Donald Trump moved a step closer to officially sanctioning racial violence being committed in his name by telling multiple media outlets that he would be  take a look at  paying the legal fees for John McGraw, who punched a black protester at a Trump rally in North Carolina.Appearing on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd, Trump accused the protester of being  very taunting  and being  very loud, very disruptive  and  sticking a certain finger up in the air  so he would  take a look at  paying the legal fees.While Todd is usually complacent with conservative Republicans on his show making bizarre allegations, even he appeared to be taken aback with Trump s show of solidarity, and asked if the leading Republican candidate was condoning the attack. Trump argued that he had not condoned the assault, despite doing just that, and said,  maybe [the attacker] doesn t like seeing what s happening to the country. The man who Trump says he has instructed his legal team into looking into helping was no benign protester. Multiple videos showed McGraw sucker punching the protester as he was being taken out of Trump s rally. In a video posted right after the incident, McGraw proudly said,  The next time we see him, we might have to kill him. McGraw was arrested and has been charged with assault, disorderly conduct and communicating threats. The police department is also investigating why McGraw was not arrested immediately on site by the police officers tasked with maintaining security at the Trump rally.Trump has repeatedly made up racial and ethnic scapegoats for his mostly white base of supporters to blame for society s ills and problems, feeding into a narrative pushed for decades by white supremacists and white power groups. He has blamed Latinos, black activists, and Muslims for problems like terrorism, drugs, unemployment and even the failure to say  Merry Christmas. It is an audience primed to explode into violence, and as Secretary Hillary Clinton said,  If you play with matches, you re going to start a fire you can t control. That s not leadership. That s political arson. Featured image via YouTube