The Second Amendment people
A guy in Florida made some Facebook comment threats against Trump, and got himself arrested.
“I’m just glad Obama didn’t take all our gunz! I see a good use for one now,” Krohn wrote online above a picture of Trump that read, “He’s not my president / He’s an enemy of the state,” agents wrote in court records.
Krohn posted his remarks in a thread of comments related to Trump’s holiday season stay at his Palm Beach home, according to court records.
It was in comments on a post, you see, not a post. They don’t say whether it was his post or not; it would be mildly interesting to know.
Agents said they were able to track Krohn to his home in Pembroke Pines and he was arrested there on Thursday evening. He could face a federal charge of threatening to take the life of the president-elect or inflect bodily harm. The offense carries a maximum punishment of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
“Krohn became confrontational when asked if he made the statements threatening the PEOTUS [President-elect of the United States] … Krohn declared any statements he made were an expression of his First Amendment rights,” agents wrote in court records.
When he was asked if he made any threats against Trump, agents said he became more confrontational, “began pacing in the yard, and in a loud voice said, ‘Well then, arrest me.'”
They tried to calm him down but failed; they arrested him. The story doesn’t make clear whether they arrested him because he refused to calm down or because he made the threats in the first place.
Agents said the laptop computer Krohn had been using before they arrived was open on an article that someone had posted on Facebook about “a recent harassment incident” involving Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.
It’s not clear what that has to do with anything.
During a brief appearance Friday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Krohn told the judge he was scheduled to start a new job Monday morning cleaning cooking equipment at a chain of convenience stores. He said he was divorced, had little or no money, owns a 1998 Lincoln and owes an unspecified amount of child support arrears.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer ordered Friday that Krohn will remain locked up at least until a bond hearing scheduled for Thursday. The judge appointed the Federal Public Defender’s Office to represent Krohn, after ruling that he could not afford to hire a lawyer.
Krohn has a long history of arrests in Broward County on allegations including stalking, drug and driving offenses. Records show he served two stints in state prison for a drug offense and for driving with a suspended license.
It seems to me the judge could have released him on his own recognizance so that he could have started his new job…but I wasn’t there, so I don’t know.
I get that the Secret Service takes threats seriously, and with our grotesque history they pretty much have to. On the other hand I don’t really get what Krohn’s being “confrontational” when the Secret Service showed up to talk to him about his Facebook comments has to do with the probability that he would carry out his threats or with the need to arrest him.
But much much much more to the point…what I really don’t get is why Donald Trump got away with publicly openly televised-to-the-masses inciting a huge crowd of people to shoot Hillary Clinton. That was not a couple of comments on a Facebook thread, it was something said out in the open standing on a stage addressing thousands of cheering people.
I realize this is the inevitable annoying response to your final paragraph, but:
How did he get away with any of the shit he pulled?
The race-baiting, the not releasing his tax returns, the conflicts of interest, the bald-faced lies, the Access Hollywood tapes, the making fun of the disabled journalist, and on and on and on…
He’s a walking red-flag factory.
I know. You can hardly accuse me of not knowing that, given how obsessively I’ve been documenting it for months! But in the context of this particular arrest…the impunity with which he openly incited a crowd to shoot Clinton is pretty god damn conspicuous.
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1385244358160688/?type=3&theater
Our last two Democratic presidents served in a maelstrom of death-threats and organized libel campaigns. Serving Army officers publicly threatened Clinton, and were given a pass.
Given this guy’s track record, and the probability that he was well-known to the local police, I suspect this was more a case of the local drunk being picked up for acting out….again.
Still, my first ‘gut’ reaction is that Trump is going to get a level of ‘protection’ from law enforcement that no legitimate president has ever received.
I’m not condoning threats but when I see things such as:
I read
Who wouldn’t? Is it even possible to be not confrontational when confronted? Isn’t that defined by the persons doing the confronting in the first place? It’s dangerous, slippery language to use and sets off all sorts of alarms in my head.
No it isn’t and it’s even less clear why agents are ‘saying’ it. Is this something the public need to know? It’s not clear to me that there’d be a public interest issue even if he’d been browsing howtokillthepresidentelectontuesday.com.
No, neither do I. Threats, as we know, can be a form of violence in themselves. They can also incite violence. They are Bad Things To Do. But why this one guy – without apparent realistic means to carry out his not-especially-explicit threat – is arrested while the countless other threateners around the internet (including Trump) are not is bewildering.
I wasn’t there either but it seems perfectly reasonable for the authorities to investigate threats (I wish they’d do it more often) but it’s hard to see what good arresting the chap will do, let alone causing him to lose his new job.