Donald Trump urged his supporters not to “hurt” his political enemies, but made it clear that he issued the request for “legal reasons.”
While at a rally in New York Friday to support Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who is up for re-election in the midterms, Trump was heckled from the crowd. As the heckler was being taken from the stands, the president urged his supporters not to harm the person – but only so he could later point to the moment to prove his innocence.
“Don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him,” Trump exclaimed. “I do that for legal reasons. That’s a great thing to say, ‘Do not hurt him under any circumstances.’ And now I can say, I’m innocent.”
Shortly after the heckler was removed, Trump veered back to the subject. He marveled at how quickly vocal dissenters who showed up to shout at him were dealt with. Trump even implied they were handled in a violent way, which is why he again urged hecklers to not show up at his rallies.
“I tell people, please don’t do it. It’s dangerous,” Trump continued. “To do it in this crowd is not a good thing. Originally, I used to have a lot of that, the first couple months I’d have people screaming and they learned it’s just not a good thing to do. It’s sort of dangerous, and of course, I like things that aren’t dangerous. You don’t want to do it in a Trump crowd. I don’t like to see people get whacked. Don’t do it.”
Trump bobbed and weaved through several off-topic conversations during the rally at Rockford Community College. Among them were some of his greatest hits like attacking Joe Biden, voter ID, transgender athletes in women’s sports and his word of the day – the “Dumocrats.” Eventually, he found his footing on why he was at the rally, to promote a tax law he signed last year and bring Lawler onstage to back him for the midterm election.
“I cut your taxes, cut the taxes on workers, families, small business, who are the soul of this state,” Trump said. “These are all Republican tax cuts. The Democrats voted against every one of these tax cuts.”
