Photo: Jennifer Jacobs, USA TODAY | Police officers escort students out of the Trump rally at Valdosta State University, GA.
In today’s unsettling news, a peaceful group of black students at Valdosta State University were escorted out of a Donald Trump presidential rally by law enforcement. This is not the first time people have been kicked out of Trump rallies across the country, but the group of students is the largest one yet. The students’ removal was allegedly done “at the request of the candidate,” or at least by his campaign. Yikes, team.
A spokesperson for Trump has denied that the campaign initiated the ejection, but Brian Childress, Valdosta Chief of Police, confirms that it was the campaign that ordered local law enforcement to remove the students from the rally. Childress said that he personally spoke to the Trump campaign and the law enforcement who escorted the young people out.
The students who attended the rally planned to to do in silent protest—protesting, yes, but without causing a scene or any problems. They were removed from the venue before Trump even began speaking, probably because his campaign was afraid that there would be a Black Lives Matter protest. You know how Trump dislikes those, even at a university which was whites-only until 1963.
“We didn’t plan to do anything,” said one of the students, Tahjila Davis, 19. “They said, ‘This is Trump’s property; it’s a private event.’ But I paid my tuition to be here.”
“The only reason we were given [for why we were escorted out] was that Mr. Trump did not want us here,” added Brooke Gladney, another student protestor.
This comes several hours after an incident at another rally earlier in the day, when a Secret Service agent began choking Time magazine photographer Chris Morris as he tried to leave the media area. Video footage of the incident shows the agent choking the photographer by the neck and slamming him to the ground.
On the bright side, if there is one, Trump has officially renounced any support from the KKK, after David Duke, former Grand Dragon, endorsed him. George Stephanopoulos asked Trump if he was “prepared to make a clear and unequivocal statement renouncing the support of all white supremacists,” to which Trump replied, “Of course I am, of course I am.”
“There’s nobody that’s done so much for equality as I have. You take a look at Palm Beach, Florida, I built the Mar a Lago club, totally open to everybody. A club that frankly set a new standard in clubs and a new standard in Palm Beach. And I’ve gotten great credit for it,” said Trump. “That is totally open to everybody.”
