Overview

Donald Trump Rally Protests refer to demonstrations held at rallies for the 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump led by activists opposed to his candidacy and political platform. Many of the protests have received media attention due to the inflammatory and violent altercations between activists, Trump supporters and police.

Background

On June 16th, 2015, Trump formally announced his bid for the Republican primaries in the upcoming 2016 U.S. presidential election at the Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York City. On June 29th, Trump spoke at a City Club of Chicago luncheon, where approximately 100 demonstrators gathered to protest his statements regarding Mexican immigrants. Over the next eight months, many additional protests were held at various Trump campaign events across the United States.

Developments

St. Louis Rally Protest

On March 11th, 2016, The Alex Jones Channel YouTube channel posted a video titled “Anti-Trump Protesters Go Berserk!”, featuring a heated argument between Trump supporters and anti-Trump activists taking place outside of a Trump rally in St. Louis, Missouri (shown below). After the video began circulating on 4chan’s /pol/ (politics) board and Reddit, two male anti-Trump demonstrators were widely mocked for their debate tactics and nicknamed "Carl the Cuck" and "AIDS Skrillex".

On March 12th, The Alex Jones Channel YouTube channel posted a video of an argument between Black Lives Matter Protesters and an African American Trump supporter (shown below). Within three months, the video gained over 1.5 million views and 19,500 comments.

Chicago Trump Rally Protest

The same day, Trump cancelled a planned event at the University of Illnois at Chicago amid "growing safety concerns" due to the large number of protesters attending the rally. After the cancellation was announced, several violent altercations occurred between protesters and Trump supporters.

Paid Protester Rumors

On March 12th, 2016, Alex Jones posted a video on Facebook accusing the Hillary Clinton campaign of hiring protesters to disrupt Donald Trump rallies (shown below). Within three months, the video gained over 300,000 views and 12,000 shares.

On March 21st, The Daily Caller^[2] published an reporting that the Hillary Clinton campaign and billionaire George Soros were paying the protesters to attend Trump rallies. On March 27th, ABC News^[1] published an interview with Arizona resident Paul Horner, who claimed he was given $3,500 to protest a Trump rally. On April 3rd, The Intercept^[3] published an article titled "How the Trump Campaign Spread a Dirty Meme About Protesters Being Paid by Clinton, Sanders, and Soros."

San Jose Rally Protest

On June 2nd, 2016, violence broke out at a large protest held outside a Trump rally in San Jose, California. During the event, demonstrators vandalized property, threw eggs and assaulted Trump supporters leaving the rally. That day, YouTuber Timcast uploaded footage of a Trump supporter who was struck in the head by anti-Trump protesters and left bleeding (shown below).

The same day, Twitter user NickyWoolf uploaded footage of a fight breaking out near the San Jose rally (shown below).

Also on June 2nd, Redditor ajbenius posted a collection of tweets and videos of altercations at the San Jose rally.^[4] Meanwhile, the Internet news sites The Daily Dot^[5] and UpRoxx^[6] published articles about the violent protests. The same day, the online publication Vox Media suspended editor Emmett Rensin for encouraging riots at Trump events.^[7]

Search Interest

External References