Trump Praises Police Crackdowns on Campus Protests

Holding his first campaign rallies since his criminal trial in New York City began, former President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged college presidents to take a tougher approach to protests over the war in the Gaza Strip that have swept across campuses and praised police action at the demonstrations.

Calling protesters “raging lunatics” and suggesting without any evidence that they were hired by liberal groups to draw attention away from the surge of migrants at the border, Trump commended New York City police officers who, in riot gear, arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University and cleared a building that they had occupied.

Speaking to supporters in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Trump called for similar actions at universities across the country.

“To every college president, I say remove the encampments immediately,” he said. “Vanquish the radicals and take back our campuses for all of the normal students.”

Both in Wisconsin and at a later rally in Freeland, Michigan, Trump promoted a strong a law-and-order message, even as he contends with a criminal case in New York in which he is accused of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal.

Trump, who on Tuesday was held in contempt and fined $9,000 for violating a gag order in the trial that bars him from attacking witnesses and jurors, criticized the order. He laid into the judge who fined him, calling him “crooked” and “conflicted” at both rallies.

“I have a judge who gags me,” Trump said. “I’m not allowed to talk about things. And nobody’s seen anything quite like it.”

Though he has made small campaign stops in New York City, Trump has in the weeks since his trial started been visible more as a criminal defendant than as a political candidate. A planned rally in North Carolina last month was canceled at the last minute because of weather.

Trump’s energetic demeanor at Wednesday’s rallies stood in stark contrast to the stern speeches he has given in the hallway outside the courtroom, and to reports from the court that depict him as dour, glowering or, at times, asleep. He bantered lightly with members of the crowd in both states and repeatedly expressed pride at the size of his crowds.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .