At a town hall meeting in Racine, Wisconsin, on Monday, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) praised Donald Trump for commending the Antifa protesters in Boston last weekend, calling the event a “peaceful” protest.
“I actually think what [Trump] did two days ago in commending the peaceful protests against the hate in Boston was a good start,” Ryan said at the town hall, which CNN hosted.
Ryan also approved of what Trump said in his prime time remarks on U.S. strategy in Afghanistan going forward when the president alluded to the violent protests in Charlottesville this month.
“And I think just what I heard, I don’t know, 25 minutes ago, was exactly what a president needs to say and what we needed to hear,” Ryan said.
“So I do believe that he messed up in his comments on Tuesday, when it sounded like a moral equivocation, or at the very least moral ambiguity, when we need extreme moral clarity,” Ryan said.
“The soldier understands what we, as a nation, too often forget that a wound inflicted upon a single member of our community is a wound inflicted upon us all,” Trump said in his nationally televised remarks on Monday. “When one part of America hurts, we all hurt. And when one citizen suffers an injustice, we all suffer together.”
“Loyalty to our nation demands loyalty to one another,” Trump said. “Love for America requires love for all of its people.”
“When we open our hearts to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice, no place for bigotry, and no tolerance for hate,” Trump said.
“The young men and women we send to fight our wars abroad deserve to return to a country that is not at war with itself at home,” Trump said. “We cannot remain a force for peace in the world if we are not at peace with each other.”
As Breitbart News reported, a crowd of an estimated 40,000 “anti-fascist” protesters gathered in Boston to protest a free speech rally that drew a few dozen people.
Police confirmed they arrested 33 on Saturday, mostly for disorderly conduct and assaults on police officers, ABC reported.
ABC also reported police stopped three people with ballistic vests and a gun. “But,” Police Commissioner William Evans said, “We were lucky to get those three out of here and confiscate the vests.”
At a news conference, Evans said that urine-filled bottles were thrown at officers, and police indicated on Twitter that some demonstrators were throwing rocks at police, according to ABC.