Trump suggests someone should kill Clinton
I go outside for an adventure for a couple of hours and look what happens – Trump suggests assassination for his opponent.
At a rally here [in Wilmngton, North Carolina], Mr. Trump warned that it would be “a horrible day” if Mrs. Clinton were elected and got to appoint a tiebreaking Supreme Court justice.
“If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks,” Mr. Trump said, as the crowd began to boo. He quickly added: “Although the Second Amendment people — maybe there is, I don’t know.”
…
Even those in Mr. Trump’s audience appeared caught by surprise. Video of the rally showed a man seated just over Mr. Trump’s shoulder go slack-jawed and turn to his companion, apparently in disbelief, when Mr. Trump made the remark.
My jaw dropped when I read it in a friend’s Facebook post.
Guy behind Trump immediately realized what he said was a problem. https://t.co/F3mSP9GLqt
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) August 9, 2016
Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, who has made gun reform his signature issue after the Sandy Hook shooting in his state, took to Twitter to castigate Mr. Trump, calling his remarks “disgusting and embarrassing and sad.”
And frightening. This reckless sociopathic narcissist must not be president of the US.
“This isn’t play,” Mr. Murphy wrote. “Unstable people with powerful guns and an unhinged hatred for Hillary are listening to you, @realDonaldTrump.”
And Representative Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, wrote on Twitterthat the Secret Service should investigate Mr. Trump for making a death threat against Mrs. Clinton: “Donald Trump suggested someone kill Sec. Clinton. We must take people at their word.”
That was my first thought. The Secret Service is supposed to investigate all threats of that kind, and Trump’s doing it is way more dangerous than some schmuck on Twitter.
Mr. Trump’s campaign events and rallies have grown increasingly vitriolic, with angry chants and jeers directed at Mrs. Clinton, some of them led by the candidate himself. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump called Mrs. Clinton a “liar” and “wacky.”
Chants of “lock her up,” which first gained traction during the Republican National Convention, were loud and frequent in Wilmington before Mr. Trump took the stage. One speaker, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, tried to steer the crowd away from the chant.
“No, no, we’re here to beat her, and keep her out of Washington,” Mr. Giuliani said as he waved off the chants. He was interrupted by the same chant minutes later, and again paused and tried to wave off the crowd.
Which, again, is fascism. That’s how you get fascism.
Dangerous times.
Every time I think DT has reached the bottom, he somehow manages to go deeper. This isn’t funny anymore (OK, it wasn’t very funny to begin with). This man scares me.
Note the guy actually recoils slightly from his companion when he realises she is laughing.
I’ve read three interpretations of this comment, none of which look good. 1). Assassinate Hillary with guns. 2). Assassinate the Supreme Court judges that she appoints with guns. 3). Overthrow the government with guns.
I do wonder when (I hope) Trump loses whether there will be targeted assassinations and other forms of violence from the most right wing of Trump supporters. All this talk of “rigged elections” even before the elections themselves puts the seed in the minds of his supporters most prone to do violence.
I think that interpretation 3) is slightly more likely the motivation behind Trump’s comment—if there were a motivation other than Markov-chain free-association in the cesspit that is Trump’s addled mind. The 2nd Amendment fetishists see themselves not as lone wolves but as a band of patriots, and they view the 2nd Amendment as a blank cheque to start an insurrection (or ‘water the tree of liberty’). Of course, the realities of modern security make 1) and 2) more likely than a sustained armed resistance, but we’ve already seen the Bundys try to russel up a massacre, which isn’t out of the question.
The fact that this man polls above the ~1% fringe nutbar white supremacist drunk uncle candidate bracket he clearly belongs in is disturbing. Yes, I kinda think I get the whole embarrassing, regrettable chain of why he does–and beyond the simmering division and resentment there are also simple tribalism, polarisation, and inertia–and top that with _decades_ of vitriol especially from the right aimed at Ms. Clinton and the former president she was married to, so there are people out there who demonstrate a Pavlovian response involving flaring nostrils and dilated pupils if you as much as mention her name…
… but still, seriously, people, this guy belongs in that novelty candidate category. You know, the guy winds up on the ballot because he won $200 at the slots on the weekend, and while possibly still slightly drunk decided he’d like to use it for the registration fee to run for mayor. The fact that he gets any coverage beyond mentions in the police blotter (‘Glorious Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution Party candidate questioned by bored desk sergeant about incitement at rally attended by six people and two dogs… again’) is, I guess, fair enough, a bit of a sign of a breakdown in the system. Covered previously, to some degree already, mind… alienation, disenchantment, distancing effects in large democracies, and so on…
Still, to the whatever it is now, however–the 39% or so remaining above that inevitable ~1% always with us (I’m not sure I view _those_ as such a bad sign, really… the positive there being: at least people do feel free to stand that far off on their own, even if where they stand is nowhere near where I’d want to be)–to those 39%: _please_ take another hard look at what you’re endorsing, what you’re saying to the world, when you say sure, I’d still vote for this bellicose disaster of a human being. Or do we really need to do a remedial civics lecture, here, on how settling things with _votes_ not shooting tends to be preferable?
I’m still working this conjecture a lot of this has to do with bubbles–the way people can tunnel into their own little media world and live in it. And there’s a world out there apparently where Benghazi was a deliberate plot by Obama, with Hillary’s collusion (presumably, because the former is a secret Muslim and that’s just what these people like to do with their spare time, and Hillary’s only involved because she’s some kinda unrepentant Lady Macbeth who simply _loves_ having blood on her hands… possibly soaks in it, a bit like in the old Palmolive commercials?)… Also, crime is what illegal immigrants simply _do_ (as opposed, mostly, to picking the fruit you’re probably having for breakfast right now) and there’s a swarm of black helicopters coming from the guns we need to protect ourselves from them (all leading up to: thus, what you really need to save your bacon if you’re un- or underemployed right now is to put in charge of the massive US economy an erratic reality TV star whose signature line, oddly enough is: ‘you’re fired’…)
Anyway. Seriously. 1%. This makes sense, and sure, that’s how these things usually go, and like I said, not so much alarming as a sign of the range that doth exist in culture. Anything higher, America, really, tho’, is a bit of an embarrassment the rest of us are going to have to bug you about for a few decades, at least.
A matter of weeks ago a British MP was shot dead by a man who shouted “Britain First” as he killed her. Now a US presidential candidate endorses the slogan “America First” and suggests that if his opponent is elected people with guns should do something about it. Scary stuff.
What I want to know is how far can Trump go before his words cross into the criminal. He’s been escalating the violent rhetoric. I wonder if eventually he’ll be the one locked up?
Unfortunately, that’s just as scary a thought. Locking Trump up would prove to his followers that the system is rigged against him, and some of them might take their arsenal of weapons and start “doing something about it”. Since most of them won’t have easy access to the president (no matter who it is), a likely target would be anyone with Hillary stickers on their car, or wearing Hillary t-shirts, or even just “looking like” a Democrat.
The “second amendment solution” has been noised around for sometime now, and sooner or later someone who has no real impulse control will follow what he is sure are the Donald’s instructions to him…or maybe instructions from Jesus to kill the woman doing Satan’s work.
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1245313948820397/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1245392408812551/?type=3&theater
During a previous election campaign a Democrat candidate was gunned down after the Republican VP candidate had published a map of opponents with target symbols on it.
Of course there can be no connection whatsoever between events. Witness Myrhinne’s #6.
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1245414238810368/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1246744925343966/?type=3&theater