Imagine a former U.S. president who, after being summarily tossed out of office by the electorate, incited a pre-planned, all-out assault on the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn the election that removed him -- an assault which resulted in multiple deaths and millions in property damage -- and then doubled down on his rejection from office by enthusiastically propagating a lie that the election was fraudulently decided against him. And then, imagine him sending this message to his base of known violent supporters, after the legal walls began to crash in on him.
"Our Country is SICK inside, very much like a person dying of Cancer. The Crooked FBI, the so-called Department of 'Justice,' and 'Intelligence,' all parts of the Democrat Party and System, is the Cancer. These Weaponized Thugs and Tyrants must be dealt with, or our once great and beautiful Country will die!!
It’s far long past time that this country stop treating this person as it has been treating him for the past two years— as some sort of distressing anomaly or curiosity to be tolerated and managed, and instead treat him like any other person who makes calculated, violent threats against our justice system and the people who uphold it. Trump occupies a peculiar place in our history, one that should by any reasonable measure hold him to a higher standard of behavior. That is an implicit bargain that an elected official submits to — willingly or not — when he is placed in an office of public trust. The fact that Trump refuses to accept that precept doesn’t negate it; rather, it makes its enforcement all the more critical.
We have to stop coddling this guy or making excuses for him. We have to stop tolerating the excuses others make for him. He’s a menace, a clear and present danger, deliberately trying to be cute and clever by couching his terminology in a twisted and grotesque simulation of what he thinks will pass as “patriotism.” And wrapping himself in the cloak of what he thinks will pass muster as “free speech.”
But this isn’t patriotic. Read it again in the context of someone who incited an insurrection against a lawful election, and keeping in mind the person who is saying this, his position, and his implicit (and explicit) duty and responsibility:
The Crooked FBI, the so-called Department of 'Justice,' and 'Intelligence,' all parts of the Democrat Party and System, is the Cancer. These Weaponized Thugs and Tyrants must be dealt with, or our once great and beautiful Country will die!!
And please don’t pretend that “dealt with” means anything less than what is obvious. This isn’t a message of complaint or protest against government overreach or malfeasance, in the context of who is delivering it. It is a threat, from a former president and a now-declared candidate for the same office.
This is sedition, and it’s an evocation — and exhortation — to violence and terrorism to achieve that.
Garland and Smith, please. Do. Your. Jobs.
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