CNN’s Sara Murray recounted some of the scarier moments she’s experienced while following Donald Trump as an embed for the network Monday, including a couple unpleasant encounters with Trump rallygoers and the car she traveled in.
In a piece titled “Anger unleashed: On the trail in Trump’s America,” Murray paints a bleak picture of Trump rallies where protesters and supporters clash with each other and with security. She also details how it feels to be in an environment where the press is so virulently hated.
“Time and time again, I have seen Americans from both sides of the aisle fail to treat one another with respect and dignity,” Murray wrote. “I’ve watched them fail to treat one another as human beings.”
Murray recounts one moment when Trump called her out and mocked her at a rally, adding that when the press enters a rally the attendees boo them and flip them off. Murray said that in response, she just smiles.
“It didn’t happen in a vacuum. The anger and emotion against the establishment —whether that meant politicians, the press or the financial elite—didn’t build overnight,” she wrote.
But there have been times, she said, that the rallygoers’ displeasure turned into action. Murray said that someone tampered with the cables of a CNN live truck during New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s Trump endorsement in February, and that her team struggled because the cables were cut twice.
Murray also said that someone followed her producer to CNN’s car at an event in Florida, and when the two emerged from that event later, the car had been keyed.
Despite this, Murray said she finds small ways to keep her faith in humanity going—like when she landed in Cincinnati and passengers watched in reverence as a fallen soldier returned.
“Amid the chaos of that Trump rally, all I could think about was that solemn moment the night before,” she wrote.
“That’s the kind of country we want to be,” she continued.
Who would follow her? Have you seen her? Rigged. Sad.
Donald J. Trump
The anger at the establishment. Okay, I get that. I usually think of the more extreme displays of anger as the voice of the voiceless (ie riot is the voice of the unheard).
But… but… when the leader of this movement is a guy born into wealth, loaned vast sums of $ to start him on his way, followed by more and more of Dad’s money, and all the best and most privileged from a guy who’s had no problem getting himself heard, the anger at the establishment does not make sense.
False equivalence much?
I appreciate that Trump goons victimized her; that’s un-American, dangerous, and illegal.
But Clinton 45 doesn’t call out and mock reporters at rallies.
And her attendees don’t boo and flip off the press.
Or vandalize their vehicles.
Why can’t cable news report anything without saying “both sides do it”?
They just can’t help themselves…
I like people who key cars; they’re winners. People who let their cars get keyed are losers.
But I have a plan to defeat ISIS. Know more than the generals.
Donald J. Trump, Sr.