Amid confusion over the cancellation (due to more security concerns) of today's rally in Ohio - since denied by Trump campaign officials - the finger of blame for last night's violent protests is wending its way through the mainstream media. First Cruz, then Rubio, followed this morning by Hillary, Kasich, and even Bernie (among various talking heads and 'spinners') all point to Trump's campaign "for creating an environment of division." Trump (and his supporters) see the sudden eruption of 1000s of well coordinated protesters as oddly coincidental ahead of Super Tuesday 3 next week noting that, rather against the establishment's hopes, "The organized group of people, many of them thugs, who shut down our First Amendment rights in Chicago, have totally energized America!"
Following Chicago's chaos, it appears, as Reuters reports, today's Ohio rally was also under pressure from security concerns, but the cancellation has been denied:
A spokeswoman for U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Saturday denied a media report that he had canceled an Ohio rally because of security concerns.
The Cincinnati.com news website had quoted Eric Deters, a local spokesman for Trump's campaign, as saying the candidate's Secret Service security detail could not complete preparations in time to hold the event on Sunday at Cincinnati's Duke Energy Convention Center.
But Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an email: "We don't know Eric Deters. There has been no cancellation."
Trump says on Twitter that, "The rally in Cincinnati is ON. Media put out false reports that it was cancelled."
"Will be great — love you Ohio!" he adds.
Trump had said in an interview with MSNBC on Friday that, "You can't have a rally in a major city in this country anymore without violence or potential violence."
However, the squabbles continue - over who is to blame (as Slate.com reports)
Five people were arrested Friday night and two officers were injured in skirmishes that broke out after Donald Trump abruptly canceled a Chicago rally on Friday.
Rivals quickly pointed the finger at Trump, saying that the violence at his rallies reflect the tenor of the frontrunner’s campaign.
“A campaign bears responsibility for creating an environment,” said Ted Cruz. “The predictable consequence of [Trump’s comments] is it escalates. Today is unlikely to be the last such instance.”
Sharp words from Marco Rubio about Donald Trump and the mess at Trump's canceled rally in Chicago: "I believe Donald Trump as our nominee is going to shatter and fracture the Republican Party and the conservative movement," Rubio says that some of the blame for what happened Friday night in Chicago lies with the protesters, but he says much of the divisiveness is in Trump's hands. Rubio says Trump is feeding into some voters' anger and bitterness and is manipulating that for votes..."You saw those images last night of people ... often divided up on racial lines in many cases. Police officers bleeding from the head reminiscent of images from the '60s. I mean, we're going backwards here. This a frightening, grotesque, and disturbing development in American politics."
John Kasich also criticized Trump along the same lines: “Tonight the seeds of division that Donald Trump has been sowing this whole campaign finally bore fruit, and it was ugly.” He said during a stop in Cincinnati that there's "no place for a national leader to prey on the fears of people."
Sen. Bernie Sanders also got in the game and tweeted a thinly veiled shot at Trump:
We do things a little different in this campaign: We bring people TOGETHER. #BernieInIL
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 12, 2016
And Hillary issued a statement: Violence has no place in our politics. We should use our words and deeds to bring Americans together.
Violence has no place in our politics. We should use our words and deeds to bring Americans together. pic.twitter.com/FofjognpIA
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 12, 2016
But as Fusion reports, several things about the statement left people with a bad taste in their mouths. Chief among them were her invocation of the Charleston massacre and her lack of stated support for the protesters challenging Trump in Chicago.
The Associated Press chips in...
Since casting Mexicans immigrants as rapists and criminals in his June announcement speech, Trump has encouraged supporters to embrace anger tinged with xenophobia. In recent weeks, his rallies have featured several minor incidents of violence involving protesters, almost all of them minorities, with Trump repeatedly encouraging his supporters to fight back—and to do so with violence if necessary.
But Donald Trump had no doubts about who was to blame for the shocking violence: organized “thugs.”
Trump tweeted on Saturday: "The organized group of people, many of them thugs, who shut down our First Amendment rights in Chicago, have totally energized America!"
Protesters at planned Chicago rally yesterday were “very professionally done,” Donald Trump says in Dayton, Ohio.
Says his supporters were “harassed” by people backing Bernie Sanders
“Bernie should tell his people to ‘stop’”
“When they have organized, professionally staged wise-guys, we have to fight back”
We are sure this is not the last time "organized" protesters will suddenly appear en masse to provoke reactions and vioently protest Trump's freedom of speech - don;t they know that a Trump rally is not a "safe space"? There is anger in America.
Finally, this:
BREAKING NEWSDonald Trump plans to call his future campaign rallies "Job Fairs" in order to keep the liberal protesters away.
— Walter Cronkite (@CronkiteSays) March 12, 2016