An avid Donald Trump supporter named Andy Dean found humor Thursday in another Trump fan under arrest for assaulting a black protester at a North Carolina rally, saying it was pretty neat a 78-year-old could throw a punch like that.
Appearing on CNN, Dean also pushed back against panelist Tim Miller's discussion of the suspected assault by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski on Tuesday of Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, calling it "a lie" and defamation.
CNN host Brooke Baldwin played video of a 78-year-old Trump supporter sucker-punching a black protester leaving the event in Fayetteville, and Baldwin reminded viewers that Trump had joked that protesters should be sent out on stretchers and he'd personally like to punch them.
"Should Mr. Trump denounce the violence at his rallies?" Baldwin asked.
"Well, first, that guy's 78 and throwing a punch like that ... At his age, we must say that is very, very interesting," Dean said.
"I'm not giving him credit for throwing a punch," Baldwin said.
Dean charged that liberals were showing a lack of respect at Trump's rallies, and he said that even though Trump is "a very powerful man," he couldn't control everyone in his crowd.
"He can't control a 78-year-old man who, at that age, that looks like good exercise," Dean said. ‘He's 78. It's somewhat impressive."
Miller, seated next to Dean, looked on in disbelief and said that kind of talk was the "Trump culture." He then brought up the allegations against Lewandowski. According to multiple reports, Lewandowski grabbed Fields' arm as she tried to approach Trump for a question on Tuesday and ripped her out of the way, leaving a bruise and Fields in tears.
Dean didn't let Miller finish his thought, saying, "That's not accurate. That is a lie."
"That is an outright lie," he said. "That is dangerous ... That is outlandish and downright defamation."
Bizarrely, Lewandowski reportedly said to Breitbart reporter Matthew Boyle that he didn't recognize Fields and instead thought she was a member of the "adversarial mainstream media," an acknowledgment the incident took place. But on Thursday, he fired off a series of tweets accusing Fields of being an attention-seeker.
Michelle Fields is an attention seeker who once claimed Allen West groped her but later went silent. https://t.co/J86Ej42eYx
— Corey Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) March 10, 2016
Daily Caller reporter assaulted by NYPD during ‘Occupy’ protests -- professional reporting or attention seeking? https://t.co/FqOQQMvNcy
— Corey Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) March 10, 2016
Conservative commentator S.E. Cupp said she was disgusted by the panel's whole conversation.
"No one likes violence," Dean said.
"Well, Donald Trump always talks about back in the good old days, we would have knocked that guy out," Cupp said. "He does. He encourages it."
"But he'll also say that we shouldn't do that," Dean said.
In a season of awful cable news segments, this one certainly ranked high.
According to Miller, Dean needed a booster seat for the segment.
@DavidRutz fun fact he asked for a booster seat since I was taller than him. These trump guys are so tough
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) March 10, 2016
Miller called Dean out for it earlier in the segment, saying he tried to look tough but needed a booster seat in order to seem taller. Dean replied that he had "big hands," an apparent reference to the Trump-Marco Rubio spat about hand size last month.
It's been a great election season.