[Story updated 9:06 CST 11/6]
White House Press Pool reports that President Obama met a disabled child who had been kicked out of Trump rally.
Background: JJ Holmes, a 12 year old boy with Cerebral Palsy told his mother he wanted to go to a Trump rally to protest. He held up a Hillary Clinton sign. The crowd started chanting USA, Trump said to get them out of here, and the crowd got violent, kicking at his wheelchair as he retreated.
Today he met President Obama. Click here for more details of how the meeting happened.
The moral: Trumpland cannot tolerate dissent. Even from a disabled child and his family.
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After his speech, President Obama spent a moment with J.J. Holmes, a 12-year-old boy with a severe case of cerebral palsy who had been pushed out of a Trump rally Saturday in Tampa, Fla. A White House photographer snapped photographs of Mr. Obama shaking hands with J.J. and standing behind the boy’s wheelchair.
J.J. had gone to the Saturday rally to protest Donald J. Trump’s mocking of those with disabilities, he said. J.J.’s mother, Alison Holmes, brought her son, who speaks only through a computer vocalization device.
“The crowd started chanting ‘U-S-A’ and pushing his wheelchair,” Ms. Holmes said.
As Ms. Holmes spoke, J.J. said through his vocalization device, “I hate Donald Trump. I hate Donald Trump.”
Ms. Holmes looked down at her son with what seemed a mixture of pride and concern.
“We were put out by security,” she said. “Mr. Trump kept saying, ‘Get them out.’
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- Coverage of the rally: “Trump’s last gas rally” – Protesters get kicked out; it’s actually a mother and her children, one of whom who has cerebral palsy and worries what a Trump presidency would mean for people with disabilities. Supporters kick at the family, including the boy’s wheelchair, as Secret Service tries to escort them out.
- Caption for the photo reads: “After chanting for Hillary, Longwood’s Allison Holmes and her family, Lori, 27, Grace, 8 and 12-year old J.J., who has cerebral palsy, are ordered out of the arena by Donald Trump. Unable to speak, J.J. communicates through a monitor, Allison said it was J.J.’s wish to attend the rally as he is scared of what will happen to him and other disabled children if Trump becomes president.” KIMBERLY DEFALCO
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- Coverage of Obama’s meeting with the Holmes family.
- President Barack Obama met Sunday with a 12-year-old boy in a wheelchair who reportedly was kicked out of a Donald Trump rally a day before. J.J. Holmes, who suffers from a severe case of cerebral palsy, went to the Trump rally to protest the GOP nominee’s mocking of people with disabilities, according to his mother, Alison Holmes. “The crowd started chanting ‘U-S-A’ and pushing his wheelchair,” Alison said, according to The Washington Post. “We were put out by security. Mr. Trump kept saying, ‘Get them out.’ “As Holmes was speaking to a White House pool reporter on Sunday, her son said through his vocalization device: “I hate Donald Trump. I hate Donald Trump.”
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Yesterday, this young man was kicked out of a Trump rally. As he was leaving, people kicked at his wheelchair. Today, he met his President. pic.twitter.com/VI4g2tKANG
— Steve Schale (@steveschale) November 6, 2016
- I wrote about a mother and 7 year old disabled child being bullied at a Trump rally in Colorado in early October. They were “escorted from the rally for their own safety.”