Trump Rally Attacks #BlackLivesMatter Demonstrator, Yell ‘Light That Motherf*cker On Fire!’


If those supporting Donald Trump for the 2016 presidential election are not deterred by the candidate’s hateful rhetoric and bombastic ego, perhaps it’s time they take a look at their fellow Trump supporters and reconsider.

Monday night’s Trump rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, has yielded some of the most violent, disturbing incidents of the campaign season thus far, with several tense moments and at least one #BlackLivesMatter demonstrator being wrestled to the ground and dragged from the room as white Trump supporters shouted phrases at him like, “Sieg heil!” and “Light that motherf*cker on fire!”

Trump loves it, though, of course, as BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins points out in a tweet:

https://twitter.com/mckaycoppins/status/676616673311391744

Footage of the #BlackLivesMatter demonstrator being wrestled on the ground as one nearby Trump supported shouted, “Light that mother*cker on fire!” can be seen and heard in the tweet below:

https://twitter.com/mckaycoppins/status/676611661487190018

To those who still maintain a modicum of civility and respect for others, attending a Trump rally can be somewhat of an eye-opening experience, as Coppins points out in another tweet:

https://twitter.com/mckaycoppins/status/676614143835684864

As Raw Story put it, “The violence has become commonplace.” That in and of itself—when witnessed firsthand, especially—should give America cause for pause.

The violence doesn’t faze Donald Trump in the slightest, though, as pointed out by Kurtis Lee of the L.A. Times.

When he’s not busy emceeing the outbursts for the sensationalism in it he knows the media will flock to—after all, even bad publicity is good publicity—Trump carries right along with his average, canned stump speech, which includes all of his typical talking points, from banning Muslims to building a wall across our shared border with Mexico.

But since much of Trump’s plans for America make little to no sense and have been repeated over and again, it is indeed the sensationalist violence, both in language and in deed, at these Trump rallies that catches the most attention. As Lee tweeted, the tension in the air is palpable.

The scandal of Trump’s Monday night rally in Vegas, though, turned out to be the #BlackLivesMatter protester who’d been wrestled to the ground while being yelled at by Trump supporters. Benji Sarlin of MSNBC was also present for the rally and noted the numerous hateful things Trump supporters would yell at demonstrators.

And once again, the word “Muslim” was thrown around like a #BlackLivesMatter protester at a Donald Trump convention.

Sarlin wrote of his experience at the Monday night Trump rally:

“As one man was dragged away, Trump supporters variously yelled, ‘Shoot him!’ ‘Kick his ass,’ and ‘Light the motherf—-r on fire!’

“A large middle aged man shouted, ‘Sieg heil!’ — a Nazi Germany-era salute — as the protester was taken away.”


What’s most disturbing about these incidents at Trump rallies is that they have to be written about in plural, and more keep stacking up on the pile with each rally. Dissent-smashing violence with an irreproachable attitude has followed Trump from the beginning. If Trump’s rhetoric fueling such violence isn’t enough for some Trump supporters to reconsider their candidate, perhaps taking a close, hard look at the company they are keeping will.

Featured image by McKay Coppins via Twitter screen capture.