Donald Trump has been drawing protesters for a while now, but lately he’s really refined the creepiness when it comes to how he deals with them:
Donald Trump’s rally here began with the candidate asking all attendees to raise their hands and take an oath to vote for him, while extended barriers cordoned off the press and plainclothes private intelligence officers scoured the crowd for protestors.
These new tactics, which the Trump campaign has introduced over the past week, represent refinements by Trump and his staff in their quest to control the atmosphere and message of his often unruly rallies. They come in the wake of an altercation between a photographer and a Secret Service agent at a Trump event, and at a time when the emboldened candidate has escalated confrontations with protesters, leaving his podium to stare them down at his two most recent rallies and repeatedly lamenting that his supporters cannot retaliate against them.
Trump first asked his supporters to pledge their allegiance at a weekend rally in Orlando. But the length of Saturday’s oath made it difficult for attendees to repeat it after Trump. The candidate had adjusted by Monday, when he had supporters raise their right hands and repeat a shorter oath.
Obviously the Trump campaign has repeatedly claimed that protesters were violent, even as reporters and other witnesses have disagreed. Keeping reporters behind barriers and away from the crowds is a great way to to avoid having those fraudulent claims challenged. It’s especially … interesting, watching Trump simultaneously insist that protesters are violent while himself saying repeatedly how sad it is that his supporters and security can’t brutalize protesters.
When you consider the loyalty oath visuals, and the violent atmosphere, and the intense security, and keeping the press penned up … well, like Markos said, Godwin’s Law is officially suspended.