Heather: You are so right. This is but the latest in a seemingly endless list of threats, irresponsible blurts, and vicious invective to issue from Donald Trump. By any reasonable standard, he has long since disqualified himself for high office — or any office frankly. This latest threat about riots is Mafia talk, plain and simple. “Nice convention you’ve got there. Be a shame if anything were to happen to it.”
But then, speaking of riots, this is a fellow who spoke admiringly of the Chinese leadership for mowing down the Tiananmen democracy protesters (“they almost blew it” he advised at the time – H/T to Jay Nordlinger for finding this gem). When asked about this in a debate, Trump described the Tiananmen protests — which featured a mock up of the Statue of Liberty — as a “riot.” This is a guy who praised Vladimir Putin for being a strong leader, who recommends that the U.S. commit war crimes (stealing the oil of other nations, killing the wives and children of suspected terrorists), and who issues threats to Americans who dare to oppose him (he warned the Ricketts family that they had “a lot to hide.”) He even threatened the Speaker of the House.
Donald Trump has incited violence at his rallies, denied but implicitly condoned the roughing up of a female journalist (did you notice that he put Corey Lewandowski on stage with him last week?), promised to restrict the First Amendment after he’s elected, and on and on and on. The truly mind-bending part of all this is that large segments of American society and of what used to be called the conservative movement are not repelled and outraged by this. Some seem downright attracted by the bully boy talk from this strutting ignoramus. Trump’s rise has revealed that the bedrock values of our party and our country are not nearly as solid as we had hoped. Some Republicans (Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, Rick Scott, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham) seem to have no floor beneath which they will not stoop to defend this would-be authoritarian. As Heather notes, their only response to Trump’s viciousness is to point out that the left commits its share of outrages. Well, yes, but first of all, not presidential candidates, and second, are you just against the left or are you opposed to criminality and authoritarianism? Because, as we learned in the the 20th century, the political spectrum is not an axis — it’s a circle. The authoritarians and totalitarians are on one side of the circle (call them fascists or communists, there isn’t too much difference from the point of view of those who care about liberty and human decency) and the democrats and libertarians are on the other side. In Modern Times, Paul Johnson described the Nazis and Stalinists meeting over dinner to hammer out the details of the Hitler/Stalin Pact. Von Ribbentrop said that he felt right at home among the Stalinists. And why not? They were cut from the same cloth.
Any so-called conservative who is comfortable with Trump is a total disgrace. Some conservative media types have long been calling for a purge of the party. They were going to expel the RINOs. And now look at them, fawning over an emotionally damaged, despotic, lifelong liberal who invites racial hatred, treats other human beings like garbage, and boasts of his plans to dismantle our liberties. Trump long since disqualified himself for the presidency — but thanks to the corruption he has revealed in the nation — it may not matter.