On Thursday morning, Donald Trump took angrily to Twitter to lash out at the University of California at Berkeley for cancelling a scheduled talk by Breitbart Senior Editor Milo Yiannopoulos.
The campus is on lockdown after a series of passionate and occasionally violent protests against Yiannopoulos’ planned speech.
Related: Everyone Is Pissed At OUT Magazine For Profiling Bigot Milo Yiannopoulos
As The Washington Post points out, Trump’s tweet takes a stance that Berkeley is blocking free speech, but his post can be interpreted as a roundabout, indirect message of support for Yiannopoulos and his extremist views:
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“If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view — NO FEDERAL FUNDS?” Trump writes:
If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view – NO FEDERAL FUNDS?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
As you probably know, the staunchly right-wing Breitbart website was founded by Stephen K. Bannon, who’s now one of Trump’s key advisers.
32-year-old Yiannopoulos goes to great lengths to brand himself as a sort of “free-speech fundamentalist” locked in fierce battle with “political correctness.”
On Facebook, he touts himself as “the most fabulous supervillain on the Internet.”
Related: ABC Reporter Calls Gay Trump Supporter Milo Yiannopoulos A “13-Year-Old Idiot”
Last year, Twitter banned him for a series of tweets that targeted African-American actress Leslie Jones.
“The event has been canceled,” he wrote on Facebook. “I’ll let you know more when the facts become clear. One thing we do know for sure: the Left is absolutely terrified of free speech and will do literally anything to shut it down.”
A statement from Berkeley emphasized that it went to “extraordinary lengths” to work out the logistics of the event, working with Berkeley College Republicans, adding security in the form of 12 additional police officers, and laying down various crowd-control measures.
But officials claim that about 150 “masked agitators” stormed the demonstration and set fires, tossed molotov cocktails and rocks, and attacking members of the crowd, leading to their ultimate decision to cancel the talk altogether.
Campus officials said in a statement “they regret that the threats and unlawful actions of a few have interfered with the exercise of First Amendment rights on a campus that is proud of its history and legacy as the home of the Free Speech Movement.”
KaiserVonScheiss
Protests? I think you mean riots.
Mo Bro
Indeed. Protesters don’t set fires and chant for the death of those with whom they disagree.
Mo Bro
Ironic that the open-minded, tolerant hipsters at Berkeley—the birthplace of the free speech movement—can’t handle free speech.
(did I say “ironic”? Oops—I meant “totally predictable tantrum coming from spoiled children who can’t fathom an opinion that differs from their own indoctrination”)
inbama
Hipsters?
How the heck old are you?
James
Yeah right, neo-nazis from England can come to America and we are supposed to tolerate them but it is OK to hate and harass muslim refugees.
dwes09
Actually white boy, it was about 20-30 black clad anarchists among around 2000 peaceful protesters (though you guys have no use for facts). But as a straight man one would expect you to support Yiannopolous. After all he is against marriage equality, wants us back in the closet and in fake marriages to women, wants women as baby factories and kitchen wenches, and hates hates himself as much as possible without resorting to suicide.
mhoffman953
@dwes09 Why do you consistently call people “white boy” in a condescending fashion in several comments you post? Imagine if someone who didn’t agree with your opinion started off by saying “gay boy” or “old man”, it would be taken as being used in a negative manner. So why do you bring down someone due to a trait they cannot control (that being the color of their skin)?
Plus to claim only the black clad anarchists (which CNN claims there were 150, not 20-30), doesn’t seem like you watched any of the Youtube videos from last night. There were college students not clad in all black looting a Starbucks and smashing the storefront windows.
There may have been peaceful protesters in with the rioters, but that still doesn’t make what any of the rioters did as acceptable.
dwes09
@mhoffman953 I refer to “mobro” and “neonegro” as “white boy” and other things because given their comments it is clear they are misrepresenting themselves as black, or are getting some sort of charge from opposing the self interest of black people. And yes, it is quite condescending, intentionally so. They lack critical skills as so many regressives do (and as medical research demonstrates they do).
I do not consider youtube videos as indicative as anything. They are not vetted, and there are are any number of ways they could easily be misrepresenting what they claim to be (perhaps you need remedial help with both critical analysis and parsing contemporary media!). My statement is based on reports by the local media here in the bay area who are much more likely to report local events accurately than FOX, CNN or any other national news.
And (in keeping with my notion that you lack critical skills as well) where EXACTLY do i even imply that I agree with anarchists or looting or think their actions are acceptable. I simply pointed out the the overwhelming majority of the people who were there were peaceful, and that national news is not as reliable as local sources. “If is bleeds, it leads” as they say.
Milos is an idiot and a tool, and personally I would like to see his lame ideas broadcast as far as possible. His 15 minutes will be over sooner that way!
dwes09
Regarding this: “They lack critical skills as so many regressives do (and as medical research demonstrates they do).”
Any number of surveys over the years have implied that conservatives were driven by emotion and fear, while progressives were driven by intellectual stimulation, factual material and novelty. Recently, several experiments using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imagery have supported this hypothesis with brain scans. Decisions made by conservatives/very religious were driven by the limbic system (the “lizard brain” responsible for emotion, fear, past memories… ). By contrast those made by progressives, including the religious preceded by more action in the more recently evolved parts of the brain controlling intellect and logic. This is believed to be trained early in life, and not genetic, as the brain is very plastic.
The anecdotal observation that progressives here tend to cite facts and question assumptions while regressives here tend to be snarky and emotional in the content of their posts supports this hypothesis. Of course there are any number of conservative intellectuals, but they are mostly fiscal conservsatives and social liberals (TRADITIONAL republicans vs tea party/evangelical/regressive types).
mhoffman953
@dwes90 You said “I refer to ‘mobro’ and ‘neonegro’ as ‘white boy’ and other things because given their comments it is clear they are misrepresenting themselves as black”
So are you saying all black people have to think alike? Isn’t that a racist inference? Liberals don’t own black people or their thought process. There can be black conservatives, gay conservatives, transgender conservatives, etc.
To say that a black person’s views misrepresent black people or that Milo Yiannopoulous misrepresents gay people is absurd. You’re starting to infer that all of these segments of society must think alike and like you otherwise something is wrong with them, which you seem to hint at with your unfounded brain study (which was done in the UK and only tested 90 people and considered unfounded by others in the neuroscience field).
Additionally, as far as my statement that you seem to excuse the actions of the anarchists, it does come across that way. When Mo Bro criticized the protesters who hail from the birthplace of the free speech movement, you were quick to tell him that it was only “20-30 anarchists among 2000 peaceful protesters” as if because there were fewer violent protesters as compared to idle witnesses, it shouldn’t be a big deal. Whether that was your intention or not, that’s how it came across when you resorted to stating numbers.
Also you claim you prefer to rely on your local bay area news for the facts versus other news organizations, which is fine, but you should pay attention to your local news which says there were 150 masked anarchists and not 20-30 (http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Trump-update-Protest-at-UC-Berkeley-prompts-10902945.php). Please stick to facts and don’t fudge numbers to fit your response. Which news source told you there were only 20-30 anarchists?
Out of the 2000 peaceful protesters, which you allege were there, how many actually did something to stop the violence, assault on women, destruction of property, and attacks toward law enforcement? Did ANY of those idle witnesses stop the violent ones by forming a human barrier to stop the destruction of property?
Mo Bro
@dwes09:
Never said I was black, as you contend. I’m biracial. Don’t have any idea why you think I’d fabricate such a thing. Very proud of my heritage.
Mo Bro
@inbama:
I’m 22, why? Are you implying that “hipster” is an old word used only by aging hippies? Allow me to edify:
“hipster: HIP-ster, n; a person who follows the latest trends and fashions, especially those regarded as being outside the cultural mainstream”
Mo Bro
Also:
Aren’t we in the alphabet community supposed to embrace and support gays and immigrants (labels which both apply to Mr. Y)? Or does that only apply to liberals gays and liberal immigrants?
And if so, does that mean you object to conservative Muslims immigrating here? Or is that too radical a concept to consider?
Ah, the conflicted plight of the politically correct.
Charlie in Charge
Nope, let’s be done with this PC nonsense about Milo Y. He is a Nazi dirtbag and we don’t need to join hands and sing Koombaya with Nazi dirtbags.
James
Obviously you voted for trump.
dwes09
No. We are supposed to struggle for equal protection under the law, and the rights/safety for all live our lives unmolested as Christian Heteros (like you) live your lives unmolested. Do you actually think anybody here believes you are “part of the alphabet community” you disparage so consistently?
Milos is like the court adviser who cuts off their own balls so as not to be threatening to the ruler. He goes to great lengths to be the fag the alt right (like you) expect him to be. He is usually accompanied on campus by National Socialist recruiters (the breitbart & storm front crowd looking to capitalize on the hatred of ignorant white folks like you for sexual and ethnic minorities), and followed by increased violence towards minorities.
dwes09
Also:
There is no “conflicted plight” among progressives. Unlike you we do not need to ignore reality to sustain our ideology. Nor do we need to misrepresent our identities on comment boards.
You must despise black people.
Mo Bro
@Charlie in Charge:
He’s not a Nazi, Charlie. “Nazi” is just a buzzword recklessly thrown around by liberals, much like the word “r@cist.” Have you really not figured this out by now?
Charlie in Charge
Oh this is coming from the guy who throws around the word “hipsters.” Milly is white nationalist scum – there is that better?
1EqualityUSA
Whenever Mr. Trump rolls out some social cyclone, turn your eyes to Russia. Friendship medals and access to deposits, a leverage against other suppliers? Saudi Arabia had threatened our economy before Congress passed the 9/11 bill. I can’t find any articles, as to whether or not they followed through on their threats. Imagine the economic threat we could pose with huge, fat oil deposits in Russia and the Antarctic. Whenever there is a blatant attack on inalienable rights, or singling out a group for special legal treatment, or the cutting of funding to this and that, look for news of Russia. Is Putin taking advantage of a fractured Europe? I bet a guy with a friendship medal pinned to his Big & Tall jacket will create a win/win, once those pesky sanctions lift. Watch Rex Tillerson whenever social upheaval grabs headlines here, at home. Russia’s entire economy is less than the State of California. This will change. Bully & Tough will see to it.
JAW
Very sad what happened.
I hate what milo stands for, but I believe he has the first amendment right to say it.
Funny thing is… Had he been allowed to speak, none of us would have had a clue that he tried. For a few to take his right to speak, only gave this sick man a bigger platform. Once again a few people that do not have the balls to show their faces gave the far right more talking points and energy.
James
First amendment right. OH PLEASE, HE IS NOT EVEN FROM THIS COUNTRY. He is an international nazi troll who came to this country to spread hate. BAN HIM FROM AMERICA.
Xzamilloh
If you’re Milo, this is the kind of coverage that wet dreams are made of. Absolutely ridiculous that so-called free thinkers act like petulant children when dissenting opinions are presented. Who cares what Trump is saying? The Left is becoming the Right, and that is a scary thing to witness.
Charlie in Charge
Well if we want people to think freely and express themselves then that also means protesters who want to show their opposition to that garbage pile Milo. If he was stupid enough to roll on up into Berkeley and preach his special brand of acidic nonsense, well… we’ve never accused him of being especially bright.
Xzamilloh
No… that’s the problem. He wasn’t stupid. He was well aware that this would happen because trolls know how to troll. If you want to get him at his game, come with arguments, not with violence and fascism-lite actions like attempting to shut down his arguments with force. How is it that the ones claiming his words incite hate react with hate? His “acidic nonsense” is just that… nonsense. So what better way to go at him than to expose whatever flaws in his logic there are? All you’re doing is saying he was asking for it, which is something you would NEVER say if a liberal found themselves being attacked for their opinions.
There’s also a difference between peaceful protesting and causing anarchy to get your way. That’s what kids do
James
OH PLEASE, HE IS NOT EVEN FROM THIS COUNTRY. He is an international nazi troll who came to this country to spread hate. BAN HIM FROM AMERICA.
Xzamilloh
Hoooookay, James. You have a good one.
mhoffman953
@James I think we got the idea the first 10 times you spammed that message. Besides, where do you get complaining because someone isn’t from America? Are you xenophobic, James?
dwes09
Much like Ann Coulter he neither debates nor discusses. He bullies and deflects. He counters fact with and statistic with anecdote and falsehoods. So engaging him is pointless. Ignoring him as you suggest is a much more successful tactic. However, his presence incites violence from the right, and of course from the far left/anarchists. Their actions garnered much more media attention (except here in the bay Area) than the peaceful protesters who outnumbered them by almost 100 to 1. Black clad people tossing small explosives are much more attractive to the press than peaceful crowds.
mhoffman953
The title of this headline is misleading. I wouldn’t say Trump (like many others) are mad that Milo couldn’t hold his event but were instead mad and outraged at the response to the event which resulted in violence, people getting bloodied and beaten, massive fires being set, and the destruction of tons of nearby businesses.
If this is how that college acts towards a gay speaker, then they should lose federal funding for research and grants
James
OH PLEASE, HE IS NOT EVEN FROM THIS COUNTRY. He is an international nazi troll who came to this country to spread hate. BAN HIM FROM AMERICA.
dwes09
We don’t do that here, unless you are part of the Trump camp. then you try and ban the left, not the right.
natriley
Isn’t Yiannopoulos the guy who goes around saying I’m gay but I’m not proud of it. Personally, I think this a plot by the anarchists to give Yiannopoulos market power so he can collect 5 figures for giving a speech. Perhaps this apologetic queer paid the anarchist to fight him.
Kieran
We must ask the question: What role does homophobia play in this violent reaction to a gay conservative?
Xzamilloh
None at all is the answer. Whether he were gay, female, black, trans, or any other minority or combination of the like, he doesn’t conform to the regressive left’s talking points and therefore he is fair game. Larry Elder is treat the same way, more or less, because he is a conservative who has no problem calling it like he sees it.
inbama
Actually, Nelly Vomitopolous is a woman-hating trans-basher who laughs at her own lame jokes.
Heck, you don’t have to agree with everything the Gender-Obsessed crowd says – Lord knows I don’t – but Nelly is an embarrassment to any gay man who knows how many brilliant minds have shared our sexual orientation.
James
What a dumb question. You apparently voted for trump.
dwes09
As noted abive, none. He is one of the most homophobic folks you might ever come across. He is against marriage equality, feels gay men should marry women as they were forced to in the past and stay in the closet. He is kind of like the eunuch that speaks for the emperor in ancient times. Not a man, gets his emotional charge from creating anger and dismay.
This is not a person with any sort of ethics.
Kangol
Zilcho. He could be straight as lightning rod and still would provoke this response because of his repellant writings. I disagree with the silencing and shutting down of a dialogue, though. Firecrackers is one thing, but torching trees and public university facilities is a terrible way to go.
James
Thanks protesters for getting rid of that neo-nazi from England who only came to America to spread hate. BAN THIS CREEP FROM AMERICA.
Mo Bro
I thought liberals were AGAINST the immigration ban.
Apparently it’s okay to ban gay Jews, though, if you disagree with their politics.
Liberal logic at its finest.
Kangol
I abhor Milo Y but I don’t agree 1) with shutting down his right to speak or 2) the attendant anti-fascist violence. I mean, I understand the passion, but instead, challenge him and his repellant, wrong-headed ideas to his face. Let him speak, and challenge him directly. Also, given the severe funding cutbacks California’s public universities had to endure until Jerry Brown became governor and the Democrats gained control of the state legislature, please don’t destroy the Berkeley campus, people. It is one of the greatest public research universities not just in the US but in the world.
Juanjo
The usual trumpanzees and queerty trolls are out in force making stupid comments. The UC Berkeley administration and student body are not the ones who perpetuated this act. The group that did this is an extremist group of roughly 100 to 150 people who are very well organized and operate using some very specific tactics. They were not students and in fact one of the men interviewed form this group was a 40 year old form San Jose, almost 70 miles away from Berkeley.
Milo is a disgusting little troll but he is entitled to express his bull shit as much as anyone else is. There were over 2000 student who had been peacefully demonstrating against Milo’s little neo-Nazi road show prior to the violent group’s coordinated assault. These guys started their little attack at 6 pm precisely from different parts of the plaza, engaging in a coordinated series of actions.
dwes09
The local news here (SF) put the number of extremists/anarchists at 25-30. They noted that they were well organized, uniformly dressed in black, and well armed with small explosives (firecrackers, fireworks, flash bang grenades and so on) and fire bombs.
Sad that the republican student group invited his as he has nothing of substance to say.
Chris
I lived through this once before. Anti-war protests got nit picked by our so-called elders, while the stuff that led to the protest was ignored. Sort of like what people are posting on this forum.
And we had to deal with agents provocateurs who threw the first stones and incited others to riot.
But you know what? Eventually vast numbers of this nation agreed with us. So yeah, kept protesting people. Don’t worry about the naysayers. The tides of history are against them.
dean089
Funny, back in my day college was the place where you’d be exposed to all sorts of ideas, beliefs, and concepts. Apparently the poor little dears these days are too fragile to be exposed to anything with which they don’t already agree.
Doug
I applaud the protesters who stopped this speech and wish I’d participated. Yiannopoulos is an attention-seeking hate-monger who will do whatever it takes to stay in the limelight. He’s well liked by straight people who want others to think they’re tolerant of gays but actually despise them. Apparently he praises Trump for deportations but his slimy ass stays in this country… it’s doubtful the UK would want someone like this back. I’m ashamed that this man represents even a very few of us. This is a man who will be praising the current administration even after they taken away all the rights we’ve fought so long for.
ChrisK
I think he just plays well with their bigotry. Yeah, I’m a fag that hates fags just as much as you do pretty much sums him up. Uncle tom wouldn’t even be enough to describe this asshat.
1EqualityUSA
Anarchists showed up. 150 dressed in black.
woodroad34
Der Fuher diktats whom ve can like unt not!
Snapper59
He purposely put Berkeley as the final stop of his college tour because he knew how they’d act. Now he’s got a book coming out in March, he’s become more famous because of Berkeley and is doing Fox and CNN, and his book has so many pre-orders that I read on release in March 2017 it will enter the NYT Bestseller list at #1.
Good job, good job. Really shut him down. LOL. He probably settled for 250K from his publisher Simon and Shuster because he knew next book they’d offer over a million.
ppp111
That’s what some of my co-workers and I have been saying. He already knows the environment in that particular campus. He probably didn’t even have any kind of speech ready since he knew it would be canceled.
DCguy
Awwww, look at the wounded little snowflakes crying over poor Milo not speaking at Berkley.
Here’s an idea for the anti-LGBT Log Cabiners. When you pretend to care about a school shooting HALF as much as you care about a protester burning a trashcan I MIGHT believe that you’re halfway sincere.
Stilinski26
Umm yeah his book is back at the best selling list on Amazon. and he is getting lots of media coverage so jokes on you
Xzamilloh
Nah, I’d say the wounded little snowflakes are the ones throwing a tantrum and setting shit on fire because of Milo being invited to speak at Berkeley. Porque no los dos? Why can’t people care about school shootings AND rioters literally torching free speech? These identity politics are just a lazy attempt to box someone’s opinion into a neat little box that you can dismiss. Oh, he’s a Log Cabin Republican? Screw him… he’s awful, so anything I say or do is morally justified because I have deemed them awful.
With that said, not much Log Cabiners say is good, but not everything people you’re against say is worth dismissing because it’s contrarian to your own ideology. That’s why Milo should have spoken… people need to be exposed to new ideas instead of living in echo chambers
jar
Xzamilloh: You have encapsulated the entire issue. Lazy reactionary thinking based on identity politics.
Stilinski26
This was not a protest this was a riot! they were attacking random people who weren’t even part of these whole circus. A man was lying unconscious on the floor after being beaten by a steal pole in his head!
trusgold
That is bullshit. Get these to speak out so we can see live what an ass clown they are. He just makes Liberals look better.