherwise sneer upon Il Douche…I’m really there to shut down his free speech! And the proof of this is the aforementioned manifesto, which clearly demonstrates the central authority of their power. Which proves, beyond doubt, that the vast majority of people shouting their disdain for Trump were there to shut down his free speech rights. See, this is what happens when people try to determine the motives of people they don’t know. They get it wrong. Herding cats is easier than asserting control of lefties. Lot of us have “issues with authority” a prominent entry into our Permanent Record. I totally support Trump’s free speech rights, he is doing our work for us, Goddess bless his heart and the butter than flows through his sclerotic veins. I want him to talk, loud, often, and openly! I also believe in my right to shout back, and wave my sign. (Carefully, 'cause when you got really big hands like I do, it can sometimes obscure the wording.) BLM does not speak for me, neither does Bernie. Not even the “antifas”, though, shit, who the hell isn’t “anti-facist”? Now, that said, I don’t know how many “Bernshirts” were actually part of this, I don’t even know such a thing exists. So, I don’t know how many lefties were there to shut down Trump’s free speech, or how many were there just to say what an asshole he is. Neither does **Hank Beecher**. But, I don’t claim to know. And he does. Trump is like the Anti-Christ character of a book that Steven King had too much class to write. (This post is an unintentional duplicate, meant to post it here…) ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/467 "2016-03-15T16:53:55Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Don’t see why not, she’s got more journalistic credibility than the whole Fox News team put together, and you know it. Only in the sense that one negative amount is “more” than a bunch of negative amounts put together. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/468 "2016-03-15T16:54:17Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Being the best of a third-rate network which panders to the Democrat party does not make for an unbiased opinion. Unbiased and credible are two different things. Maddow is the latter, Fox is neither. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/469 "2016-03-15T17:14:23Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I totally support Trump’s free speech rights, he is doing our work for us, Goddess bless his heart and the butter than flows through his sclerotic veins. I want him to talk, loud, often, and openly! I also believe in my right to shout back, and wave my sign. Lots of people belive in the tooth fairy too, that doesn’t mean she actually exists. That’s the thing, you don’t have any more right to shout down a speaker, or hold up an offensive sign, at a political rally, than you do to scream in a movie theater, rap along with a piano recital uninvited, or to wear a t-shirt extolling the virtues of Satan worship inside a church service. > [@](#): > > Now, that said, I don’t know how many “Bernshirts” were actually part of this, I don’t even know such a thing exists. So, I don’t know how many lefties were there to shut down Trump’s free speech, or how many were there just to say what an asshole he is. Ah yes, the know-nothing defense. Surely you are making your Uncle Donald proud with that one. I bet you will be as quick to accept the same sort of response from him as you are to use it yourself. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/470 "2016-03-15T17:30:19Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > That’s the thing, you don’t have any more right to shout down a speaker, or hold up an offensive sign, at a political rally, than you do to scream in a movie theater, rap along with a piano recital uninvited, or to wear a t-shirt extolling the virtues of Satan worship inside a church service. I think you’ll find very few people believe that, and those few are wrong. The right to make political demonstrations means nothing if it does not include the right to make counterdemonstrations. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/471 "2016-03-15T17:42:03Z")
OK it wasn’t unconstitutional. What if anything was illegal in the act? How is this protest different from other protests? Are they claiming special privilege? Because it is a prez candidate? Because it is a private function? Really what is the gripe? There is a real claim among main stream right wing mouthpieces that there is a balancing evil going on that excuses a sucker punch, and a candidate who supports it. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/472 "2016-03-15T18:07:07Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > …Are they claiming special privilege? Because it is a prez candidate? Because it is a private function? > > Really what is the gripe? There is a real claim among main stream right wing mouthpieces that there is a balancing evil going on that excuses a sucker punch, and a candidate who supports it. (post shortened) Private function. The protesters can practice their free speech outside. A 26 year old protester was insulting the crowd and indicated, with both middle fingers, that the crowd should go fuck itself. A 78 year old protester who was a member of that crowd objected to being told to go fuck himself and elbowed the other protester in the head. The 26 yr old protester wanted to create a scene and he did. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/473 "2016-03-15T18:10:59Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I think you’ll find very few people believe that, and those few are wrong. The right to make political demonstrations means nothing if it does not include the right to make counterdemonstrations. So then I take it you were quick to condemn Obama and Bernie for having demonstrators forcefully removed from their events? Care to share a link to where you have shared these objections? An essential part of the right of assembly and free expression is the right organize an event where the level and manner of audience participation is decided by the organizers. I don’t know what makes you think that these rights apply to those having concerts or poetry recitals, but that people lose them when their event has a political message. Yes, you absolutely have a right to hold a counter-demonstration. Outside, on the sidewalk, in such a way that it does not interfere with people getting in and out of the event. Or even better, you can hold your own event and bar anyone wearing a Trump hat from attending, and eject anyone interrupting you with loud ranting accusations about how much you don’t want America to be great again. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/474 "2016-03-15T18:42:11Z")
Sorry, **Hank** , but the “liberal hypocrisy” _schtick_ is patented. You owe **Bricker** a nickel. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/475 "2016-03-15T18:53:39Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Private function. The protesters can practice their free speech outside. > > A 26 year old protester was insulting the crowd and indicated, with both middle fingers, that the crowd should go fuck itself. A 78 year old protester who was a member of that crowd objected to being told to go fuck himself and elbowed the other protester in the head. > > The 26 yr old protester wanted to create a scene and he did. And the 78 year old was trying to commit a crime and he did. There is no law against flipping the bird. There is a law against committing battery. I trust you understand the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/476 "2016-03-15T19:09:54Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Sorry, **Hank** , but the “liberal hypocrisy” _schtick_ is patented. You owe **Bricker** a nickel. What’s the matter, can’t handle any more than one person calling out your variety of bullshit? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/477 "2016-03-15T19:22:49Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > And the 78 year old was trying to commit a crime and he did. > > There is no law against flipping the bird. There is a law against committing battery. I trust you understand the difference. Looks like Trump does not know the difference, and neither the press that supports him, but there are limits even in the right wing infosphere. [http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/business/media/upheaval-at-breitbart-news-as-workers-resign-and-accusations-fly.html?\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/business/media/upheaval-at-breitbart-news-as-workers-resign-and-accusations-fly.html?_r=0) > [@](#): > > As a proudly renegade voice of the populist right, Breitbart News has long delighted in bedeviling liberals and establishment Republicans alike, emerging in recent years as one of the nation’s leading conservative media outlets. > > But in an ironic twist, Breitbart, a news and opinion website that welcomed the rise of Donald J. Trump as an outsider candidate, is now facing a problem similar to the one roiling the Republican Party it likes to torment: a scathing internal dispute, with Mr. Trump at its center. > > Several top executives and journalists at the site have resigned in the last week, saying the organization has turned into a shill for the Trump campaign and failed to support Michelle Fields, a Breitbart reporter who accused Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, of grabbing and shoving her at a Florida rally last week. > > Ms. Fields reported the episode to the police, and a journalist for The Washington Post, Ben Terris, identified Mr. Lewandowski as the person who grabbed her. The Trump campaign has denied Ms. Fields’s account, and Breitbart, after initially requesting an apology, later published an article casting doubt on whether Mr. Lewandowski was involved. > > In a telephone interview, Ms. Fields, who also resigned on Monday, said that she “felt like my employer was working with the Trump campaign to assassinate my character.” > > “They were more interested in protecting Trump and coordinating with him on a message than they were about finding out the truth,” said Ms. Fields, who is 28. Messages left with Breitbart executives on Monday were not answered, and the site’s spokesman was among the employees who quit. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/478 "2016-03-15T19:28:13Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > And the 78 year old was trying to commit a crime and he did. > > There is no law against flipping the bird. There is a law against committing battery. I trust you understand the difference. It all hinges on whether or not whatever the protester was saying and doing would be considered “fighting words”, meaning \*speech that would [“tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace” by provoking a fight, provided that the speech or expression, “when addressed to the ordinary citizen, is, as a matter of common knowledge, inherently likely to provoke a violent reaction.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions) \* Courts have decided that the middle finger alone is not enough to be considered fighting words. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/479 "2016-03-15T19:30:21Z")
Nah, the left doesn’t usually get violent until the SEIU shows up. What they do, however, is the typical civil disobedience stuff like linking arms to block access to sidewalks, marching down the middle of a road blocking traffic, forming queues of screaming idiots as gauntlets their opponents have to walk through, circling people and harassing them, sometimes chaining public buildings shut as they did in Wisconsin, or chaining themselves to a light standard or other permanent fixture. And everyone else is supposed to accept this obnoxious behavior in the name of free speech and free assembly, even if the entire purpose of it is to attempt to shut down the speech and assembly of their opponents. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710/480 "2016-03-15T19:32:35Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > It all hinges on whether or not whatever the protester was saying and doing would be considered “fighting words”, meaning \*speech that would [“tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace” by provoking a fight, provided that the speech or expression, “when addressed to the ordinary citizen, is, as a matter of common knowledge, inherently likely to provoke a violent reaction.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions) \* > > Courts have decided that the middle finger alone is not enough to be considered fighting words. I don’t believe that ‘fighting words’ can be used as a defence against beating on someone. It just means that both sides can be charged. Is that not correct? Look, the guy who sucker-punched that protester was just wrong. Flat-out wrong. He committed a crime, and if the other guy wants to press charges he should pay for what he did. Let’s not excuse horrific behavior just because it was directed at people we don’t like. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanderss-supporters-brownshirts-stop-trump-rally-in-chicago/748710.md?page=25)