Well said. And the actual right wing violence may become yet another Achilles heel for the president with his voters. One thing I have noticed in some of the ‘focus group’ articles by the New York Times and others is that Trump 2024 voters have stopped talking about concerns about chaos and started talking about concerns about guns. It may be that the law and order party may finally be showing that they cannot do not even want to try to keep us safe.
MAGA-man has good reason to be concerned. The days of gun ownership will come to an end. Once the Trump regime suppresses the "libs," they will come after the guns. Can't let the rabble have guns in a dictatorship.
Maybe, maybe not. Trump has often turned on supporters/allies before. Better to take all the guns then risk them being turned on him and his current allies.
The difference between the right and the left concerning violence and mass shootings is so visible to us, but the felon and his flunkies insist that we are the violent ones. We are well aware that the GOP are actually the perpetrators of violence and mass murder events, no matter what the regime says. The felon is the one who encourages his followers to “Beat the hell out of them, and I’ll pay your legal fees”.
The photo of him and his wife on PBS news last evening was with him wearing a Trump 2020 t-shirt. I agree with the others about caution around speculating, but I think your point is that, this time, there is restraint from the right in speculating.
That he displayed Trump, at the very least, has kept them from blaming the left, though I’m sure they’ll find a way to spin it.
It was not on his lawn. It was posted on a tall fence at the end of his driveway (along with a stop sign), and it is unclear from the photo whether it was a 2020 or 2024 sign. I acknowledge that the sign is suggestive, but it does not say anything about the state of mind of the killer. I think we need to be careful about inferences. Let the courts sort it out.
BTW, your link leads to a page that has been removed, though here is the pic on Daily Beast- first one to pop up in my search. Please note the leading comment at the top of the page, just below the headline. It says something we need to keep in mind about "social media speculation".
It is clearly a Trump sign that is still on his property. If he didn't like Trump, or recently decided he didn't like Trump, he would have taken it down.
The right wing is also constantly throwing up Biden's request to social media companies to police COVID lies as the prime example of Democrats squashing free speech. False equivalence is what the right excels at. In that case, people were sickening and dying in large numbers from a pandemic and Biden's request was mild in comparison to the wide-ranging threats to free speech being uttered and pursued by MAGA. I don't want to hear any more comparisons with COVID to excuse what Trump is doing to his political enemies.
Yup. Biden's requests were exactly that -- requests. There was not the threat of government sanction if social media companies refused to decline. And, in fact, if you look at the record, the social media companies took down some -- but far from all -- of the posts that the Biden administration flagged.
Now I'll note that after the fact we're seeing Zuckerberg lie about what happened and claim otherwise. But that is clearly Zuckerberg trying to suck up to the Trump administration by saying what Trump wants to hear.
You've hit on a really important point here! The indiscriminate use of the word "incitement" to refer to any speech or writing that criticizes the administration or the MAGA agenda is itself an incitement to right wing violence!
Yesterday, masked ICE bandits in Chicago were running after a guy on a bicycle who taunted them by yelling “I am not a citizen!”
If it weren’t such a pathetically wrong-headed, unconstitutional show of pointless, self-defeating force, the image of masked bandits running after a bicyclist essentially going “nyah, nyah, nyah, nya-naaah!” wouid be hilarious.
The overdressed-camo-thigh-tight-pants are ridiculous; grown men who are otherwise unemployed, bullies playing army. But the guy on the bike is hilarious and deserves a medal. At least a free lunch. I think anyone in sight on the streets ought to wear a garbage bag with eyes cut out and gloves so no one can profile them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2JgTifDPiE
They are trying to achieve provocation. Meantime they are gaslighting, maybe it could be called “Gasprov”. That said Merrick Garland could not do anything with a noose as evidence. Nor could our impeachment process. If I used that noose in any number of AI fantasies I can imagine Kash Patel would be knocking on my door. Just a sec…. Someone’s at the door.
After January 6, and even more so after drumpf whitewashed the attempted coup by pardoning and extolling the perpetrators doing his will, all talk of incitement from this foundering regime under a mentally degenerate leader is trash talk.
JR: "If Trump and his ilk had their way, they would be allowed to say anything, including exhorting a mob to overthrow an election, but liberals could be silenced and/or punished because they (incorrectly) think more violence comes from the left." This sort of pernicious thinking is embedded in the White House right now. It's the functional equivalent of Nixon and his Plumbers, multiplied by about 100. Back then, however, there were GOP politicians like Howard Baker. Now, bravery and/or forthrightness is thin on the ground to non-existent in the formerly hallowed chambers of members of the former Republican Party. That's not good for America.
The Dear Leader is looking for any excuse to declare Martial Law. He will probably wait until just before the midterms so he can use that as a pretext to cancel elections. He is goading the public to fight back by his brutal use of ICE agents and his concentration camps. In a nation where guns outnumber people and the majority of his followers are brainwashed, it is not hard to incite the violence he needs and craves. The excuse that violence is coming from the left is a total lie. Almost every incident is MAGA, just watch the news.
Trump and his cronies are masters of projection. Incitement is exactly what they've been doing. However, I agree with Jen that it's a word we can do without precisely because of it being wrongly used to characterize free speech from the rest of us. Instead, I suggest "egging on" or "fanning the flames" for what he is doing with right-wing violence.
At any rate, our first amendment guaranteed freedom of speech is a core principle, perhaps the core principle of our nation, since without it, we cannot speak out. And if we can't speak out, we can't object, and if we can't object, we can't act to change things for the better.
Well said. And the actual right wing violence may become yet another Achilles heel for the president with his voters. One thing I have noticed in some of the ‘focus group’ articles by the New York Times and others is that Trump 2024 voters have stopped talking about concerns about chaos and started talking about concerns about guns. It may be that the law and order party may finally be showing that they cannot do not even want to try to keep us safe.
MAGA-man has good reason to be concerned. The days of gun ownership will come to an end. Once the Trump regime suppresses the "libs," they will come after the guns. Can't let the rabble have guns in a dictatorship.
They won't go after the guns owned by his supporters.
Maybe, maybe not. Trump has often turned on supporters/allies before. Better to take all the guns then risk them being turned on him and his current allies.
Not going to happen.
The difference between the right and the left concerning violence and mass shootings is so visible to us, but the felon and his flunkies insist that we are the violent ones. We are well aware that the GOP are actually the perpetrators of violence and mass murder events, no matter what the regime says. The felon is the one who encourages his followers to “Beat the hell out of them, and I’ll pay your legal fees”.
MAGA killers in Michingan and North Carolina didn't make headlines in MSN. The killer in Michigan had a Trump flag on his lawn. https://www.newsbreak.com/ok-magazine-561398/4262972841066-mormon-church-shooter-had-a-donald-trump-sign-hanging-outside-of-his-home-photo
The photo of him and his wife on PBS news last evening was with him wearing a Trump 2020 t-shirt. I agree with the others about caution around speculating, but I think your point is that, this time, there is restraint from the right in speculating.
That he displayed Trump, at the very least, has kept them from blaming the left, though I’m sure they’ll find a way to spin it.
It was not on his lawn. It was posted on a tall fence at the end of his driveway (along with a stop sign), and it is unclear from the photo whether it was a 2020 or 2024 sign. I acknowledge that the sign is suggestive, but it does not say anything about the state of mind of the killer. I think we need to be careful about inferences. Let the courts sort it out.
BTW, your link leads to a page that has been removed, though here is the pic on Daily Beast- first one to pop up in my search. Please note the leading comment at the top of the page, just below the headline. It says something we need to keep in mind about "social media speculation".
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-sign-spotted-outside-church-shooters-house/
It is clearly a Trump sign that is still on his property. If he didn't like Trump, or recently decided he didn't like Trump, he would have taken it down.
Your first sentence is accurate. The moment you typed the word "if", you entered speculation.
I agree that "...we need to be careful about inferences." There's enough poor behavior to go around and on all sides.
false equivalence
The right wing is also constantly throwing up Biden's request to social media companies to police COVID lies as the prime example of Democrats squashing free speech. False equivalence is what the right excels at. In that case, people were sickening and dying in large numbers from a pandemic and Biden's request was mild in comparison to the wide-ranging threats to free speech being uttered and pursued by MAGA. I don't want to hear any more comparisons with COVID to excuse what Trump is doing to his political enemies.
“False equivalence!” I’ve been searching my brain for that term but it was hiding.
It’s not hard to convince people of something when they want to believe it.
Yup. Biden's requests were exactly that -- requests. There was not the threat of government sanction if social media companies refused to decline. And, in fact, if you look at the record, the social media companies took down some -- but far from all -- of the posts that the Biden administration flagged.
Now I'll note that after the fact we're seeing Zuckerberg lie about what happened and claim otherwise. But that is clearly Zuckerberg trying to suck up to the Trump administration by saying what Trump wants to hear.
And don't forget the ultimate incitement that occurred on January 6, 2021.
It led to an insurrection and a violent attempt to overturn a free and fair election.
The nerve of that fat old dotard really angers me.
He needs to look in a mirror. That cracked reflection is the epitome of incitement.
You've hit on a really important point here! The indiscriminate use of the word "incitement" to refer to any speech or writing that criticizes the administration or the MAGA agenda is itself an incitement to right wing violence!
Their hypocrisy is astounding - every accusation a confession.
Well, why not own the word? As in:
We incite democracy.
Yesterday, masked ICE bandits in Chicago were running after a guy on a bicycle who taunted them by yelling “I am not a citizen!”
If it weren’t such a pathetically wrong-headed, unconstitutional show of pointless, self-defeating force, the image of masked bandits running after a bicyclist essentially going “nyah, nyah, nyah, nya-naaah!” wouid be hilarious.
The overdressed-camo-thigh-tight-pants are ridiculous; grown men who are otherwise unemployed, bullies playing army. But the guy on the bike is hilarious and deserves a medal. At least a free lunch. I think anyone in sight on the streets ought to wear a garbage bag with eyes cut out and gloves so no one can profile them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2JgTifDPiE
They are trying to achieve provocation. Meantime they are gaslighting, maybe it could be called “Gasprov”. That said Merrick Garland could not do anything with a noose as evidence. Nor could our impeachment process. If I used that noose in any number of AI fantasies I can imagine Kash Patel would be knocking on my door. Just a sec…. Someone’s at the door.
After January 6, and even more so after drumpf whitewashed the attempted coup by pardoning and extolling the perpetrators doing his will, all talk of incitement from this foundering regime under a mentally degenerate leader is trash talk.
"...if the American people let them." The scary core of the whole matter, I fear.
Everyone has to do SOMEthing, given their age and capacity.
True. On a positive note, I just watched a swan pair schooling their five youngsters in flight liftoff! A great heart-opener for the day.
JR: "If Trump and his ilk had their way, they would be allowed to say anything, including exhorting a mob to overthrow an election, but liberals could be silenced and/or punished because they (incorrectly) think more violence comes from the left." This sort of pernicious thinking is embedded in the White House right now. It's the functional equivalent of Nixon and his Plumbers, multiplied by about 100. Back then, however, there were GOP politicians like Howard Baker. Now, bravery and/or forthrightness is thin on the ground to non-existent in the formerly hallowed chambers of members of the former Republican Party. That's not good for America.
Yet again, your column is powerful and spot-on! Thank you for such clarity.
The Dear Leader is looking for any excuse to declare Martial Law. He will probably wait until just before the midterms so he can use that as a pretext to cancel elections. He is goading the public to fight back by his brutal use of ICE agents and his concentration camps. In a nation where guns outnumber people and the majority of his followers are brainwashed, it is not hard to incite the violence he needs and craves. The excuse that violence is coming from the left is a total lie. Almost every incident is MAGA, just watch the news.
Thank you for stating this so clearly.
Trump and his cronies are masters of projection. Incitement is exactly what they've been doing. However, I agree with Jen that it's a word we can do without precisely because of it being wrongly used to characterize free speech from the rest of us. Instead, I suggest "egging on" or "fanning the flames" for what he is doing with right-wing violence.
At any rate, our first amendment guaranteed freedom of speech is a core principle, perhaps the core principle of our nation, since without it, we cannot speak out. And if we can't speak out, we can't object, and if we can't object, we can't act to change things for the better.