Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles to applause as he arrives to speaks in Youngstown, Ohio, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Among his many recent transgressions; his feud with the Khan family, his outright lie that “Obama is the founder of ISIS,” his constant rambling with no actual plan, calling on another country to hack a former secretary of state….. The list goes on and on, but nothing could have prepared me for his most recent transgression.
If you missed it, his words were “Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks,” Trump told the crowd. He then added, “But the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”
Holy shit. That’s a call to kill. That’s unbelievable, that’s unprecedented. Republicans and Democrats have had their ideological differences, but they’ve never called for the other side to be killed.
Dan Rather, the incredibly famous journalist who started working long before the 24-hour news cycle made journalism a ratings game, wrote an open letter setting aside objectivity and bipartisan anything and stating how dangerous that comment was. When someone of that calibre takes a stand, someone who has stayed objective for over 50 years, it’s long past time to start listening.
Of course, both his campaign and his supporters have insisted he was either joking or being metaphorical. It’s unbelievable the lengths to which these people will go to in order to justify his continuously heinous behavior. It’s ironic, since they love him for speaking his mind and saying what he means, but keep having to insist that he didn’t mean what he said. It’s a spiral of stupidity, and it’s incredibly dangerous. All it takes is one person.
The internet is a big place, and there are a lot of really bad people supporting Trump. The head of the American Nazi Party recently said that if Trump wins, it would be “a real opportunity” for them. He has the support of the Ku Klux Klan, famous for burning crosses and lynching people who have a darker pigment to their skin. His rallies are filled with cries of “F*** that n****r”, “Hang the bitch” and even more racist, insane, and terrifying extremism.
All it takes is one. One person to see those comments the way they were obviously meant. One person who is unhinged enough to take a rifle from one of the many arsenals owned by U.S. citizens, and take deadly action. There have been plenty of people who have understood exactly what Trump meant, Twitter was filled with calls for Hillary’s execution.
So far, this has resulted in nothing more than a Secret Service conversation, but how long are we going to let this go on? Half the Republican party are either pledging their allegiance to Hillary Clinton or writing detailed letters and taking stands against Trump. There’s even a lifelong Republican who has thrown his hat in the Presidential race, apparently, because he knows that Trump doesn’t actually represent his party at all.
The Tea Party, the GOP as it exists today, is a scary thing in and of itself. I miss real Republicans like John McCain pre-2008, or Bob Dole. The fiscally conservative whose political differences weren’t based in hate and bigotry and zealotry. They never scared me. But something changed after 9/11, and I don’t think we’ll ever be able to get back to that version of normal again.
There is one absolute here though: Donald Trump must not become the leader of the free world. We cannot allow that to happen. So, if you’re equally concerned, register yourselves and get out and vote.
The Clear And Present Danger
Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles to applause as he arrives to speaks in Youngstown, Ohio, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Among his many recent transgressions; his feud with the Khan family, his outright lie that “Obama is the founder of ISIS,” his constant rambling with no actual plan, calling on another country to hack a former secretary of state….. The list goes on and on, but nothing could have prepared me for his most recent transgression.
If you missed it, his words were “Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks,” Trump told the crowd. He then added, “But the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”
Holy shit. That’s a call to kill. That’s unbelievable, that’s unprecedented. Republicans and Democrats have had their ideological differences, but they’ve never called for the other side to be killed.
Dan Rather, the incredibly famous journalist who started working long before the 24-hour news cycle made journalism a ratings game, wrote an open letter setting aside objectivity and bipartisan anything and stating how dangerous that comment was. When someone of that calibre takes a stand, someone who has stayed objective for over 50 years, it’s long past time to start listening.
Of course, both his campaign and his supporters have insisted he was either joking or being metaphorical. It’s unbelievable the lengths to which these people will go to in order to justify his continuously heinous behavior. It’s ironic, since they love him for speaking his mind and saying what he means, but keep having to insist that he didn’t mean what he said. It’s a spiral of stupidity, and it’s incredibly dangerous. All it takes is one person.
The internet is a big place, and there are a lot of really bad people supporting Trump. The head of the American Nazi Party recently said that if Trump wins, it would be “a real opportunity” for them. He has the support of the Ku Klux Klan, famous for burning crosses and lynching people who have a darker pigment to their skin. His rallies are filled with cries of “F*** that n****r”, “Hang the bitch” and even more racist, insane, and terrifying extremism.
All it takes is one. One person to see those comments the way they were obviously meant. One person who is unhinged enough to take a rifle from one of the many arsenals owned by U.S. citizens, and take deadly action. There have been plenty of people who have understood exactly what Trump meant, Twitter was filled with calls for Hillary’s execution.
So far, this has resulted in nothing more than a Secret Service conversation, but how long are we going to let this go on? Half the Republican party are either pledging their allegiance to Hillary Clinton or writing detailed letters and taking stands against Trump. There’s even a lifelong Republican who has thrown his hat in the Presidential race, apparently, because he knows that Trump doesn’t actually represent his party at all.
The Tea Party, the GOP as it exists today, is a scary thing in and of itself. I miss real Republicans like John McCain pre-2008, or Bob Dole. The fiscally conservative whose political differences weren’t based in hate and bigotry and zealotry. They never scared me. But something changed after 9/11, and I don’t think we’ll ever be able to get back to that version of normal again.
There is one absolute here though: Donald Trump must not become the leader of the free world. We cannot allow that to happen. So, if you’re equally concerned, register yourselves and get out and vote.