Trump knows his days are numbered. Even Trump’s biggest defender admits the Mueller Report will be devastating politically, never mind what the US Attorney finds in NYC or the NY AG or the investigations by almost every committee in Congress. The more this man melts down, the dangerous this country becomes. Now in an interview with Brietbart, the “paper of record” for the rightwing, Trump showed what he is capable of…
“So here’s the thing—it’s so terrible what’s happening,” Trump said when asked by Breitbart News Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle about how the left is fighting hard. “You know, the left plays a tougher game, it’s very funny. I actually think that the people on the right are tougher, but they don’t play it tougher. Okay? I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad. But the left plays it cuter and tougher. Like with all the nonsense that they do in Congress … with all this invest[igations]—that’s all they want to do is –you know, they do things that are nasty. Republicans never played this.”
How do you react to something like that? Should we be calling our local police chief and ask them if the President of the United States has emergency power over them to arrest those of us who are members of what is considered a “leftie” organization, like the Democratic Party? Should Congress pass a resolution telling the military to only obey legal orders. At the very least, Trump should face censure from Congress for issuing such threats. But instead, it’s Thursday in Trumpland and I don’t know how to end this post, accept to say–as an agnostic–God help US.
I think it’s tough talk. He was talking to Breitbart after all.
Yes, tough talk to his base. Dismiss tis at your (and our) own risk.
49 worshipers were murdered in a Mosque yesterday after “tough talk” from a white supremacist.
I don’t care who the audience is, these are words of tyranny, treason, and terror.
“True terror is to wake up one morning and discover your high school class is running the country.” KURT VONNEGUT
MY high school class would likely do a pretty good job running the country, particularly if Trump is the curve we are being graded on, thank you very much!:)
Trump instigates these Fascist domestic terrorists to commit xenophobic murder. They ALL have blood on their hands and should be criminally prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
New Zealand’s government just announced a ban on semi-automatic weapons less that 24 hours after the mass shooting in Christchurch.
Well, whaddayaknow? See how easy that was.
That’s way too much of a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy connecting those two. I still think that if (hopefully when) Trump loses in 2020 he’s more likely to go the John Adams route and skip town to avoid attending his successor’s inauguration.
First, we must understand the existential threat fascism is to democracy all around the world. So let’s be clear what we’re talking about :
“Fascism is the control of government by crony capitalism driven by right-wing ideology and bellicose nationalism.” Heritage Dictionary definition of Fascism
@post hoc ergo propter hoc:
You sound too much like Kellyanne Conway for my taste.
Every high-profile celebrity who spends an entire career calling for this kind of violence is personally responsible when this kind of violence occurs.
This is the same argument you used when I said that high-profile anti-abortion extremists were responsible for the resulting murder of abortion providers and bombing of clinics.
I think you were wrong about it then and wrong about it now. Words have consequences.
The guy in New Zealand did not shoot up a mosque because Trump went on Breitbart to talk about his support from biker gangs and police. I’d wager the shooter didn’t even hear or read that comment. Both this shooter and the murderers of abortion providers are responsible for their own actions and there needs to be very direct incitement or direction to say otherwise.
The New Zealand shooter is, by all appearances, a white supremacist who has been seeking internet fame as such. He thrives on an audience that celebrates such hate and behavior.
Donald Trump and Trumpists have been stoking and pandering to that audience for years, beginning with the “Birther” rubbish.
I am not minimizing the personal responsibility of these shooters. I am reminding you and us that they act in order to gain approval of an audience. We collectively enable and encourage such behavior when we tolerate such hate speech.
At least in this country, do you have a solution that doesn’t make minced meat of the first amendment?
It is long established that yelling “fire” in a crowded theater is not protected speech under the First Amendment.
In my view, telling a mob of already-angry white men that fill-in-the-blank (choose your favorite scapegoat — “Illegals”, “liberals”, “gays”, “blacks”, whatever) are the cause of their suffering is yelling “fire”, with the mob being the “crowded theater”.
A legal solution may not exist. That doesn’t diminish the role that demagogues like Mr. Trump play in tragedies like this. We have long established that White supremacists and the American Nazi Party have a First Amendment right to express their views, a decision that I agree with and support.
In my view, our mainstream media bear much of the blame. Mr. Trump and the Trumpists have spent most of the last year endlessly repeating lies about illegal immigrants, lies that go unchallenged. Mr. Trump and the Trumpists loudly harp on the immigration status of various suspected criminals, and mainstream media repeat those characterizations without comment.
A headline that reads “Black man accused of rape and murder” is racist. So is a headline that reads “Illegal immigrant accused of rape and murder”.
In my view, we collectively support and enable these crimes when we tolerate such hate speech from political figures. I think the abortion clinic bombings and abortion provider murders would not have happened if American Catholics rose up in outrage at ordained leaders who called for extreme measures to stop abortion. I think these New Zealand murders would be much less likely if Donald Trump and the Trumpists had not spent the last five years pandering to the extreme right.
Fire in a crowded theater is much more direct and immediate. It will cause people to panic and trample each other in their rush to escape, plus it is not expressing an opinion or a hard truth which is what the first amendment is designed to protect. I’m going to need something a lot closer to “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”
We’ve disagreed about this in the past (regarding the encouragement of anti-abortion terrorism by the institutional Catholic church) and we disagree about this now.
I have friends in New Zealand. I encourage you to take your argument to those who are grieving and see how receptive they are.
I would be happy to tell New Zealanders that Trump didn’t shoot up the mosque himself or ask others to, if that’s what you mean.
Donald Trump has the blood of 49 victims on his hands, adding to that of Heather Heyer.
That stain is present whether or not you admit it.
Now 50 victims, after the body of another victim was found.
You obviously did not read this mad man’s “manifesto” and what he said about trump as a symbol for White Supremacist. You really do sound like a Trump apologists, demanding a straight line connection to this interview and the massacre. You completely ignore how Trump’s steady stream of hate and threats legitimizes–in the maids of sick people–their views and actions.
I did see the part about how he sees Trump as a symbol, but I thought we were talking about a link between a specific comment and a specific action. Islamophobia predates the Trump presidency and you are asking me to believe that this attack would not have happened if it weren’t for Trump. It doesn’t make me so much a Trump apologist as a fairness and logic apologist to ask for a more direct connection.
How many Americans had ever even HEARD of breitbart before Donald Trump?
Donald Trump has spent at least the last three years retweeting, quoting, and promoting white supremacist hate speech. The KKK targeted Catholics and Jews as well as blacks. Your argument about Islamophobia is like saying that the KKK isn’t responsible for the murder of a Jew because the Jew was white.
We are talking about explicit support and encouragement of White Supremacists. Mr. Trump is on record calling for violence. He has, on the record, suggested that police should beat up more suspects.
He is the President, and as such has arguably the loudest megaphone in the world. He uses that megaphone to advocate white supremacist violence. Now, when a white supremacist commits violence, you argue that Mr. Trump should not be held accountable.
You are indeed making the argument of Trump apologists.
Mr. Trump does, in fact, encourage White Supremacists. He has been doing that for years. We all reap what he sows.
Well, I wouldn’t hold the KKK responsible for the murder of a Jew unless the murderer were in fact a Klansman.
The intent of the original post was to point out the deep, dark place Trump is spiraling into. A place that wipes up violence and hate. You shrugged your shoulders and said “I think it’s tough talk. He was talking to Breitbart after all.” You apparently don’t think Trump’s actions and words have no consequences…many here disagree with that opinion.
First they came for the gays. Then they came for the Muslims. Then they came for the immigrants …
By which I meant I have absolutely zero expectation that when he loses the 2020 election the police, the military, and the biker gangs are going to stage some sort of violent coup or civil war to keep him in power. He is at the end of the day a bully, albeit one with a huge stage. In my experience bullies talk tough, but collapse quickly the moment anyone even slightly stands up to them.
I don’t think it will go down like that.
I think, instead, that Mr. Trump and his Collaborators will block the various attempts to bring him to justice.
He will win the 2020 election. He may well take extraordinary steps to do so. His cronies are already attempting to chill speech on Twitter (I refer to the lawsuit filed by Mr. Nunes). The police, military, and biker gangs will reinforce those steps.
We already have a sitting House member who body-slammed a reporter without consequences. We already have another sitting House member calling for a second civil war.
Your picture of him as a bully who will collapse quickly when confronted is one picture. He might also be a vicious, violent thug who will stop at nothing to “protect” himself and his family.
I think that he will WIN the 2020 election, in no small part by continuing the outrageous behavior he has already displayed. If his efforts to rig that election fail, I expect him to declare it invalid. I think the Trumpist Supreme Court will support him in that, as will the Trumpist Senate.
I think it will be VERY HARD to remove this criminal thug from power.
I’d take this at face value.
He really could shoot a man on main street and remain the president of the USA. He’d call any reports of it “fake news” until he could no longer deny it and then his supporters would argue that the person he shot was probably armed as well and this was an act of self defense, and once that defense was proved false, Fox News would run with 10 Presidents Who Have Personally Killed People so why are the liberals all upset now and not then? Besides, there are two sides to all stories and the American people will just have to decide on their own, right?
And after that, we’ll go back to watching professional sports and The Bachelor.
Donald Trump could have joined the list of Presidents who have personally killed people if he hadn’t conveniently developed “bone spurs”.