Noonan: Trump’s ‘Cavalier, Careless’ Rhetoric Creating Opening For Protesters ‘Havoc’

Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Wall Street Journal columnist and former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan Peggy Noonan said the protests and violence at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rallies are a result of Trump being cavalier and careless when telling his supporters to punch protesters in the nose, which Noonan pointed out is giving organized protesters an opening to create “havoc.”

Partial transcript as follows:

NOONAN: Seeing the past few days, especially last night in Chicago, the disruptions, the yelling, the pushing, the violence surrounding the Donald Trump rally, and inside it, even though he wasn’t there, he cancelled, he said for safety reasons. Look, I think there are two big reasons this is happening and — and one victim group that hasn’t been mentioned. Two reasons it’s happening, Trump is cavalier and careless in his references to punch him in the nose. I wish I could punch him in the nose. If you punch him in the nose, I’ll pay your bills. That’s bad. That’s kind of immature. That’s not knowing that — that America is always a country that when it’s gathered and political passions can start throwing punches. So that’s the first part.

Second part is, there are anti-Trump groups that are opportunistically moving on the fact that he’s given them this opening with his wild statements and they’re coming in and they’re causing their own havoc and they’re pushing people around. That’s not good. The — and we always have to remember, this is America, you have a right to come together. You have a right to have a rally, you have right to free speech to gather. It seems to me, on a forgotten victim group here is the peaceful people who want to go see Donald Trump and, you know, get him unfiltered, get a sense of who he is, decide who they’re going to vote for. They must have been frightened last night. They saw people pushing and tearing placards out of each other’s hands. It’s too bad. I know people who have gone to Trump rallies, they’re just curious, normal people and want to get a look at it.

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN