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Tuesday, 12 November 2019

'Alt-right' trolls target Turning Point USA again as Donald Trump Jr. walks out of book launch at liberal university after constant heckling

Donald Trump Jr. walked out of his Sunday appearance at the University of California, Los Angeles, after an unruly mob of purported "alt-right" activists heckled the president's son off the stage, demanding a Q&A session.


What are the details?

Trump Jr. appeared at the university for a launch of his new book, "Triggered: How The Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us."

About 450 people were in attendance at the event — which was moderated by Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk — many of them chanting, "USA, USA!"
According to The Guardian, Trump Jr. — who appeared with his Trump adviser girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle — refused to take questions during the event due to time constraints. Trump Jr. also said that taking questions from the audience ran the risk of creating misconstrued soundbites that would end up distorted on the internet.
The chants of "USA!" eventually turned into chants of "Q and A!" before Guilfoyle called out the protesters for being rude. "We are happy to answer a question. Respect the people around you so that they can hear."

When it seemed like the protesters would not let him get a word in edgewise, Trump left the stage about 20 minutes into the event, which was scheduled to span two hours.

According to The Washington Post, Trump Jr. initially appeared to believe that the shouts were coming from leftist protesters.
"Name a time when conservatives have disrupted even the furthest leftist on a college campus," he reportedly told the crowd. "It doesn't happen that way. We're willing to listen."

One of the audience members then reportedly shouted, "Then open the Q&A!"
"See what I mean?" Trump Jr. fired back. "And that is the problem. And the reason oftentimes it doesn't make sense to do the Q&A is not because we're not willing to talk about the questions, 'cause we do. No. It's because people hijack it with nonsense looking to go for some sort of sound bite. You have people spreading nonsense, spreading hate, trying to take over the room."

Who are these people?

Several outlets report that the hecklers were the same "alt-right" trolls who had dogged Kirk, disrupting and sabotaging at least one previous event that was moderated and sponsored by Turning Point USA.

Nick Fuentes, a 21-year-old white nationalist activist who hosts a podcast called "America First," Salon reports, called the protest a "HUGE victory," and seemed to take credit for the disruption. Fuentes — who is sometimes known as "Nazi Nick" — is also a self-described white supremacist and holocaust denier.
Fuentes wrote that he and his "group" didn't have a particular issue with Trump Jr., but did take issue with Kirk.

"Our problem is not with [Trump Jr.] who is a patriot — We are supporters of his father!" Fuentes wrote on Twitter about the incident. "Our problem is with Charlie Kirk's TPUSA organization that SHUTS DOWN and SMEARS socially conservative Christians and supporters of President Trump's agenda. We are AMERICA FIRST!"
Fuentes also blasted Kirk for being a "fake conservative."

"Charlie Kirk is a FAKE CONSERVATIVE that promotes the LGBT agenda, supports immigration policies that hurt the American worker, and says that America is simply a worthless 'placeholder,'" he wrote. "Kirk was virulently anti-Trump until we won the nomination. He is hurting MAGA!"

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