Per Esme Cribb at Talking Points Memo:
Donald Trump suggested at a Tuesday rally that "the Second Amendment people" might be the only ones who can take action against a Clinton presidency.
In a speech at the University of North Carolina, Trump suggested gun owners could take Clinton out in order to prevent her appointing judges to the Supreme Court.
"If she gets to pick her judges," Trump said, "nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is."
This is essentially Trump calling out for that "Second Amendment Remedy," a phrase that's been floating out there among the Far Right every time they get angry or antsy about something Obama or the Democrats are about to win. The shorthand - the not-so-hidden message - is that the gun-nuts who believe the Second Amendment is "their" right to arm themselves against the government will rise up and "solve" the problem.
And this shit is NOT FUNNY. Trump and his cronies may try to pass this off as a joke, but violence in the real world with serious consequences is NOT a GODDAMN JOKE.
And this isn't imaginary or fake or a pipe dream. We've seen these Second Amendment fetishists commit these acts of gun violence again and again. Remember Oregon earlier this year? Remember the Planned Parenthood shooting?
There are genuine crazy people out there with easy access to firearms who only need the incentive to go and make themselves into "heroes" by shooting the hell out of everybody else.
And Trump right now just egged them on.
It doesn't matter if Trump was suggesting an act of violence towards Hillary, or if Trump was suggesting acts of violence towards any Justices Hillary would nominate. The key thing here is TRUMP WAS SUGGESTING AN ACT OF VIOLENCE, PERIOD.
He called on a group of people who have been pumped up with anger and outrage for DECADES to take to "their" Second Amendment and create a solution. One that speaks of gun violence and death.
At what point does verbal threats like what Trump just did cross a legal threshold? Nobody has the right to go around making death threats, this is not protected speech here. HE IS CALLING ON ACTS OF VIOLENCE.
Someone better fucking arrest him.
Note: follow here to Tom Levenson and Betty Cracker at Balloon Juice, and Charlie Pierce at Esquire, just to get a sense of how maddening this whole thing has become.
Update: I should include Comrade Misfit here. This is someone who, although I agree with a sizable amount of her policy views, is still someone pro-gun ownership and pro-2nd Amendment and I would probably argue over the merits of "well-regulated" vs. "shall not be infringed" with her well into Judgment Day. And even she knows Trump just went Full Batshit Cray-Cray here.
Further: Emily L. Hauser on Twitter is remembering her years in Israel listening to all the violent rhetoric towards Rabin.
And don't forget what happened to Gabby Giffords.
This shit is NOT a joke.
3 comments:
Let me make a prediction. This will lead to a flurry of Republicans, yet again, saying that Trump should be forced to renounce the nomination. Which will be followed by, yet again, endless bickering over exactly how and when to do it and who should replace him as the candidate. This will, yet again, be basically cover for the fact that the anti-Trump Republican leaders are cowards. And in the end, yet again, nothing will get done.
Let's hope the Secret Service is as on-the-ball for Hillary as they have been for Obama.
Infidel, I hope the Secret Service calls on the Justice Department for special prosecutor to investigate Trump AND Trump campaign's ongoing use of violent threats towards political opponents (don't forget, Trump has a campaign advisor who openly called on Hillary to be shot by firing squad over her private server, which DID require Secret Service investigation). This isn't a First Amendment issue, it's a public safety/national security issue now.
Yeah, I've been reading and commenting over at Comrade Misfit's for years and years, and we seem to get along pretty well. I've taken up her moniker for the Bundys and their ilk; she calls them y'all qaeda.
This just illustrates, yet again, how unsuited for the presidency Trump is. He doesn't think before he runs his mouth, and seems unable to stop himself from doing so. I remember an interview Obama did with Jon Stewart where they were discussing his relationship with the press and Obama said that when he first got elected he was more careful around the press because one wrong word could affect markets and damage alliances and that had to be taken seriously. So I do take it seriously. Trump is not capable of taking it seriously, and thus cannot be entrusted with the responsibility.
-Doug in Oakland
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