You seem to ask an honest question, and therefore I will try to give one guy’s honest answer.
The comments don’t change my mind, and I don’t think I have ever even been a terribly passionate Cruz supporter. I honestly am far more wary of giving the nomination - and perhaps presidency - to a man I sincerely see as a natural-born authoritarian with no historic evidence of underlying moral or philosophical conviction.
That is not to say the whole thing isn’t conflicting. Those protestors have no right to prevent free speech, or to accost, threaten, and bring harm to the person or property of a peaceful assembly. When I see the sort of thing I saw last night, I get angry and feel a tendency toward, let’s say, “countermeasure” myself.
But it is undeniable that Trump has sewn the seeds of such conflict. People have a right to defend themselves of course, and vigorously so. A leader should certainly not repress that right. But Trump has done more than affirm individual self defense and it is disingenuous of him now to play coy about his past words.
One should never blame a victim, but normally at Freerepublic, people don’t seem to shirk individual accountability either. Those organized, and possibly paid, protestors last night are accountable for the crimes and offenses they committed... But Trump taunted them and encouraged violence as a flippant way to fire up his crowds and seem tough. Personally, his toughness has always seemed more like a rich guy hiding behind his lawyers to me - I question whether he has ever thrown a real punch in his life - and I have long felt he has been playing with fire.
It is a pity, because he clearly understands and is tapped into the deep frustration that conservatives in this country feel. But rather than channel that into constructive action, he has just stoked the fires of passion into rage and offered no solutions. I truly wish he was less Tom Pain and more James Madison. But that’s not what he is.
I wish Cruz had maybe phrased it differently, and his tack does strike me as more opportunist than out of genuine concern for social order. Sometimes he annoys me like everyone else; he is not a perfect candidate. But he had a point, and as such did not change my mind.
er... meant “Paine”, not “Pain”. I wish I could blame autocorrect but I think I just was careless.