Donald Trump and his line-up of deplorable warm-up speakers used their platform at Trump’s El Paso MAGA rally to bash teachers, the media, and anyone else who doesn’t agree with them. They worked the crowd into a frenzy, and one MAGA fan just couldn’t help himself, yelling, “Fuck the media!” and jumping onto a media riser to attack a BBC cameraman.
Here’s that moment:
Eleanor Montague@EleanorMontague
Just attended my first @realDonaldTrump rally where my colleague BBC cameraman Rob Skeans was attacked by a Trump supporter. The crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night #TrumpElPaso18.2K5:36 AM – Feb 12, 2019
NBC News has reaction from the BBC after the incident and Donald Trump’s reaction in real time as he watched the man being removed by security.
BBC cameraman Ron Skeans was, per a BBC spokesman, “violently pushed and shoved by a member of the crowd while covering a President Trump rally in Texas last night.”
“The man was removed by security and Ron is fine,” the statement continued. “The President could see the incident and checked with us that all was ok. It is clearly unacceptable for any of our staff to be attacked for doing their job.”
As the man was being escorted out of the arena, Trump asked, “You alright? Everything OK?”
Here are two additional angles from NBC. Note that the crowd began booing as the man was restrained and started chanting, “Trump! Trump!”
Here’s the moment a guy wearing a red MAGA hat jumped into the media pen and shoved several cameras, including ours, and yelled “F**K THE MEDIA.”
A reporter with Frontline America grabbed the guy and held him until security arrived and escorted him out.
Here’s another angle, after the @USAFrontline reporter had already grabbed the guy.
The crowd chanted “Trump! Trump!” Then the president looked at the media pen and asked, “You all right? Everything OK?” pic.twitter.com/Xsn30MrNPD3485:52 AM – Feb 12, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy
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Where is security? Why is it up to a PBS cameraman to remove this man from the media riser after he attacked another cameraman? In fact, in those angles, you don’t see a single security person escorting him out of the area; it appears to be another journalist.
Make no mistake about it, this journalist did not deserve to be attacked. The blame for this attack and any future attacks on members of the media falls squarely on Donald Trump. His inflammatory words are likely to spur additional MAGA fans to violence or even murder. It must be stopped.
