Trump Tells His Supporters ‘You Were Vicious, Violent, Nasty, Mean And Going Crazy’ During Election Campaign

While speaking to thousands of his supporters on Friday night at Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando, President-elect Donald Trump admitted for the first time that his supporters were “vicious, violent, nasty, mean… and going crazy” during the 2016 presidential election campaign. But he said that following his victory at the presidential election his supporters have turned “mellow.”

“You people were vicious, violent, screaming, ‘Where’s the wall? We want the wall!’ Screaming, ‘Prison! Prison! Lock her up!’ I mean you are going crazy,” Trump told a crowd of about 11, 000 supporters, according to CNN.

“I mean, you were nasty and mean and vicious and you wanted to win, right?”

“But now, you’re mellow and you’re cool and you’re not nearly as vicious or violent, right? Because we won, right?” he continued.

“Now you’re sort of laying back… you’re basking in the glory of victory.”

But soon after he described his fans as “mellow,” the crowd broke into prolonged “lock her up, lock her up” chanting.

Trump’s reaction to the chanting was, “Oh, that’s so terrible,” The Huffington Post reports.

Trump also railed against the media for “dishonest” coverage of the election. He accused the media of distorting the exit polls on Election Day, according to CNN.

He pointed to some reporters at the rally, saying “these very dishonest people.”

“They’ve written very dishonestly about all of us,” he added.

One miffed supporter who, according to CNN, had obtained a media pass from the Trump transition office, called for Clinton to be “waterboarded.” Another threw an empty water bottle at CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond, calling him “trash.”

A Trump supporter just threw an empty water bottle at me after @realDonaldTrump rally. Called me "trash."

— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) December 17, 2016

Observers noted that Trump’s remarks in Orlando were the first time he has admitted that his followers were “violent, vicious and nasty” during the election campaign. And his description of his supporters as “nasty, mean, violent and vicious” contrasted sharply which previous statements, while campaigning across the country, that his rallies were “the safest place on Earth.”

He also often referred to his rallies as a “love fest.”

But critics accused Trump of having instigated his supporters to violence on several occasions during the election campaign by calling openly for violence. Once, while campaigning in Iowa, he urged his supporters to “knock the crap” out of people protesting at his rallies, promising to pay the legal fees for supporters who assaulted protesters, as reported by The Washington Post.

Despite his statements, Trump blamed the violence that erupted at his rallies on “professional protesters,” claiming that the protesters were paid by his political opponents to disrupt his rallies.

There were several instances where Trump supporters assaulted protesters at his rallies and other instances where protesters assaulted Trump supporters. He also blamed “professional protesters incited by the media” for protests that erupted across the country after he won the election.

Some analysts suggested that Trump’s statement that his supporters were “vicious, violent, nasty and mean” during the election campaign was an attempt to address claims of alleged spike in hate crimes since he won the election.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqQe6uIHqxo

Critics claim that his campaign rhetoric, which disparaged immigrants and Muslims, incited hostile behavior toward minorities, especially after his election victory.

“Whether you are African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, whatever the hell you might be, we are all Americans and we are all united by one shared destiny,” he said.

He thanked his supporters for voting to elect him as president, saying that he and his campaign aides had thought they were going to lose the election. He added that he and his family were elated when the results showed they had won the critical swing states.

“We thought for about two or three hours that we were gonna lose,” Trump told the crowd.

He poked fun at mainstream media pollsters who predicted he would lose the election, saying they were “sweating and crying and throwing up all over the place” as the election results came in.

He went on to promise his supporters “to keep radical Islam the hell out of this country.”

He renewed the promise to drain the “swamp in Washington, D.C.,” and repeated that he would renegotiate NAFTA and withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to the Daily Mail.

Trump also promised to revive the country’s economic fortunes and stop American jobs from going abroad.

“To be a strong nation, we must also be a rich nation. A wealthy nation,” he said.

“Whether it’s exploring space or curing disease, we want the next generation of innovation and production to happen right here in America — and right here in our great state of Florida.”

“We’re gonna build safe zones in Syria… and we’re gonna get the Gulf states to pay for the safe zones,” he also promised.

[Featured Image by Willie J. Allen Jr./AP Images]