This story barely caused a news ripple:
Protesters clashed with Donald Trump's employees Thursday as the staffers tried to move and take signs from anti-Trump protesters....
Video shows security staff ripping signs away from demonstrators, causing a tussle with pushes and punches.
That's from local news station NY1; Gothamist's story was a bit more direct:
Video: Trump's Top Security Guard Hits Protester In The Face
One of Donald Trump's security guards punched a protester in the face outside of Trump Plaza yesterday -- in front of a large crowd of reporters -- during a protest coinciding with Trump's official pledge of loyalty to the Republican Party. Many of the protesters were Latino, demonstrating against Trump's track record of racist anti-immigration comments.
Here's the video:
The story is already fading from the headlines. But can you imagine the consequences if a member of Hillary Clinton's security detail punched a white anti-immigration protester?
The right-wing media would turn the protester into a household name. There'd be more than a hundred segments about the punch on Fox News within a couple of weeks of the incident. An activist right-wing legal organization would announce that it was taking on the protester's case and planned to sue the Clinton campaign for millions of dollars. The protester would claim severe injuries -- far beyond what would seem reasonable given the nature of the incident. (Recall Kenneth Gladney, who briefly landed on the ground during an altercation with supposed "union thugs" at a 2009 demonstration; he was later regularly seen in a wheelchair, and was wearing a neck brace two years later when his alleged assailant was found not guilty of misdemeanor assault charges.)
And it wouldn't just be the vast right-wing conspiracy piling on. Maureen Dowd, Ron Fournier, Chuck Todd, and other mainstream journalists and pundits would furrow their brows and declare that the incident embodied several regrettable trends in Hillary World: an unwillingness to engage with the public; an obsession with control; a reckless disregard of the law. All this raises troubling questions.
Whereas with Trump it's just an awesome rich celebrity using thick-necked tough guys to protect his rich celebrity awesomeness. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Crossposted at No More Mr. Nice Blog
