Bernie Sanders responded to the anti-Trump violence on Thursday with a statement that bears repeating:
I understand how reprehensible and disgraceful Donald Trump’s positions are, how ignorant they are, how much he is appealing — and I can understand the anger, I surely can. The bigotry that is coming from his mouth, the insults to the Mexican community, the Latino community and the Muslim community, and women, and African-Americans, and veterans. I understand the anger.
But we are not going to defeat Trump, you know, by throwing eggs or getting involved in violence of any kind. We defeat Trump when we stand together as one people and fight for a progressive agenda.
The only thing I would have added is to point out not just the insults to protesters, but the violence that has been committed against protesters (and encouraged by Trump). The media reports seem to be focusing exclusively on violence against Trump supporters, but at a Trump rally in San Diego last week, Trump supporters pepper-sprayed non-violent protesters in the face. And we’ve all seen the video of a Trump supporter who sucker-punched a protester who was already in custody. Unfortunately, it looks like violence against his supporters is exactly what Trump wants. I hope our side can show more restraint.
