Donald Trump's son Eric Trump complained about "the lack of civility" shown by people on the left of politics on the same night his father was praising a Republican Congressman for physically assaulting a journalist.
In an appearance on Fox News show The Ingraham Angle, Eric Trump was asked for his reaction to a clip of a man pulling down Ted Cruz posters in Texas and yelling "I hate Ted Cruz," one of a number of incidents highlighted by the right to accuse the left of using mob tactics ahead of the midterms.
"The lack of civility, I talk about it all the time. It's unbelievable. I saw that earlier today and, listen, that helps. Honestly, those people are so radical no-one can relate to them," Trump said.
President Donald Trump's second-eldest son continued: "When does this end? Americans don't want to see this stuff. That's not who we are as a society. That is a rogue faction. But the left has gone so far left, they've become so radicalized, that they think this is acceptable behavior."
Earlier on Thursday evening President Trump held a rally in Montana during which he made light of Rep. Greg Gianforte's assault of Ben Jacobs, a journalist for The Guardian who tried to ask the politician a question about health care—and even praised him for it.
When Jacobs tried to ask Gianforte a question in May 2017, the Congressman—who was in the middle of an election campaign—grabbed the journalist and body-slammed him to the floor, punching him a couple of times, reported The Guardian.
In an audio recording, Gianforte can be heard saying aggressively: "I'm sick and tired of you guys! The last guy who came in here, you did the same thing. Get the hell out of here!"
Gianforte pleaded guilty to misdemeanour assault and was handed 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management classes, and a $300 fine, NPR reported. Gianforte also apologized to Jacobs and donated $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
"Greg is smart," Trump told the Montana rally. "And by the way, never wrestle him. You understand that? Never. Any guy that can do a body-slam, he's my kind of…guy.
"I shouldn't say this [but] there's nothing to be embarrassed about…I heard that he had body-slammed a reporter… This was like the day of the election or just before and I said, 'Oh this is terrible. He's going to lose the election.' Then I said, 'Well wait a minute, I know Montana pretty well, I think it might help him.' And it did."
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Shane Croucher is a Senior Editor based in London, UK. He oversees the My Turn team. He has previously overseen ... Read more
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