'I say this with no joy whatsoever, but the far-left agitators in Cleveland will make the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago look like a fourth-grade slap fight,' said an Ohio Republican.
Nearly half of GOP insiders in key battleground states — many of whom will be in attendance — believe there’s a good chance violence will break out around next week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
That’s according to The POLITICO Caucus: a panel of swing-state operatives, activists and strategists. Forty-eight percent of Republican insiders said the odds are high that there will be violence at the convention that is likely to nominate Donald Trump, compared with 52 percent who thought the convention would be a mostly peaceful affair.
“Given the tenor of the campaign trail so far this year, coupled with rising social unrest, it is bound to spill over,” said one Iowa Republican, who, like all respondents, completed the survey anonymously. “It's really more a matter of how bad it will get.”
“The reaction and counter-reaction to the resurgent identity politics gripping the country’s politics make at least some clashes and mayhem a near certainty,” added a North Carolina Republican.
For the GOP insiders most concerned about violence in Cleveland, many cited protest groups tied to liberal causes, like the Black Lives Matter movement. Nearly a half-dozen Republicans mentioned the Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros, who is a prolific donor to liberal causes. But few thought violence would ensue from an effort to fight Trump’s nomination on the convention floor.
“It’s simply too big of a target for the malcontents and violent left to miss,” said an Iowa Republican. “George Soros’ money will pay for thousands of disaffected screaming thugs. Think Seattle [1999], Chicago 1968. Riots and looting. They are the tools of the liberal left.”
“I say this with no joy whatsoever,” a Republican in the host state of Ohio added, “but the far-left agitators in Cleveland will make the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago look like a fourth-grade slap fight.”
More: GOP Insiders Brace For Violence At Republican Convention
Well, we Democrats certainly hope Republicans have an "exciting" convention.
