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Editor’s Note: Issac Bailey has been a journalist in South Carolina for two decades and was most recently the primary columnist for The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. He was a 2014 Harvard University Nieman fellow. Twitter: @ijbailey The views expressed are his own.
Story highlights
Issac Bailey: Black students ejected from Trump rally; it fits pattern of selective bigotry Trump shows in campaign
He says Trump supporters ignore behavior of their frightened-bully candidate as he repeatedly kicks minorities to curb
CNN
—
Law enforcement removed a couple of dozen black students from a Donald Trump rally at Valdosta State University in Georgia on Monday. And while we don’t know who ordered it or why they did it, it is becoming increasingly clear that the GOP front-runner’s use of sometimes veiled, sometimes overt selective bigotry is the reason the incident has become more than just the latest “protesters get kicked out of campaign event” story.
You can’t play footsie with David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, and dance an “I don’t want to be associated with them” but “No, I don’t have enough information about them to denounce them” two-step, and then get to run away from the consequences, no matter how often your numerous supporters defend you.
It is true that people get thrown out of campaign rallies all the time, mostly because they are shouting down the candidate or being rowdy. But at Trump rallies, like one in North Carolina, a Muslim woman wearing a hijab and standing silently got kicked out, too. That makes sense, given that Trump wants to ban Muslims from entering the United States, and a sizable chunk of his voters want Islam banned altogether. That’s the religion of 3.3 million people in the United States.
Stephen B. Morton/AP/CNN
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images/CNN
Nati Harnik/AP/CNN
Scott Olson/Getty Images/CNN
Scott Olson/Getty Images/CNN
In his interview with CNN's Dana Bash, Donald Trump lashes out at a lawyer who had requested a break to pump breast milk in the middle of a deposition.
CNN
Donald Trump: His own words
The sad irony is that none of those supporting Trump because he “tells it like it is” or “isn’t politically correct” or is “tough” seems to notice that the man who was honored to have been praised by Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is so weak that he can’t withstand criticism of any kind. He quickly becomes a bully, or gets others to do his dirty work, when he’s frightened by someone who doesn’t simply fall in line.
His supporters can’t see that the man they are willing to follow off a cliff is little more than an insecure, scared little boy, as evidenced by his constant Twitter rants and obsessive name-calling, targeting anyone who dares challenge him. He is like a middle school bully who tries to strike fear into the hearts of adversaries with childish taunts, because he wants no one to know he has a glass jaw.
But for the Republican Party, looking at what happened at Valdosta State University – with those black students being ejected en masse – the optics couldn’t be worse.
What started out as the summer of Trump soon turned into the autumn of Trump, and as 2015 comes to an end, Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican field of presidential candidates.
Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
An image of Trump is seen on the Las Vegas Strip on December 14. Las Vegas was hosting a CNN presidential debate.
ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Trump pretends to sleep December 7 as he references fellow candidate Jeb Bush at a Pearl Harbor Day Rally in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. It was here that Trump read a press release calling for a "complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" in light of the San Bernardino terror attacks.
Sean Rayford/Getty Images
A group of Muslim-Americans rally in front of New York's Trump Tower on December 20 to protest Trump's proposal to ban Muslims.
Kena Betancur/Getty Images
British newspapers showcase reactions to Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. An online petition to ban Trump from entering Britain garnered more than 300,000 signatures.
Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images
Trump was in the running for Time magazine's Person of the Year and was not pleased when German Chancellor Angela Merkel was selected instead. Alongside a profile on Trump, the publication published a behind-the-scenes video of a photo shoot from August. The video featured blooper-reel moments with Trump's co-star of the shoot, a bald eagle named Uncle Sam. The eagle ruffles its feathers, startling Trump.
Time Magazine footage
Trump flips his belt buckle while slamming fellow Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson during a 95-minute tirade on November 12. Trump mocked Carson's story that as a boy, he once tried but failed to stab someone only to have the knife broken by a belt buckle. "So I have a belt: Somebody hits me with a belt, it's going in because the belt moves this way. It moves this way, it moves that way," Trump told the crowd in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
CNN
Trump appears in a parody of Drake's "Hotline Bling" video while hosting "Saturday Night Live" on November 7. The episode brought in an average of 9.3 million viewers -- the show's biggest audience in years.
NBC/Broadway Video
Members of Latino organizations march from the Trump Tower to NBC studios in New York to protest Trump's "Saturday Night Live" appearance on November 7.
Getty Images/Andrew Renneisen
A Trump supporter stands across the street from the Latino protest in New York on November 7.
Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
A man holds a copy of Trump's newest book, "Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again," while he waits to have it signed by Trump outside Trump Tower in New York on November 3.
Kena Betancur/Getty Images
Trump invites Colombian-born super fan Myriam Witcher on the stage during a campaign rally in Las Vegas on October 8. "I am Hispanic and I vote for Mr. Trump. We vote for Mr. Trump!" Witcher exclaimed.
Isaac Brekken/Getty Images
Trump speaks during the campaign rally in Las Vegas on October 8. During the rally, Trump said people were giving him credit for helping force House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to bow out of the race for Speaker of the House.
Isaac Brekken/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
Trump is greeted on stage by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a fellow Republican presidential candidate, before speaking at a Washington rally organized by the Tea Party Patriots on September 9.
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images
Trump asks an audience member to inspect his hair to verify it's real during an event in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 27.
CNN
Trump takes a question from Univision and Fusion anchor Jorge Ramos during a press conference at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa, on August 25. Earlier, Trump had Ramos removed from the room after the two squabbled over Trump's immigration stance. "Sit down. Sit down. Sit down," Trump said, adding, "Go back to Univision."
Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
Laci Lamb, 6, declares Trump "awesome" and cheers at a Trump rally in Mobile, Alabama, on August 21. Her mother, Annie, made her outfit. "He's the best candidate we've had in a long time," Annie Lamb said.
Melissa Golden for CNN
Trump greets fans after the Mobile rally, where more than 30,000 supporters from deep-red Alabama gathered in a football stadium.
Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images
Trump speaks with reporters after arriving at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines on August 15. Trump gave children rides on his helicopter.
Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images
Trump eats a pork chop on a stick and gives a thumbs-up sign to fairgoers while campaigning at the Iowa State Fair on August 15.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Trump fields a question during the first Republican presidential debate, which was held August 6 in Cleveland. Following the debate, Trump launched what would become an ongoing feud with Fox News host and debate moderator Megyn Kelly, tweeting and retweeting attacks against Kelly into the early hours of the morning.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Trump takes a break from the campaign trail and visits his golf course Turnberry in Ayr, Scotland, with his daughter Ivanka on July 30.
Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
Trump talks to the media along the U.S.-Mexico border during a trip to Laredo, Texas, on July 23. This is where Trump first premiered his "Make America Great Again" hat.
Matthew Busch/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
Trump gives out U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham's private cell phone number at a rally in Graham's home state of South Carolina on July 22. He urged attendees to "give it a shot" and call it. The two presidential candidates engaged in a feud in which Graham called Trump a "jackass" and Trump called Graham "a total lightweight."
A Trump pi?ata is set up inside Lorena Robletto's shop in downtown Los Angeles. Pi?atas in Trump's image became hot sellers following outrage and anger over his rhetoric about Mexican immigrants.
Trump poses with his family after he announced his candidacy June 16 at Trump Tower in New York. Pictured with Trump, from left to right, are Trump's son Eric Trump, daughter in-law Lara Yunaska Trump, son Barron Trump, wife Melania Trump, daughter-in-law Vanessa Haydon Trump, granddaughter Kai Madison, son Donald Trump Jr., grandson Donald John Trump III, and daughter Ivanka Trump. Trump called for erecting a massive wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and said Mexican immigrations are 'bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."
Christopher Gregory/Getty Images
The year Donald Trump took politics by storm
I came into this election cycle arguing that there was one GOP candidate, Rand Paul, who could chip away enough black voters to seriously challenge Hillary Clinton in the fall, because of his clear stance on confronting racial disparities in the criminal justice system. The party quickly tossed him aside and seems on the verge of choosing Trump instead, possibly handing him an insurmountable delegate lead Tuesday night.
Trump’s campaign claims it had no knowledge of those black students being thrown out of the rally. Even if that’s true – a claim that, as we have learned, should not automatically be believed – Trump’s decision to become a racial demagogue to win votes and increase his influence has guaranteed that those closest to him – his enforcers – would have gotten that message one way or another.
Trump didn’t have to directly order those students removed because they were black – because he’s spent the past several months finding inventive ways to kick minorities to the curb anyway.
