Sarah Palin Calls Donald Trump Protesters 'Punk-A**' Thugs
TAMPA (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Sarah Palin did not mince words when slamming protesters who have been disrupting Donald Trump's rallies across the nation.
Speaking at a Tampa town hall with Trump, the former Republican vice presidential nominee referred to the protesters as punk-ass thugs.
"What we don't have time for is all that petty, punk-ass little thuggery stuff that's been going on with these protesters who are doing nothing but wasting your time and trying to take away your First Amendment rights, your rights to assemble peacefully," Palin said. "And the media, being on the thugs' side. What the heck are you guys thinking, media? It doesn't make sense. Well, you all get it."
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CBS News reports the former Alaska governor initially canceled a Trump campaign event in Arcadia, Florida, after her husband was hospitalized in a snow machine crash. A source told CBS News Todd Palin, 51, crashed on Sunday night and is hospitalized in intensive care.
Trump's rallies have recently been plagued by violence. The real estate mogul is routinely unable to deliver a speech without interruption, and a heavy security presence is commonplace amid increasingly violent clashes between protesters and supporters.
On Friday, Trump canceled a rally in Chicago after supporters and protesters got into several fights inside the venue. The next morning, a protester rushed the stage at a Trump rally outside of Dayton, forcing Secret Service agents to leap on stage and form a protective circle around him.
Trump's events have always been intense. For months, he incorporated interruptions by protesters into his speeches, growling "Get `em out!" — sparking explosive cheers from the audiences as he did so.
While Trump sometimes appears angered by the disruptions, he has also embraced them, using the interruptions as opportunities to lead his supporters in chants of "USA, USA." He's also joked about how the protesters force TV cameras to pan out over the crowd and show how large they are.
But the confrontations began to escalate this month, most notably at a Trump event in New Orleans. A steady stream of demonstrators interrupted Trump's speech, including a huddle of Black Lives Matter activists, who locked arms and challenged security officials to remove them.
There were skirmishes throughout the speech, mostly pushing and shoving, although one man was captured on video biting someone.
Last week, an older white Trump supporter was caught on video punching a younger African-American protester as police led the protester out of a rally in North Carolina. The supporter, later charged with assault, told an interviewer the next time he confronted a protester, "We might have to kill him."
Trump told "Face the Nation" he doesn't condone violence and that he is going to review the incident that occurred in North Carolina.
"Well, I'm going to review it. I understand–and I don't condone violence and I don't condone what happened to him and what he did because he got carried away and it's very unfortunate," Trump said. "But this kid was walking out, and I understand he had a certain finger up in the air as he's walking out, and this man became very angry."
Two days later, police arrested nearly three dozen people at a rally in St. Louis that was interrupted so many times by protesters that Trump joked about how long it was taking him to complete his remarks.
Hours before Trump was scheduled to appear Friday night at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the atmosphere inside a campus arena was crackling as protesters and supporters shouted back and forth, arms raised and yelling in each other's faces.
Some of the protesters, many of whom said they supported Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, said they planned to rush the stage when Trump came out to speak. They didn't get the chance, as Trump called off the rally before even getting to the venue.
"It feels amazing, everybody came together," said Kamran Siddiqui, 20, and a student at the school. "That's what people can do. Now people got to go out and vote because we have the opportunity to stop Trump."
The next morning, Trump was mid-speech when a man, later identified by authorities as Thomas Dimassimo of Fairborn, Ohio, jumped a barricade and rushed at Trump. He was able to touch the stage before he was tackled by security officials.
Trump initially laughed it off, but later in the day, said Dimassimo had ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Experts who watched a video Trump tweeted as evidence called the allegation "utterly farcical."
"Trump's accusations about it being linked to ISIS serve only to underline the totality of his ignorance on this issue," said Charles Lister, a fellow at the Middle East Institute.
At the Cleveland rally, more than a dozen officers on horseback patrolled the outside as police helicopters buzzed overhead. Hundreds of officers massed inside to block some exits and sweep the audience out after the event ended.
More than 50 protesters, including a pair of doctors who removed sweat shirts to reveal white T-shirts printed with "Muslim Doctors Save Lives in Cleveland," were told to leave.
Things weren't much different at Trump's evening rally in Kansas City, Missouri, where protesters interrupted the candidate throughout his speech. While he asked his supporters not to hurt them, a visibly annoyed Trump also said he was "going to start pressing charges against all these people." Police used pepper spray to disperse some of the protesters outside the venue.
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
