Unruly protester shakes up Trump’s campaign event in Pennsylvania

Among the many news stories from the holiday weekend wad one from the former president's August 30th rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania that saw the former president deride the American media just minutes before a protestor attempted to storm the media section at the rally. 

CBS News reporter Taurean Small was at the campaign rally and tweeted the details of what happened during the event. “Just now: a protester was ejected after hopping the press fence, jumped up onto the riser at Trump’s PA rally,” Small’s explained. 

Photo Credit: X @taureansmall

“​​Video of the incident. Security in the press pen grabbed him first before he was taken down by law enforcement,” Smalls added. Vanity Fair reported that less than 10 minutes before this incident, Trump went off on the New York Times. 

Photo Credit: X @taureansmall

Trump reportedly ranted about the New York Times and claimed that the news outlet was losing “reader after reader” according to Vanity Fair. This was a situation that the former president said was something he was happy about. 

“I have to be happy about that,” Trump explained before going on to say that they were truly “the enemy of the people.” He added: “They are the enemy of the people. They tell false stories about me—that’s all they do is they write false stories.”

Vanity Fair also noted that earlier in his speech, Trump went after CNN and he criticized the news organization for its interview with the Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. 

“It was a very weak interview from the standpoint of CNN. I think CNN should be ashamed of themselves,” Trump explained. 

The Los Angeles Times reported that it was not immediately clear what motivated the male who tried to storm the press section of Trump’s Pennsylvania campaign rally but it did note the incident came just moments after Trump’s comments about CNN. 

Photo Credit: X @taureansmall

The man made it over a barrier that was ringing the press section and began climbing a riser. Onlookers attempted to pull the man down and police eventually joined in the struggle before the protestor was tased and subdued according to The Los Angeles Times. 

Photo Credit: X @taureansmall

“Is there anywhere that’s more fun to be than a Trump rally?” the former president said following the incident to cheers of the crowd. 

Senior Trump Campaign Advisor Danielle Alvarez talked about what happened and was quoted by several media outlets as saying, “Witnesses, including some in the press corps, described a crazed individual shouting expletives at President Trump.”

Photo Credit: X @taureansmall

“His aggression was focused on the president and towards the stage as he entered the press area,” Alvarez added according to PBS News, which added that Alvarez did not identify the witnesses she was talking about or say more about the man who was shouting. 

The Police Chief of Johnstown, Richard M. Pritchard later confirmed that the man had been arrested and would be released. The man’s identity was withheld when he was charged according to the Los Angeles Times. 

Photo Credit: X @taureansmall

The Los Angeles Times also reported that the unknown man is facing “misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and disrupting a public assembly.” But the incident hits at the heart of a bigger problem. 

Anti-media sentiment has become a reoccurring aspect of the former president’s rallies and it is possible that his comments could have incited the man to attack the media or it is possible Danielle Alvarez’s account may be true, which changes the incident. However, we should reserve any judgment until we know what happened. 

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