Fox News commentator and Washington Times editor Charlie Hurt made the case on the network Sunday that musician Travis Scott is responsible for those who were trampled at his concert Saturday night. It's a unique claim because it's one frequently made by liberals alleging that Donald Trump is responsible for the violence at his campaign rallies.
"But in fact, if this guy, Travis Scott, who has a record of trying to encourage his fans to rush the stage — if in fact — and all the videotape will be gone through. All the footage of people, you know, Instagramming and doing stuff off of their phones, it's all going to be looked through. If, in fact, he did that again, he should be locked up. And he should be sued for millions of dollars. He should be sued out of existence if he did this. This concept that there aren't consequences for the things you do and the things you say, especially in a crowded, boisterous, environment like this, it's, uh, it's really shocking beyond words."
The same argument was made when then-candidate Donald Trump told his supporters to attack protesters at his rallies.
"Get him out," he said of a protester in Warren, Michigan in Feb. 2016. "Try not to hurt him. If you do, I'll defend you in court. Don't worry about it."
At a Las Vegas rally earlier that month, Trump told the rally's security guards that they were too gentle with a protester. "He's walking out with big high-fives, smiling, laughing," Trump claimed. "I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you."
"If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell ... I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise," Trump claimed on Feb. 1, 2016. He never actually made good on the promise, however.
Three protesters who sued Trump after his supporters roughed them up in a March 1, 2016 rally in Kentucky, filing a federal lawsuit against him.
Trump then advocated the violence against reporters during a Montana rally in 2016: "Any guy that can do a body slam, he is my type!"
Ultimately, Trump then also told his supporters at the Jan. 6 rally that he was going to lead them to the U.S. Capitol, where he told supporters, "We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."
"Anyone you want, but I think right here, we're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them," said Trump. "Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated."
Others at the rally, like Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) told the audience, "American patriots to start taking down names and kicking ass."
Rudy Giuliani told the audience it was time to have "trial by combat."
Hurt didn't address whether his logic of Travis Scott extended to Republicans.
See the video below:
