I don't think it will lessen the support of his core voters. It just reinforces the beliefs that fueled their anger in the first place, including their sense that the left believes in free speech only for themselves, and that, to Bicicleur's point, things that are obviously true can no longer be said.
The question for me is whether these attempts to shut him down will so infuriate other Republicans (and cross over Democrats) that they will give him enough votes in the remaining primaries to get him the Republican nomination.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrljcmIyOuk
Up to now I thought he could be stopped since he was stalled at about 35% in the primaries and a good chunk of that was from cross-over Democrats (That's the insanity, imo, of having "open" primaries, where non party members can vote or register party affiliation on the day of the primary.).
If the anger over scenes like this works in his favor, he might defeat Kasich in his home state despite a 78% approval rating, and also Rubio in Florida, and he might then take the nomination given that the remaining states are ones where the winner takes all the delegates (no proportional representation) despite never getting above 40% of the votes cast.
@Boreas,
Please source your material. If that chart comes from Media Matters or The New York Times it's useless.
@Bicileur,
You're right. He offers no solutions. It's just slogans that appeal to the emotions of people who don't like what is happening to their lives and to the country in general and feel powerless to change it. He either doesn't know anything about the issues he's addressing, or the things he promises can't be done. One laughable example: when he was asked how he would handle some foreign conflict his response was that he's such a great negotiator that he'd just get everybody to agree. I mean, it's ludicrous. It's as if these people have suspended all logic. It's in this way that his campaign is disturbingly reminiscent of Hitler's. He's giving impassioned speeches that speak not to reason but to emotion, and those speeches can drive division and the scapegoating of minority groups.
That he's even running as a Republican is strange. He's been against second amendment gun rights, has been for universal health care, unlimited abortion rights, etc. He's a totally irreligious man with a string of divorces behind him. His knowledge of the Constitution could fit into a thimble, and he would probably appoint very liberal judges. The only issues on which he could be held to be on the right are support of the military and issues of national security and foreign policy. Well, he's also a supporter of capitalism, of course, and against socialism.
To be fair to him, I've never heard of anything to the effect that he's personally bigoted in any way against any "group", and he's a very known quantity here in New York: a lot of people have rubbed shoulders with him. I mean, his wives have been foreigners, his daughter converted to Judaism on her marriage, I don't think he gives a damn about anyone's sexual orientation, I've never heard of him exhibiting any racism etc.
I wonder if he really understands the kind of whirlwind he's unleashed. Most of his supporters wouldn't hurt a fly, but there's no denying that a minority of them hold opinions that would probably horrify him. That elicits a response from "bad actors" on the other side.
I honestly don't know how this will end. It's true that in the early primaries he got some support from a percentage of Hispanics(Mexican Americans) just based on economics and his promises to improve the economy (in Nevada, for example). We'll see if that continues as the rhetoric heats up. I'll tell you that the Hispanics around me, Puerto Ricans and Central Americans, the latter of whom all have illegals in their families, hate him like poison. It's a mistake to treat Hispanics as a monolithic block. I'll tell you another thing, if he comes to be viewed as some sort of white supremacist he'll go down and he'll trash the Republican Party in the process and then there will be no opposing force to extreme liberalism. There just aren't enough white people who would vote for him.
Another thing, the organizers of the protests are the moveon.org crowd, who are anarchists and/or communists, in my opinion, and black groups like "black lives matter".
........both guys blame specific groups in arrogant provocative speeches (which are new in the case of the USA never seen before) and promise to remove them from their society with the logo to make their countries great (again). They both preach hate wrapped in arrogance and sarcasm claiming popular movements from all spheres of society.
