Donald Trump has been a direct factor in way too much violence committed over the past four years, almost since his presidential campaign began. ABC News reviewed cases around the nation and found 36 Trump-related criminal cases. Seven were anti-Trump, while 29 were pro-Trump.
Nine times people talked about Trump while they physically assaulted someone, or immediately after, such as the Boston brothers who beat a sleeping homeless man of Mexican descent and told police, “Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported.” Ten times, ABC News says, people “cheered or defended Trump while taunting or threatening others,” and 10 times, “Trump and his rhetoric were cited in court to explain a defendant's violent or threatening behavior.” These categories include multiple people threatening neighbors who were members of groups Trump had ranted against, as well as multiple cases where people threatened bombings and did in fact have bomb materials. Then, of course, there’s serial pipe bomber Cesar Sayoc.
Seven cases were anti-Trump, including one in which an intoxicated woman yelled at and pushed a man wearing a MAGA hat in a Mexican restaurant, and three involving threats against Republican members of Congress. The anti-Trump cases involved notably fewer weapons and explosives than the pro-Trump cases.
But pro- or anti-Trump, these cases are a serious departure from the norm. U.S. presidents do not usually provoke criminal acts, let alone by the dozens. ABC News checked that out, too, and ”could not find a single criminal case filed in federal or state court where an act of violence or threat was made in the name of President Barack Obama or President George W. Bush.”