Source: Chicago Tribune

Rose Hamid is a middle-aged Muslim who in January went to a Donald Trump rally in Rock Hill, S.C. Wearing a hijab and a T-shirt with the message, “Salam I come in peace,” she stood during his speech, silently registering her disagreement with his anti-Muslim sentiments. The angry crowd began screaming abuse, and she was immediately removed by police.

Donald Trump is outraged that his free-speech rights were abridged last night when the presence of thousands of opponents caused him to call off his rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has a point: If the opponents intended to shout him down and make it impossible for him to present his views — which is plausible, though not proved — they were guilty of trampling on the spirit of the First Amendment. Trump has a right to communicate, and his listeners have a right to hear him. People who try to prevent that deserve to be evicted.

But his fondness for free expression is highly selective. Hamid wasn’t violent or even disruptive. She was peacefully and quietly making her faith known at a political event. But that was too much to be tolerated. She had to go. Other activists who had the nerve to merely hold up signs at Trump rallies have had them ripped from their hands. Protesters have been pushed, kicked, punched or spit on. For some reason, this is not a common feature of rallies held by Hillary Clinton or Ted Cruz.

Trump has also made clear his bilious contempt for journalists covering his campaign — even though their activities are explicitly protected by the First Amendment. “During every speech, he spends a couple of minutes pointing at the press pen and lambasting the media, a schtick that invariably provokes applause and jeers from the crowd,” Olivia Becker of Vice News reported last month.