Donald Trump Defends 'America Loving Protesters': 'Go Out and Peacefully Protest'
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Former President Donald Trump on Monday remarked on the treatment of left-wing protesters and rioters compared to the treatment of right-wing MAGA protesters, expressing that the latter “should be allowed to protest at the front steps of Courthouses” and all over the country, just as it is allowed for those “destroying our Country on the Radical Left.”
Trump posed a question on protesters Monday morning, asking, “Why are Palestinian protesters, and even rioters, allowed to roam the Cities, scream, shout, sit, block traffic, enter buildings, not get permits, and basically do whatever they want including threatening Supreme Court Justices right in front of their homes, and yet people who truly LOVE our Country, and want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, are not allowed to 'Peacefully Protest,' and are rudely and systematically shut down and ushered off to far away 'holding areas,' essentially denying them their Constitutional Rights.”
Pro-Palestinian activists protest outside Columbia University in New York City on April 20, 2024. (LEONARDO MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images)
“America Loving Protesters should be allowed to protest at the front steps of Courthouses, all over the Country, just like it is allowed for those who are destroying our Country on the Radical Left, a two tiered system of justice,” the former president said, concluding that “Free Speech and Assembly has been 'CHILLED' for USA SUPPORTERS.”
He ended his remarks by telling America-loving individuals to go out and “PEACEFULLY PROTEST” and “RALLY BEHIND MAGA.”
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XR NYC Palestine Solidarity via Storyful“SAVE OUR COUNTRY! 'THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF,'” Trump added:
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Trump linked to a story from the Washington Examiner which detailed how Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito “exposed the Biden administration’s inexcusable practice of selective prosecution of protesters and rioters” during recent oral arguments.
“Would a sit-in that disrupts a trial or access to a federal courthouse qualify [as illegal obstruction]?” Gorsuch asked during the oral arguments in the case Fischer v. United States — a January 6 case which involves charges of “obstruct[ion of] … any official proceeding,” based on 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c).
“Would a heckler at today’s audience qualify or a heckler at the State of the Union address? Would pulling a fire alarm before a vote qualify for 20 years in federal prison?” Gorsuch reportedly asked.
To further that example, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) falsely pulled a fire alarm in a congressional office building just before lawmakers were to vote on a measure to avoid a government shutdown. While he ultimately pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor, the Office of Congressional Ethics concluded there was not enough evidence to charge him with obstruction, specifically.
That aside, there are countless instances of softer treatment for left-wing protesters across the board, as has been seen throughout the years, particularly in 2020 during the George Floyd protests, which saw protesters rioting, looting, and engaging in arson in countless cities across the country.
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