Speak out loudly against violence
Thought for the day
As soon as the guilty verdict was read in court Thursday, Republican lawmakers like J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio immediately came to Donald Trump's defense. Then, yesterday, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump's old nemesis, Mitch McConnell, added their two cents.
At the same time these electeds were supporting the former president, calls for riots and violent retribution began spreading on the web. Reuters reports some commentators have called for attacks on jurors, the execution of the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, or outright civil war and armed insurrection.
“Someone in NY with nothing to lose needs to take care of Merchan,” wrote one person on the website Patriots.Win. “Hopefully he gets met with illegals with a machete,” the post said in reference to illegal immigrants.
On the Gateway Pundit website, one poster suggested shooting liberals after the verdict. “Time to start capping some leftys,” said the post. “This cannot be fixed by voting."
These aren't the only comments being posted, but you get the idea. My question is this: Why aren't GOP members of the House and Senate publicly distancing themselves from these posts? More specifically, why isn't Donald Trump publicly urging his dark web supporters to stop posting comments about riots and violence?
J.D. Vance has been saying the Trump trial is a sham ... and a case like this only happens in third-world countries. Here's a bulletin for the senator: You know what else happens in third-world nations? Executions of judges and civil war. Instead of railing against the former president's guilty verdict, why don't you urge the proponents at Patriots.Win and Gateway Pundit to take down their messages about armed insurrection?
Here in America, we handle legal issues thoughtfully and peacefully. Never forget, this is what separates us from most of the world. I wonder who will be the first Republican member of Congress to speak out against those who are calling for violence?
-DF
I have been reading everything that I can get my hands and eyes on but haven’t run across a reference to violence. I guess it is always to be expected when divisive issues arise…….from civil rights legislation to the war in Viet Nam, to the assault on the Capitol, there has always been that possibilty- in the last 50 years. Trump just gives unhappy and mean spirited people an outlet.
But it is discouraging when you learn of people whom you admired speak out in his favor. Fortunately, I have not experienced very much of that. I still have faith that Trump popularity will
fade like all the other evil forces we have dealt with in the last 50 years.
I suspect none of the VP wanna-be's will speak out against violence, or armed insurrection, or civil war. If they were, they would have done so long ago, like starting Jan 6th, 2020. And some part of me wants to see the Proud Boys, 3 Percenters and/or any other "patriots" take up arms. I have faith that governors and the president (the elected-fairly one) will not hesitate to call in the Nat'l Guard - and even the U.S. military to quash any armed uprising under martial law.
But I doubt that the wanna-be's will take any serious action, since they are basically cowards and bullies, and know they wouldn't stand a chance against well-armed and trained soldiers.
And I bet the FBI, NSA and other law enforcement is tracking the dark web very closely.