Reporting from BOCA RATON, Fla. — When Donald Trump said Sunday that he might pay the legal fees of a man charged with hitting a protester in the face at one of his rallies, it was the latest of many occasions when the leading Republican candidate for president appeared to condone or accept violence by supporters.
Heckling at rallies is a staple of all presidential campaigns, and the New York billionaire attracts more than average. For both Democrats and Republicans, it’s routine to urge unruly crowds to remain peaceful, as Trump often does.
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But Trump alone has openly endorsed violent retaliation against people who disrupt his rallies, many of whom accuse him of racism.
The racially charged mayhem that erupted at his planned rally in Chicago on Friday night, with black and Latino protesters and white Trump supporters taking swings at one another on live television, did nothing to temper what critics in both parties have labeled his dangerous rhetoric.
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Donald Trump supporter Birgitt Peterson, center, of Yorkville, argues with protesters on March 11, 2016, outside the UIC Pavilion after the rally for the Republican presidential candidate was canceled.
(E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
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Donald Trump supporters and protesters clash March 11, 2016, outside the UIC Pavilion after the rally for the Republican presidential candidate was canceled.
(E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
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Donald Trump supporters and protesters clash March 11, 2016, outside the UIC Pavilion after the rally for the Republican presidential candidate was canceled.
(E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
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Protesters and Donald Trump supporters struggle outside the UIC Pavilion in Chicago after it was announced that the rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was canceled March 11, 2016.
(E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
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Protesters mock Donald Trump supporters who appeared stuck in the venue’s parking garage after the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign rally March 11, 2016, at UIC Pavilion was canceled because of security concerns.
(Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune)
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Protesters line up above the Eisenhower Expressway after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign stop at the UIC Pavilion was canceled because of security concerns March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
(Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune)
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Police remove an activist after it was announced that a rally with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the University of Illinois at Chicago was canceled.
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Police restrain a man after confrontations broke out between anti-Trump protesters and police in Chicago.
(Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune)
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Police try to control the crowd on the street after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign stop at University of Illinois-Chicago was canceled due to security concerns.
(Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune)
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The podium is empty after a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was cancelled.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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Protesters against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump chant after it was announced that a rally for Trump was canceled.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press)
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Chicago police start to clear the crowd after a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was canceled on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press)
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Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, face off with protesters after a rally on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago was canceled.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press)
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Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, face off with protesters .
(Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press)
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Protestors shout down a rally scheduled by Businessman and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump forcing it’s cancellation out of concern for public safety at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion.
(Tannen Maury/ EPA)
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A protester holds up a ripped Donald Trump sign before the start of a rally for the Republican presidential candidate at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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Protesters wearing shirts reading “Muslims United Against Trump” are escorted out the UIC Pavilion in Chicago prior to the start of a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on March 11, 2016.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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A demonstrator is removed by Chicago police during a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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People wait for the start of a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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People gather at the UIC Pavilion for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rally March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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A Donald Trump supporter moves a jacket upon getting settled in at the UIC Pavilion for a rally for the Republican presidential candidate March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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Ed Landmichl, of Chicago’s South Side, waits for the start of a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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Donald Trump supporter Valerie Schmitt, of Naperville, gets settled before Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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People wear socks adorned with the U.S. flag while attending a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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People wait for the start of a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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Marco Maltbia, of Chicago’s South Side, waits for the beginning of a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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People arrive for a campaign rally at the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, to support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
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Protestors march in Chicago on Friday, March 11, 2016, before a rally with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the University of Illinois-Chicago. (AP Photo/Matt Marton) (Matt Marton / AP)
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Brian Wilkinson, 35, holds an American flag while Donald Trump supporters enter the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, prior to the Republican presidential candidate’s rally.
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Donald Trump supporters line up March 11, 2016, at the UIC Pavilion in advance of a political rally.
(Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune)
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Button vendors Lorie Levi, left, and Deanne Golembiewski sell Donald Trump for President buttons outside the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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Jack Righeima, 15, left, and Andrew Alessia, 18, students from Aurora Central Catholic High School, play Trump the Game on March 11, 2016, outside the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.
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June Pitts, center, of Oak Forest, waits in line outside the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016.
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Linda Slabaugh, of Romeoville, a nurse and attorney, attends a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on March 11, 2016, at the UIC Pavilion.
(Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
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epa05207005 Protestors shout down a rally scheduled by Businessman and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump forcing it’s cancellation out of concern for public safety at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois, USA, 11 March 2016. Residents go to the polls to cast their votes in the Illinois primary on 15 March. EPA/TANNEN MAURY ** Usable by LA, CT and MoD ONLY ** (TANNEN MAURY / EPA)
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Robert Maricle, of Peoria, stands in line outside the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, for a rally with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
(Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
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Donald Trump supporter John Gora, of Chicago, proudly shows his T-shirt that reads “Friends Don’t Let Friends Vote Democrat” as he stands in line outside the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago for a rally with the Republican presidential candidate.
(Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
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Julie Contreras, from left; her daughter Ariana Aprim, 18; Salvador Contreras; and Gilberto Melchor-Sanchez hold a prayer vigil March 11, 2016, across the street from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. The group, representing the League of United Latin American Citizens, is holding the vigil in anticipation of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign stop.
(Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
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Ariana Aprim, 18, with the League of United Latin American Citizens, shuts off electric lights at the site of a prayer vigil March 11, 2016, near the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.
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A small shrine is placed at the site of a prayer vigil across the street from the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago.
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Julie Contreras, with the League of United Latin American Citizens, sets up a sign near a prayer vigil across the street from the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago. Activists assembled in anticipation of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign stop in the evening.
(Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
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Kayla Utley, left, of Center Point, Iowa, holds a photograph of herself with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from a campaign stop as she stands in line outside the UIC Pavilion on March 11, 2016, in Chicago. With Utley are Trump supporters Giovanni Montalbano, center, of Park Ridge, and Travis Klinefelter, of Dubuque, Iowa.
(Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
At a rally Sunday in Bloomington, Ill., Trump lashed out at the media, accusing journalists of giving outsize coverage to the violent aspects of his campaign.
“Guess what happened?” Trump said as he criticized an allegedly violent heckler. “Our people started swinging back.”
Trump repeatedly returned to that theme, talking about violence or threats of it at his events as both overhyped and, at the same time, justified.
“Sometimes we talk a little bit tough,” he said. “When I see somebody out swinging his fists, I say, ‘Get ’em the hell out of here.’ We’re a little rough.”
Journalists “hate to hear that,” he said. “‘Why did you act so viciously toward that young person that was really protesting?’ See he wasn’t protesting. He was swinging. He was vicious. And you know what? They took him out. That was OK that day.”
Trump did not specify which incident he was referring to, but he appeared to be talking about an assault in the audience during his rally Wednesday in Fayetteville, N.C. Police were ejecting a black protester, whom multiple videos show to have been loud but nonviolent, when a 78-year-old white man, John McGraw of Linden, N.C., hit the protester in the face.
McGraw, who was arrested the next day on suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct, told “Inside Edition” on his way out of the rally: “Next time we see him, we might have to kill him.”
On NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Trump was asked whether he would pay McGraw’s legal fees, as he once offered to do for supporters who rough up protesters.
“I’ve actually instructed my people to look into it, yes,” Trump responded.
In several television interviews Sunday, Trump denied condoning violence.
But at a rally with Sarah Palin last month in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Trump encouraged a few thousand supporters to beat up anyone who hurled a tomato at him, saying security had warned him that might happen.
“If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you?” Trump said, drawing cheers and laughter. “Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise. They won’t be so much, because the courts agree with us too — what’s going on in this country.”
On Sunday, he defended the remarks in the NBC interview.
“If you get hit in the face with a tomato, let me tell you, with somebody with a strong arm, at least, let me tell you, it can be very damaging,” he said.
For months, Trump has used protester disruptions as a theatrical device at rallies across the nation, enlivening his events with conflict.
“Get ’em out,” he often shouts. “Get ’em out. Come on. Let’s go. Get ’em out.”
Trump encourages crowds to surround and shout down protesters with chants of “USA.” In a riff on how sleazy and dishonest he finds reporters, Trump frequently tells his audiences that TV cameras never show how big his crowds are unless hecklers interrupt him, triggering a roar of catcalls toward the media pen.
“Unless we have a protester the cameras are never going to show the crowd…. Is there a disrupter in the house?” he said at a rally here in Florida on Sunday.
Taunting demonstrators whose shouting interrupted him at a rally in St. Louis on Friday, Trump snapped, “Go home and get a job. Go home to mommy.”
At a casino rally in Las Vegas last month, Trump pined for “the old days” when demonstrators would be “carried out on a stretcher, folks.”
Although he sometimes urges crowds to be gentle with those getting kicked out of his rallies, he often does not.
“I’d like to punch him in the face,” he told the Las Vegas crowd when one protester was ejected.
On Sunday, Trump accused Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders of riling up protesters. At the rally in central Illinois, he threatened to send his own supporters to disrupt the Vermont senator’s rallies in retaliation.
Sanders denied directing supporters to disrupt Trump rallies, and no evidence has suggested otherwise.
“A candidate for president of the United States should condemn violence, not encourage violence,” Sanders told supporters at a rally Sunday at Ohio State University in Columbus. “You don’t go around saying it’s OK to beat people up and ‘I’ll pay the legal fees.’”
People have a right to protest, Sanders added during a televised town hall on CNN, but “that is very different from getting involved in violence.”
Trump’s statement on possibly paying McGraw’s legal bills also drew the condemnation of Marco Rubio, one of Trump’s Republican rivals.
Campaigning outside Orlando, Fla., at the Villages, a sprawling retirement community, the Florida senator faulted Trump for “telling people in his audience, ‘Go ahead and punch someone in the face and I’ll pay your legal bills.’ That’s not an excusable attitude.”
The uproar over political violence comes as top Republican donors are spending millions of dollars on advertising in an attempt to derail Trump before he clinches the party nomination.
Primaries will take place Tuesday in Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina. The campaigns of Rubio and Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich would in effect end if they fail to win their home states.
Polls released Sunday continued to show Trump with a wide lead in Florida over Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. In Ohio, Trump remains in a tight race with Kasich, with Cruz in third. Cruz was potentially in position to win in Illinois, the polls showed.
Though many Republicans have urged a state-by-state strategy of trying to stop Trump as a team effort, only Rubio has taken up the call directly, with his campaign suggesting in recent days that his supporters in Ohio should throw their votes to Kasich to deny Trump the state’s delegates.
Cruz, who is second in delegates and in many national polls, flatly rejected that strategy Sunday, insisting he could beat Trump one-on-one.
“No, we’re not engaged in this delegate-denial strategy that came out of the Washington establishment because they have dreams of a brokered convention, dropping their favorite Washington candidate in to win,” he said on NBC. “That would be a disaster. The people would revolt.”
Trump, meanwhile, made clear by his actions that he does not believe criticism of violence at his rallies will hurt him among his supporters.
In Illinois on Sunday, Trump suggested that if his supporters disrupted a Sanders or Hillary Clinton rally, they would be judged differently than the protesters at his events.
“They’ll lock you up for the rest of your life,” he said. “They’ll give you the electric chair.”
With his private jet as a backdrop, Trump yelled “Get ’em’ out” several times as hecklers were kicked out.
“We’re not provoking,” he said. “We all want peace.”
Later in the day, at a rally in West Chester, Ohio, he expressed mild disappointment that only one protester showed up at a rally.
“In some ways,” he said, “it makes it more exciting.”
Finnegan reported from Los Angeles and Bierman from Boca Raton, Fla. Times staff writers Mark Z. Barabak in West Chester, Cathleen Decker in Columbus and Melanie Mason in Pensacola, Fla., contributed to this report.
For more on Campaign 2016, follow @NoahBierman and @finneganLAT.
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