I’ve gotten depressingly familiar with protester beatings at Trump rallies. In the 21st century perhaps the iconic trappings of politics will be the flag, motherhood, apple pie and revenge beatings. Let’s hope not. In any case, here’s a new case that ups the ante and still has the capacity to shock. 69 year old Shirley Teeter, who wears an oxygen mask and lugs around a tank to support it, was protesting outside a Trump rally in North Carolina when a feral Trump backer turned on her and punched her right in the face. Cold-cocked her, as Shirley put it.

Just to jump to a critical point: she seems bruised and a bit cut up but basically fine. Police now plan to arrest Richard Campbell of Edisto Island, South Carolina.

Shirley is apparently a lifelong protester. She told local reporters she participated in Civil Rights and anti-war protests in the 1960s. And now Donald Trump is among her list of people she’s protested against. As she describes it, the early part of the protest was relatively good natured: Trumpers shouting, Trump, Trump, Trump; her crew would respond Dump, Dump, Dump.

Then this happened. I quote from Western NC’s WLOS 13 …

After the rally, Teeter experienced something she had never seen in all of her protests. Peace teetered over into something else. “I said you better learn to speak Russian, and I said the first two words are going to be, ha ha. He stopped in his tracks, and he turned around and just cold-cocked me,” Teter said. She was punched in the face. She says she fell on her oxygen tank and has sore ribs, a sore jaw, and cut her elbow. She later went to the hospital and is thankful she did not break any bones.

In case you’re keeping score at home, this is the same rally where a Trumper inside the arena assaulted three other protesters. Police have so far made five arrests during and after the rally, not including the man they plan to arrest for assaulting Teeter.

Now here’s the kicker that makes me absolutely love this woman. She’s a 69 year old woman in apparently poor health (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). She gets punched hard in the face, knocked down and bruised. She gets driven home by the police. But damn, Shirley pops right back up and she’s on message. Here’s the kicker at the end of the article.

After the interview, Teeter called News 13. She wanted to add one more thing, a question. She asks if people find a Trump supporter punching her in the face deplorable.

How can you not love that?

But seriously, why is there so much violence around Trump rallies? It’s almost as if there’s some violence somehow embedded in the message itself.

(Photo credit: Matt Price, Fairview)