My most recent CNN Column discusses violence in political settings. See Defend Donald Trump’s right to free speech
I don’t get to write my own headlines, ok?
Some good people think that sometimes being violent is ok. What they don’t understand is that when we use violence in politics, no matter what, the bad people always win. They get to escalate the violence, feeding off of it, up to a point where the good people lose the stomach for it — or at least a critical mass of them lose the stomach for it.
Always.
And the bad people will always have more of a stomach for it, so in the war of attrition, they will win. They’ll always be willing to bash you over the head with a truncheon for less of a reason, with more willingness to keep going long after your head looks like cherry pudding. They’ll always go further on a macro level too, they’re the bad guys because they’re sociopaths.
No matter how right you are… if violence ensues and you win? You’re probably one of the bad people. I don’t care if you’re protesting against the KKK or NAMBLA or the Black Panthers or ISIS or Nickleback fans.
That’s kinda the point of my column:
Donald Trump finally learning about the meaning of free speech?
Other candidates might be bad for free speech once elected. But Trump is the only candidate to actually campaign to reduce our First Amendment rights. This is the guy who said, “There used to be consequences to protesting. There are none anymore. These people are so bad for our country, you have no idea, folks.”
On Friday, he canceled a rally in Chicago, citing security concerns. Eyewitnesses reported that there were thousands of protesters outside, and hundreds demonstrating “in unison inside.”
Even after it was canceled, there were reports of several outbreaks of violence in the streets after the speech and protesters celebrating by chanting, “We stopped Trump!”
And now, while everyone is trying to play the blame game, Trump ironically asks, “What happened to freedom of speech?”
Marc Randazza is the national president of the First Amendment Lawyers Association
