BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Dozens of cars were vandalized at Donald Trump's rally Saturday at the Cross Insurance Center. One victim said, as a father, it was a difficult parenting moment.
"It's really hard to explain to an 8-year-old why adults would do such a thing," Jack Mosher said. "You know, regardless of their political persuasion."
Mosher and his son attended the rally together. He said it was supposed be be a lesson on politics and how these types of events work.
"It just didn't make sense to him or anybody else that our property would be damaged because of our attendance at a rally, regardless of whose rally it was," he said.
Vandalizing and destroying property is something that has been more common this year than in elections in the past. Maine's GOP executive director Jason Savage said this isn't the first incident he has seen for either party.
"It's a lot, a lot worse than usual," Savage said. "We get a half dozen or more reports a day of vandalism and theft of people's property."
Many pointed the finger at Clinton supporters for being responsible for the Trump rally vandalism. Maine's Democratic Party Chairman, Phil Bartlett, released a statement Monday:
"We, not as Democrats but as human beings, unequivocally condemn any act of violence, theft, vandalism, or intimidation against any person for any reason.
"What happened to those cars in Bangor was not political expression: it was a criminal act, and those guilty should be punished within the criminal justice system."
""It's gone beyond, 'we're going to vandalize your lawn signs, we're going to attack your participation in politics and free speech,' to 'we're going to destroy your property,'" Savage said.
Mosher will continue to use this as a valuable lesson.
"There's no excuse for anyone to do this, regardless of your political views," he said. "Maybe I'll just leave it on there as a reminder of what happens when people forget to be decent."
