--- title: GOP Debate: Donald Trump Says His Protesters Are 'Bad Dudes' description: Donald Trump said he does not think he has inspired any of the violent actions at his rallies. "I hope not, I truly hope not," he said canonical: https://time.com/4255142/donald-trump-protesters-violence-rallies/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-11T03:50:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T16:29:28.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump on Violence at His Rallies: Protesters Are 'Bad Dudes' og:description: "They have done bad things" og:url: https://time.com/4255142/donald-trump-protesters-violence-rallies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a90bf7f4fbaf191/69888a9abc6cfced403dc1ae/trump_debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4819 og:image:height: 2711 og:image:alt: Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican candidates debate in Miami og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump on Violence at His Rallies: Protesters Are 'Bad Dudes' twitter:description: "They have done bad things" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a90bf7f4fbaf191/69888a9abc6cfced403dc1ae/trump_debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump on Violence at His Rallies: Protesters Are 'Bad Dudes' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=1e7f454d-6728-43a1-a505-ce7af418db63&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:29 PM UTCPublished: Mar 11, 2016 3:50 AM UTC  Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican candidates debate sponsored by CNN at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida, March 10, 2016. Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican candidates debate sponsored by CNN at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida, March 10, 2016. Carlo Allegri—Reuters  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:29 PM UTCPublished: Mar 11, 2016 3:50 AM UTC At the Republican debate Thursday night, Donald Trump was asked about the [violence at his campaign rallies](http://time.com/4254801/donald-trump-protest-violence-video/?xid=tcoshare). Just one night before, a man was arrested for punching a protester in the face at a Trump event. Trump said he does not think he has inspired any violent actions. “I hope not, I truly hope not,” he said. But Trump also seemed to obliquely defend his supporters who have resorted to violence, saying that it comes from a place of anger about the state of affairs in the country and that the protesters sometimes bring it on themselves. “People come with tremendous passion and love for the country… and when they see what’s going on in this country, they have anger that is unbelievable,” Trump said. “They don’t like seeing bad trade deals, they don’t like seeing higher taxes, they don’t like seeing a loss of their jobs.” “We have some protesters who are bad dudes,” Trump continued. “They have done bad things. They are swinging, they are really dangerous, and they get in there and they start hitting people.” There has not been a documented case of protester on supporter violence at Trump rallies, and Trump did not offer specific evidence for this claim. \[time-galleryid=”4138761″\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4255142/donald-trump-protesters-violence-rallies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4255142/donald-trump-protesters-violence-rallies/"},"headline":"Donald Trump on Violence at His Rallies: Protesters Are 'Bad Dudes'","datePublished":"2016-03-11T03:50:18.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T16:29:28.000Z","description":"\"They have done bad things\"","url":"https://time.com/4255142/donald-trump-protesters-violence-rallies/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a90bf7f4fbaf191/69888a9abc6cfced403dc1ae/trump_debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a90bf7f4fbaf191/69888a9abc6cfced403dc1ae/trump_debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican candidates debate in Miami","caption":"Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican candidates debate in Miami","creditText":"Carlo Allegri—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4255142/donald-trump-protesters-violence-rallies/","name":"Donald Trump on Violence at His Rallies: Protesters Are 'Bad Dudes'"}}]}] ```