Trump and Violence: Making America Hate Again

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters, ok? It’s, like, incredible." - Donald Trump, January 23, 2016 "There may be somebody with tomatoes in the audience. If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell -- I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise." - Donald Trump, February 1, 2016 "I would bring back waterboarding and I would bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding." - Donald Trump, February 6, 2016 "I would absolutely authorize something beyond waterboarding. And believe me, it will be effective." - Donald Trump, February 7, 2016 "Don't tell me it doesn't work. Torture works. Okay, folks? Torture - you know, half these guys - 'Torture doesn't work!' Believe me, it works. Okay? And waterboarding is your minor form. Some people say it's not actually torture. Let's assume it is. But they asked me the question, What do you think of waterboarding? Absolutely fine. But we should go much stronger than waterboarding. That's the way I feel... Waterboarding is fine, but it's not nearly tough enough, OK?" - Donald Trump, February 17, 2016 "I'd like to punch [that protester] in the face... I love the old days -- you know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’'d be carried out on a stretcher, folks." - Donald Trump, February 23, 2016 "Get him out. Try not to hurt him. If you do, I'll defend you in court, don't worry about it." - Donald Trump, March 4, 2016 "The next time we see [that protester], we might have to kill him." - Donald Trump, March 10, 2016 “They used to treat them very, very rough, and when they protested once, they would not do it again so easily. We've become weak." - Donald Trump, March 11, 2016 "You know, part of the problem, and part of the reason it takes so long, is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore." - Donald Trump, March 11, 2016 “I’m just thinking to myself right now, we should just cancel the election and just give it to Trump, right?" - Donald Trump, October 11, 2016

“Any guy that can do a body slam, he’s my kind of — he’s my guy.” - Donald Trump, October 19, 2018, reacting to news that someone had attacked a reporter

"I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump - I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough - until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad." - Donald Trump, March 14, 2019

"I remember this guy [MSNBC anchor Ali] Velshi. He got hit in the knee with a canister of tear gas and he went down. He was down. 'My knee, my knee.' Nobody cared, these guys didn't care, they moved him aside. And they just walked right through. It was the most beautiful thing... wasn't it really a beautiful sight?" - Donald Trump, September 20, 2020
[Trump had the facts wrong - a rubber bullet hit Velshi's knee]

"I can only hope that the Democrats do tone down the rhetoric. The rhetoric has been outrageous –
the finger-pointing, just the tone and the angst and the anger directed at Donald Trump, his supporters."
- GOP Congressman Chris Collins, June 14, 2017

“America has been divided, and the center of America is disappearing, and the violence is appearing in the streets, and it’s coming from the left."
- GOP Congressman Steve King, June 14, 2017

"The president in no way, form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence."
- Sarah H. Sanders, June 29, 2017

"[Trump is] just not that important. Impeachment would further divide us, not bring us together.”
- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, November 17, 2017