CHICAGO — Protesters claimed victory Friday night after Donald Trump canceled his rally at UIC Pavilion without ever taking the stage. GOP front-runner Trump got on CNN after the cancelation to explain why he made the decision, and it didn't take much longer for all remaining presidential hopefuls to weigh in.
Trump himself said, "Our freedom of speech was violated totally. We made a decision not to go forward. I don't want to see anyone get hurt. You would have had some people possibly getting hurt or beyond."
HILLARY CLINTON
The Democratic front-runner and Illinois native said at an event in St. Louis, MIssouri, "The ugly, divisive rhetoric we are hearing from Donald Trump and the encouragement of violence and aggression is wrong, and it's dangerous."
She added, "If you play with matches, you're going to start a fire you can't control. That's not leadership. That's political arson.
Clinton said Americans "on the left, on the right" are angry, and they are justified. But she insisted that a strong leader would not encourage violence.
"The test of leadership and citizenship is the opposite," Clinton said. "If you see bigotry, oppose it. If you see violence, condemn it. And if you see a bully, stand up to him."
TED CRUZ
Cruz, who also was campaigning in Illinois Friday night, blamed Trump as well as President Barack Obama for aggressive clashes at the Chicago rally.
"A campaign bears responsibility for creating an environment where the candidate urges supporters to engage in violence," Cruz said, referring to recent incidents in which Trump suggested protesters should be "roughed up" and "I'd like like to punch [that protester] in the face."
The Texas senator, who trails Trump in Illinois GOP polls, accused Obama for being divisive and using moments of crisis to stoke dissent.
"We can have genuine differences but can do so in a way that appeals to our better angels, not our worst," Cruz said.
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BERNIE SANDERS
"As is the case virtually every day, Donald Trump is showing the American people that he is a pathological liar," Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders said in a statement, denying Trump's claim that the majority of protesters were Sanders supporters. (Reporters at the scene observed many groups represented in the protest crowd, including Sanders supporters and also BYP100-affiliated groups, Latino/pro-immigrant groups, Muslim groups, UIC students of all colors, and people of all ages.)
"Obviously, while I appreciate that we had supporters at Trump's rally in Chicago, our campaign did not organize the protests," he said, adding that he condemned the violence and calling on Trump to ask supporters to remain peaceful. "What caused the protests at Trump's rally is a candidate that has promoted hatred and division against Latinos, Muslims, women, and people with disabilities, and his birther attacks against the legitimacy of President Obama.
MARCO RUBIO
“We settle our differences in this country at the ballot box, not with guns or bayonets or violence,” Rubio told Politico on Saturday.
“You wonder if we’re headed in a different direction today where we’re no longer capable of having differences of opinion but in fact now protests become a license to take up violence and take on your opponents physically,” he said. “This is what happens when a leading presidential candidate goes around feeding into a narrative of bitterness and anger and frustration.”
Rubio accused Trump of fostering a violent culture that had the country “careening toward chaos and anarchy.”
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