For the past 4 years, we’ve watched Barack Obama hide from any questions about violence and rioting, as a means to scare Americans into backing off in their fight against his radical leftist agenda. But that was 4 years ago, and much like in 1966 when Ronald Reagan was the Governor of California, we now have a President who respects our Constitution and the rule of law in America.

Last night, at the birthplace of free speech, we watched as rioters took to the campus of Berkeley College to shut down the free speech of gay conservative Milo Yiannopoulos. The speech was scheduled in advance, and police were aware that angry Democratic Party supporters and anarchists were likely to cause chaos and threaten the security of students who attended the event, as well as the guest speaker. After violent riots broke out, which included hundreds of rocks and firecrackers thrown at police, the event was cancelled. Yiannopoulos was rushed out of the building and taken to a place of safety. It’s important to note, that only 1 month ago, these violent riots would have likely been ignored by President Obama. But this is not 1 month ago. This is now, and now, we have a new sheriff in town. We have a President who respects the free speech rights of every American, whether he agrees or disagrees with them. We have a President who will not sit back and allow innocent citizens to be threatened by violent radicals who are breaking the law.

Here is an example of the violence that was exacted on innocent people who were interested in hearing the opinions and facts of scheduled presenter, gay conservative Milo Yionnopoulos:

President Donald J. Trump’s response to the violence and the shutting down of these peaceful American’s free speech rights was swift. He put essentially put all of Berkeley College on notice. Stop the violence and shutting down of 1st Amendment rights on your campus or possibly lose federal funding:  If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view – NO FEDERAL FUNDS?

UC–Berkeley, one of the top research universities in the world, receives $370 million in federal funds used for research funding. The University of California system as a whole receives nearly $8.5 billion in federal support.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/827112633224544256

Compare and contrast Reagan’s decision to address the unlawful behavior of the Berkeley protesters while he was the acting Governor of California in 1966:

In his 1966 campaign for California governor, Republican Ronald Reagan promised to “to clean up the mess at Berkeley.” Reagan was referring to the unrest prevalent not just at the University of California, Berkeley, but on college campuses throughout state. Students and faculty alike were engaged in protests, demonstrations, and strikes related to issues such as the draft, civil rights, discrimination, and women’s liberation.

In one 1966 campaign speech, Reagan declared that many leftist campus movements had transcended legitimate protest, with the actions of “beatniks, radi­cals and filthy speech advocates” having become more to do “with riot­ing, with anarchy” than “academic freedom.” He blamed university administrators and faculty, who “press their particular value judgments” on students, for “a leadership gap and a morality and decency gap” on campus, and suggested a code of conduct be imposed on faculty to “force them to serve as examples of good behavior and decency.”[1]

Six months after Reagan took office in 1967, he wrote this letter to Glenn Dumke, the chancellor of San Francisco State College, one of California’s largest public institutions. Dumke served as the public face of the state college system, and he was a staunch opponent of radical student and faculty demonstrations. In his letter to Dumke, Reagan criticizes liberal activism on campuses. He condemns “these people & this trash” on campuses as well as ”the excuse of academic freedom & freedom of expression” in allowing protests and demonstrations to go on. “We wouldn’t tolerate this kind of language in front of our families,” Reagan writes of campus protesters. He urges Dumke to “lay down some rules of conduct,” promising that “you’d have all the backing I could give you.”

HERE IS THE TRANSCRIPT OF REAGAN’S LETTER: