Trump Criticism Unfair

The criticism hurled at Donald Trump  over violence that erupted in Chicago on Friday, including lecturing by his GOP opponents, shares the same goal as the violence, itself — to silence him.

That is the view of veteran Republican strategist Ed Rollins and conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly, both of whom appeared on “The Laura Ingraham Show” on Monday.

“It’s not the fault of Trump,” said Schlafly, who has endorsed Trump’s bid. “In fact, Trump is the one who discovered what is the big issue of the country today — and it’s immigration. They’re bringing in all these people who don’t believe in America … There’s nothing about his tone that incites people to violence.”

Schlafly, founder of the Eagle Forum, said she endorsed Trump over Ted Cruz because she does not believe the Texas senator can overcome the real estate mogul’s delegate lead.

“We’re tired of this bunch of losers,” she said. “We want to pick someone who’s a winner … Somebody has challenged them (Establishment insiders) for the first time, and I think that’s a good thing. We want the grass roots to get the candidate they want, not somebody who the kingmakers have picked for us. Because, as I say, they’ve given us a whole bunch of losers.”

Rollins, who managed Ronald Reagan’s re-election campaign in 1984, concurred. He said the disturbance that led Trump to cancel a planned rally in Chicago was the work of professional agitators who will employ those tactics all the way through the primaries to the Republican National Convention in Ohio this summer.

“He’s not setting this thing off, and I think it’s unfair to say his supporters are doing it,” he said. “Moveon.org is out there, to create chaos. And they’re going to do it every place they can. They’re going to do it in Cleveland. And we just have to be prepared for it and not, basically, blame ourselves.”

Journalist and historian Jon Meacham agreed with Ingraham that the Chicago incident likely would have been played differently if tea party members had tried to drown out a liberal speaker.

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“Everything’s a big mess, and I think the shoe-on-the-other foot point is a very good one,” he said. “You know, what would everyone think if there had been this kind of moment for a Democratic speaker? I think that’s a totally fair point to make.”

But Meacham said Trump needs to rise above the anger that is fueling his campaign.

“What a great political leader, left or right, will do at this point is acknowledge the existence of the anger and then try to manage it in a way that we get to the root causes,” he said.

Rollins said Democrat Hillary Clinton is the “best opponent in the world” for Trump to run against. But he added the Republican front-runner has to expand beyond his current core.

“I would to say to Trump, ‘Be very careful and, basically, start talking about substance,’” he said. “‘’You’ve got this thing wrapped up. You’ve basically pounded your message forward. You’re a strong leader. And now let’s talk about substance … It’s a game of addition. You’re not going to win with a small group. You’ve got to basically broaden your base.'”