Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stated that the country is “so divided,” people are upset over “what’s been going on for years,” “we have to bring jobs back to this country,” and “experts, say this increases the vote for Trump” during an interview on MSNBC on Friday after cancelling his rally in Chicago.
Afteer stating that he cancelled the rally because he thought it was the safer thing to do and that he didn’t want to see anyone get hurt, Trump said, “We have a country that’s so divided that maybe even you don’t understand it. I’ve never seen anything like it. And this has been going on for years. And on one side you have people that haven’t been able — haven’t had a pay increase in ten years frankly, and the businesses are moving out of the country, and they’re upset and they’re angry. And the other side, you have people that feel differently about other elements. And it all comes together, and you see it all over. You see it here. You see it in lots of different locations. And there’s a lot of anger in the country. And it’s very sad to see, actually.”
When asked if he told his supporters not to engage with protesters, Trump stated, “I actually did that in saying that we’re going to postpone the rally. We actually said be peaceful and go in peace, and, for the most part they have, Chris.”
He continued, “[Y]ou have so much anger in the country. I mean, it’s just anger, in the country. And it’s not directed at — I don’t think it’s directed at me, or anybody. It’s just directed at what’s been going on for years. And it’s on both sides.”
Trump further said, “[W]e’ve had, for the most part, we’ve had, by far, the biggest rallies. Literally, we had over 25,000 people wanting to come today. And it’s incredible, when you look, and I’ve had many — I’ve had the biggest rallies by far, bigger than anybody, far bigger than [Democratic presidential candidate Senator] Bernie [Sanders] (I-VT) or anybody. And frankly, we’ve had very, very little disruption. We’ve some had protests where an individual would stand up, and they’d be whisked out, not a big deal. But, we have had very, very little protest. And we’ve had nobody hurt. And hopefully we can keep that going. That’s why I did this today. I don’t want to see people hurt, or worse.”
When asked about what he would say to the man who charged the podium in Chicago, Trump stated, “Well, I want to bring back jobs, Chris. A lot of — you talk about African-American youth, 58%, 59% unemployment rate. You have to bring back jobs. I’d be angry too. And I’m looking at him, and he looks like he’s an intelligent guy, but there’s a lot of anger. And frankly, we have to bring jobs back to this country. Our jobs are going to Mexico. Our jobs are going all over world. They’re going everywhere but here. You see Nabisco moving out. You see Ford moving out. You see Carrier moving out. Everybody’s leaving. And these kids are not getting jobs.”
Trump was then questioned on why, if people can’t get jobs, he told one protester to go get a job. He responded, “Because, frankly, he was very nasty guy. He was somebody that was giving us — he was very, very loud, very boisterous and he was swinging his fists. And he just looked to me like somebody that, frankly, maybe he did have a job. Maybe he didn’t. I don’t really know. But it was just something said.”
He later added, “[N]obody mentions the other side, Chris. There are two sides. Some of these protesters are very dangerous people.”
When asked how he thought this would impact the vote, Trump stated, “[T]wo people told me, that are experts, say this increases the vote for Trump. Because, you know what we’re doing, we had a peaceful rally here, and you’re not even allowed to have rally anymore in this country. So, we had a peaceful rally, and in order to make sure that nobody gets hurt, I said let’s postpone the rally.” He continued that this wasn’t why he cancelled the rally, rather, he cancelled because he doesn’t want people to get hurt.
After anchor Chris Matthews said that given where the event was, the outcome was predictable, Trump said, “It shouldn’t matter, whether it was — whoever lives in the city. I mean, it shouldn’t make a difference. Whether it’s white, black, Hispanic, it shouldn’t matter.”
He concluded, “[W]e shouldn’t be able to predict it. It shouldn’t — we really shouldn’t be able to predict it. … And it shouldn’t matter that we’re having rally in Chicago, or that we’re having a rally someplace else.” And “A lot of people are saying we did the right thing. In fact, we’re being given credit for it. And I just — I think it’s breaking up now, and it’ll be, it looks like it’s going be just fine.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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