CNN Guest Marc Lamont Hill: Violence At Trump Rallies “Is Egged On By Donald Trump”

Hill: “The Goal Of A Politician Should Be To De-escalate These Situations, Not Escalate Them”

From the March 15 edition of CNN's New Day:

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CHRIS CUOMO (HOST): What do you see going on here at these rallies, and who do you think is responsible?

MARC LAMONT HILL: What I see is democracy in action, right? Which is what both sides are arguing. You have the opportunity in America to come and protest and to say whatever you want, within certain limits and boundaries and with certain penalties. So I see people resisting Donald Trump's message, I see people protesting Donald Trump's message, but what I see now is a kind of violent response from Trump's supporters that is egged on by Donald Trump. I'm not making a legal argument that Donald Trump should be held legally liable. What I am saying though, is that there's an ethical demand, an ethical standard on any decent human being to not tell people to punch people in the face, to not suggest that you'll pay people's legal bills if they get arrested for punching someone in the face. It just seems like a pretty basic rule of human decency.

CUOMO: The push back is, what if they are not just there as protesters, they're plants to disrupt, to infringe on Donald Trump's ability to get out his message, to start fights with his protesters, to make Trump and his supporters look bad.

HILL: That's a fair point. I've been doing activism for 20 years. I've been on the ground as a resister to these things for 20 years. And every political movement, every political candidate party has plants from the other party there to make them look bad. The difference is the candidate historically has not said punch people in the face. Because even if people are there to cause problems, telling your supporters to punch them in the face only makes things worse. The goal of a politician should be to de-escalate these situations, not escalate them.

Previously

Charles Krauthammer: Trump Refuses To Condemn The “Lynch Talk” Of His Supporters

Carl Bernstein Calls Trump Out As A Neo-Facist

On CNN, Stuart Stevens Says Trump “Is Running As George Wallace,” And “Exalting In This Thugocracy”