Left-wing Protester at RNC: We Need to 'Turn Up' the Rhetoric; Attempted Assassination Was 'Theatrics'

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — A left-wing protester participating in the “March on the RNC” outside the Republican National Convention on Monday told Breitbart News that the left needed to turn up its rhetoric, not turn it down.

Sue Bastion, from Bend, Oregon, came to Wisconsin because of what she called a “moral imperative” to protest. She was part of a throng of some 1,000 protesters — including anti-Israel radicals, communists, and anarchists — who marched peacefully outside the Fiserv Forum, where Republicans have gathered to nominate former President Donald Trump, to welcome new running mate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), and to promote conservative policies.

Bastion walked alongside fellow left-wing activists as they chanted anti-Republican, anti-capitalist, and anti-Israel slogans.

Asked whether the left needed to tone down its rhetoric in the wake of the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in Philadelphia on Saturday, Bastion said, “I think it was all theatrics.”

She said that people should not “tone down” the rhetoric: “Republicans are never going to turn down the rhetoric; we need to turn ours up.”

Pressed as to whether she would condemn Saturday’s assassination attempt, she was somewhat evasive, saying that the U.S. was itself guilty of many assassinations, before finally saying that she did not agree with assassination.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.