Trump Supporter Punches 69 Year Old Woman Protester

As many in the GOP continue to deride Hillary Clinton for speaking the truth about many of Donald Trump's supporters and journalist continue to fabricate a false equivalency between Trump's foul behavior and statements to that of Clinton, a Trump supporter brought into clear focus the ugliness of the Trump base at a rally in North Carolina.  How?  Trump supporter Richard Campbell of Edisto Island, South Carolina,  cold cocked 69 year old Shirley Teeter, a woman who wears an oxygen mask to assist her breathing, and knocked her to the ground.  Seemingly, among today's GOP party based such conduct doesn't rise to the level of deplorable.    Once upon a time Republicans prided themselves of civility and some modicum of decorum.  No longer in the age of Trump where his rallies look like something out of early 1930's Germany or Putin's Russia.  Now, not only are minorities targets of violence, but so are  "uppity" women. A piece in Talking Points Memo looks at the telling circumstance.  Here are highlights:

I've gotten depressingly familiar with protester beatings at Trump rallies. In the 21st century perhaps the iconic trappings of politics will be the flag, motherhood, apple pie and revenge beatings. Let's hope not. In any case, here's a new case that ups the ante and still has the capacity to shock. 69 year old Shirley Teeter, who wears an oxygen mask and lugs around a tank to support it, was protesting outside a Trump rally in North Carolina when a feral Trump turned on her and punched her right in the face. Cold-cocked her, as Shirley put it.

Just to jump to a critical point: she seems bruised and a bit cut up but basically fine. Police now plan to arrest Richard Campbell of Edisto Island, South Carolina.

Shirley is apparently a lifelong protester. She told local reporters she participated in Civil Rights and anti-war protests in the 1960s. And now Donald Trump is among her list of people she's protested against. As she describes it, the early part of the protest was relatively good natured: Trumpers shouting, Trump, Trump, Trump; her crew would respond Dump, Dump, Dump.

Then this happened. I quote from Western NC's WLOS 13 ...

After the rally, Teeter experienced something she had never seen in all of her protests. Peace teetered over into something else.

"I said you better learn to speak Russian, and I said the first two words are going to be, ha ha. He stopped in his tracks, and he turned around and just cold-cocked me," Teter said.

She was punched in the face.

She says she fell on her oxygen tank and has sore ribs, a sore jaw, and cut her elbow. She later went to the hospital and is thankful she did not break any bones.

In case you're keeping score at home, this is the same rally where a Trumper inside the arena assaulted three other protesters. Police have so far made five arrests during and after the rally, not including the man they plan to arrest for assaulting Teeter. [S]eriously, why is there so much violence around Trump rallies? It's almost as if there's some violence somehow embedded in the message itself.

Sadly, there is violence embedded in Trump's message - and Pence is going right along with it - where minorities, gays and others are on notice that they are not "patriots" or "real Americans" and are targets for open physical attacks.  My Republican ancestors must be rolling in their graves over the foul stench that now envelops the GOP.  Trump and the GOP are normalizing the deplorable.