A Muslim college student in Kansas says he and his friend were attacked Saturday by a man who called them "brown trash" and chanted in support of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
Khondoker Usama, 23, is student body vice president at Wichita State University and originally from Bangladesh. He said he and his friend, who is Hispanic, were getting gas early Saturday when they noticed a man in his 20s or 30s yelling racial epithets at a black man and accusing him of being a "lazy ass."
The guy then turned his attention to the students, shouting about how Trump will win the election, according to Usama.
"You want to live in this country, you better leave," the man reportedly told Usama and his friend, according to The Wichita Eagle.
More from The Washington Post on what allegedly ensued:
Usama said his friend replied: "It's my country. Who the hell are you to tell me, 'Go home?'" The man pushed Usama's friend and said, according to Usama: "Say that again." Usama's friend pushed back.
Then, Usama said the beating began. "He seemed to be looking for a fight," Usama said. "… The man started punching my friend. My friend dodged the first punch. I got in the middle of them -- I told my friend to get back in the car. [The man] pushed me and he hit me over." Then, he turned back to Usama's friend, "kicking him in the stomach, indiscriminately punching him," Usama said. He called 911. And, while the student was waiting for police to arrive and as the alleged beating continued, the motorcyclist took a moment to weigh in on the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
"He was shouting, 'Trump!'" Usama said. "'Trump will take our country from you guys!'"
Usama and his friend reported the incident to police.
In August, two brothers in Boston were arrested after beating and urinating on a homeless man. They said they targeted him because he was Hispanic, and one of the brothers said they were inspired by Trump and his anti-Hispanic rhetoric.
There have been numerous instances of violence at Trump's rallies and campaign events in the past several months, often with an explicit racial element. On Friday, he canceled a planned appearance in Chicago out of safety concerns, saying he met with law enforcement. The Chicago Police Department responded that it didn't advise Trump to call off the event.
Trump, however, has done nothing to calm his supporters. In fact, he has encouraged and applauded people who lash out at protesters. On Sunday, he said he would consider paying the legal fees of a white man who sucker-punched a black man at a recent North Carolina rally. John McGraw, 78, said he punched Rakeem Jones because he thought the young man might be a member of the Islamic State terrorist group. (Trump himself hasn't hesitated to accuse protesters of being aligned with ISIS, even when there's no reliable evidence to support that claim.)
Trump held a press conference last week and said he wants to see more of his supporters "hit back" at protesters.
Journalists have literally come under attack as well. At an event in Virginia last month, a Secret Service agent grabbed the neck of a photographer and threw him down after he stepped out of the press area to get a better shot.
On Tuesday, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski reportedly grabbed Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields by the arm to get her out of the way, nearly knocking her to the ground.
This story has been updated to reflect that the Chicago Police Department says it did not advise Trump to call off the rally.
Editor's note: Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.
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