Ben Carson said Monday that anti-Donald Trump protesters face “a real possibility of escalation” in confrontations with the real estate mogul’s supporters.
The retired neurosurgeon who endorsed Trump last Friday after suspending his own presidential bid defended Trump supporters in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show, after protests shut down a Trump rally in Chicago the previous Friday.
“If the protesters continue with their (Saul) Alinsky-like tactics, there is a real possibility of escalation,” the famously soft-spoken Carson warned.
“Because those who are the victims have two choices: They can submit to them meekly, just do whatever those protesters want them to do, or they can fight back. If they decide to fight back, there could be an escalation.”
Carson also criticized anti-Trump protesters for infringing on his supporters’ First Amendment rights.
“The problem is that there are those who are being taught that if somebody disagrees with you, you have the right to interfere with their First Amendment rights, their ability to express themselves, their freedom of speech. That’s where the emphasis needs to be.”
And Carson attributed the turbulent episodes at Trump rallies to the deep anger animating the electorate, saying, voters are “really more at a place where Donald Trump is, because they’re so frustrated, and they’re angry, and they’re tired of people trying to manipulate them.”
“I think you’re seeing a magnetic phenomenon going on here, because (Trump) actually represents where people are.”