Professor Postel on Trump as 'Bomb Thrower' in 'Age of Great Provocation'

SACRAMENTO BEE -- The images only serve to help Trump, agreed Charles Postel, a San Francisco State University professor who focuses on social movements and U.S. politics. There is nothing like some gasoline and a bottle to make for “great television,” Postel said. “And this is a television presidency.” “We are living in an age of great provocation, and it’s coming from the White House. Trump is a bomb thrower. That’s how he’s governing,” Postel said. “That’s what he needs to govern because Trump’s vision of politics is he is coming in to put out these fires.” Still, he added, the Berkeley event was not a typical example because the violence-prone group of Bay Area protesters that descended on the campus has perfected the art of crisis and panic. The group reportedly included anarchists and anti-capitalists intent on destroying businesses. “Of course he should be allowed to speak,” Postel said of Yiannopoulos, “and there should be very strong protests against him.”