A reportedly drunk Trump supporter shoved a BBC cameraman last night at the Trump rally in El Paso, Texas.
The cameraman said the attack came from his blindside and that it was pretty hard, according to The Daily Wire.
There isn’t video of the attack itself, but you can see the camera shake and then you see this idiot wearing a MAGA hat cursing the cameraman while his MAGA friend restrains him:
This is the shameful moment when my cameraman Ron Skeans was attacked by @realdDonaldTrump supporter in El Paso – after the President repeatedly goaded the crowd over supposed media bias. Happily Ron is fine #TrumpElPaso pic.twitter.com/F3pv04fRBg
— Gary O'Donoghue (@BBCBlindGazza) February 12, 2019
You can hear the crowd shouting “GET HIM OUT” over and over at the interruption.
The BBC acknowledges that Trump saw what happened and asked the cameraman if he was okay. After a thumbs up from the cameraman, Trump resumed the rally.
Obviously something like this should never ever happen and it does sound like the Trump campaign needs to add better security around the media.
The Trump campaign put out a statement suggesting the man was swiftly removed by law enforcement, but the BBC reporter said that’s not true:
I’m afraid this statement from the Trump campaign does nothing to address the security lapses at President Trump’s rally in El Paso last night when our BBC colleague was attacked. There was not swift action to prevent or interrupt the attack by any security agency. pic.twitter.com/657TXv5KKH
— Paul Danahar (@pdanahar) February 12, 2019
I’ve written to @PressSec asking for a full review of security arrangements for the media after last night’s attack on our BBC cameraman at the President's rally. Access into the media area was unsupervised. No one in law enforcement intervened before, during or after the attack.
— Paul Danahar (@pdanahar) February 12, 2019
The White House has responded to the incident:
WH Press Secy Sarah H. Sanders Statement after attack on BBC camera crew
“President Trump condemns all acts of violence against any individual or group of people – including members of the press. We ask that anyone attending an event do so in a peaceful and respectful manner."
— Paul Danahar (@pdanahar) February 12, 2019
she added "For questions around security at Trump campaign events please contact the campaign directly.”
— Paul Danahar (@pdanahar) February 12, 2019
Thankfully the cameraman wasn’t harmed and the drunk idiot was restrained by someone. I would think stationing one police officer in the area of the media would take care of this problem. Even if someone were so bold, an officer would be right there to remove and arrest the idiot. And it would give the media some ease of mind.
But honestly I do think the media will make more out of this than what it deserves. The BBC reporter is already indirectly blaming Trump for this in his report, twisting Trump’s ‘enemy of the people’ accusation and what not. But the one thing the media never does is blame the media, when they are mostly to blame for the ill-will they get from everyday Americans. Like 99% to blame. Seriously.