SAVAGE: IT’S ‘OPEN SEASON ON TRUMP SUPPORTERS’

Talk-radio star bloodied, shaken in assault at restaurant

WND.com

President Trump and Michael Savage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.

Reacting to a violent attack on him at a San Francisco-area restaurant, talk-radio host and author Michael Savage said it’s “clearly open season on prominent Trump supporters.”

On Tuesday, as WND reported, the day of the launch of his new book, “Trump’s War: His Battle for America,” Savage was finishing up dinner Tuesday night at Servino Restaurant in Tiburon, California, when the unnamed assailant charged up to Savage and began yelling. The attacker kicked the poodle out of the way, grabbed Savage and threw him to the ground, according to witnesses. Savage was not seriously hurt, but the incident left him bloodied and shaken, and Savage’s lawyer said he will pursue charges, including hate crimes charges, because of Savage’s political views.

“It is clearly open season on prominent Trump supporters,” Savage told Breitbart.com.

“The fascist left has been empowered by their own false narrative that those who support borders, language and culture – my motto – are evil fascists!” he said. “This is how Hitler came to power. He used his brownshirts to beat any opponents. The media and police are almost wholly driven by this lie.”

“There is craziness in the air,” Savage told his listeners at his opened his show, “The Savage Nation,” Thursday after wondering aloud why his attacker was not arrested.

Savage said he often talks to people he meets in public.

“I’ve had many of them say, ‘I like your family stories but I don’t like your politics.’ But I’ve never had a man just come up and spontaneously assault me and my animal, and then hit a Good Samaritan, and – wait – and not get arrested.”

He recalled the rioting at the University of California at Berkeley last month in response to a planned appearance by Trump supporter Milo Yiannopoulos.

“This is not so much a societal problem. It is a liberal societal problem,” Savage said.

Last week, a Florida man claimed he was the victim of a road rage incident because of a Trump bumper sticker and a Trump/Pence flag hanging in his back car window, the New York Post reported.

Gregg Dunay said he was left battered and bloodied after an angry motorist refused to let him merge into an adjacent lane. The other driver rolled down his window and began cursing at him and said, ‘I’m not letting anyone with a Trump sticker in front of me.’ The man jumped out of his car, punched Dunay in the eye, breaking his glasses, and sped off.

In an interview with WND about his new book “Trump’s War,” Savage said he decided to frame it as a battle plan because he knew Trump’s “big and unprecedented ideas” would face so much opposition from the left, including violent opposition.

Savage’s attorney, Dan Horowitz, says he will seek criminal charges.

“We’re going to seek felony charges against the man, and we’re going to investigate this as a hate crime because of Michael’s political views,” Horowitz told Bay Area media blogger Rich Lieberman.

The San Jose Mercury News reported a Tiburon police spokeswoman said a follow-up police report will be sent to the District Attorney’s Office for review to see if any charges will be filed.

Horowitz told the paper the assailant, about six feet five inches, approached the talk radio host “yelling insults.”

He noted Savage is about one foot shorter and is 75 years old.

Horowitz said Savage told the man to “go away” and it appears that the man knocked Savage to the ground while also pushing his dog out of the way.

At that point, Horowitz said, another customer from the restaurant intervened, and the assailant punched him in the face.

“He called me from the scene,” Horowitz told the paper. “Truthfully, I think he was more furious than anything. He was saying he had just wanted to go out and have a nice dinner. He said, ‘This guy can’t get away with that.’”

‘An ax to grind’

On Savage’s show Thursday, Horowitz explained that, according to the law, punching someone is only a misdemeanor unless there is serious injury.

“The rules protect the aggressive, violent person too much in this society,” he said.

Savage noted that the man knew his legal name, meaning the attack was premeditated.

“So, obviously he has some kind of ax to grind with me, and I don’t know who that man is to this day,” he said.

Horowitz said that after talking to witnesses, there is no dispute the man followed Savage on the way out of the restaurant, closed the space and yelled at him.

Emphasizing the potential danger of such a confrontation, the lawyer recalled the murder of John Lennon by a stranger who came up to him on a New York City street.

Savage said the assailant lied to police, claiming Savage pushed him.

“That is absurd. Both of my hands were holding onto things!” Savage said.

“He has lied and said I pushed him,” Savage said.