Trump rejects calls to temper his tone

Associated Press

VANDALIA, Ohio

One day after well-organized protesters led Donald Trump to cancel a campaign rally before it even started, the Republican presidential front-runner coldly rejected calls Saturday to temper the tone of his events. He called such protesters a “disgrace” and blamed them for fueling violent confrontations at his rallies.

The intensity of the hostility Trump faces among those opposed to his candidacy was underscored Saturday morning in Ohio. Secret Service agents briefly rushed the stage to form a protective circle around Trump after a man leapt over a barricade and charged toward the billionaire businessman.

The man, later identified by authorities as Thomas Dimassimo of Fairborn, Ohio, was able to physically touch the stage before he was tackled by security officials. He was later charged with disorderly conduct and inducing panic.

Trump’s rallies in recent weeks have been marked by frequent clashes between his supporters and protesters, many of whom are young African-Americans and Latinos. Earlier this week, video footage captured a white man punching an African-American protester as police led him out of a North Carolina rally.

Trump on Saturday rejected the suggestion that he or his supporters were to blame, instead laying responsibility at the feet of protesters he panned as “a disgrace.”

“They want me to tell my people, ‘Please be nice.’ My people are nice,” Trump said.

“We cannot let our First Amendment rights be taken away from us, folks. We can’t let it happen,” he said. “We have a right to speak.”

Trump asked law-enforcement officers to arrest protesters at his rally Saturday in Kansas City, Mo. He said that fear of an “arrest mark” on people’s records may put an end to the near-constant disruptions at his rallies.

A day after he called off a planned Chicago event because it attracted so many protesters, he said he’s “going to start pressing charges against all these people.”