Two Headlines in “The Hill,” June 23, 2017
Former Trump adviser who called for Clinton to be shot attends White House bill signing
Nebraska Democrat party official fired for wishing Scalise was dead
Call for Hillary Clinton to “be put in the firing line and shot for treason”? Invitation to the Trump White House for a signing ceremony.
Say about the shooting of Steve Scalise ”I hate this m-f-, I’m glad he got shot”? Fired by the Nebraska Democratic Party from the position of Technology Chairman.
Who’s to say which is the best and more honorable course of action?
I will say it. The Nebraska Democrats are right. The Trump White House is wrong.
Two stories:
Nebraska Democrat party official fired for wishing Scalise was dead
thehill.com/...
To clear up the facts.
First, it is the Democratic Party, not the Democrat Party.
Second, Phil Montag, a technology chairman with the state Democratic Party, never said that he “wished Scalise was dead.” He said, “I’m glad he got shot”
“[Scalise’s] whole job is to get people, convince Republicans to fucking kick people off fucking health care. . . I hate this motherfucker, I’m glad he got shot. . . I’m glad he got shot. I’m not going to fucking say that in public.”
thinkprogress.org/...
This was enough to get him fired. Properly so.
We have agreed, as the people of this country, to handle the matters of our government not with assassins’ bullets, but by freely speaking, freely printing, freely petitioning (and phone-calling and faxing), freely assembling (and sign-carrying and speechifying), and by freely being who we are. We desire to crush our enemies; see them driven before us; and hear the lamentations of their pundits — but we will do it with votes.
Do I desire to see Donald Trump stymied at every turn, ridiculed, investigated, and turned out of office as unfit for any position of public trust? Yes. Would I be glad to see him shot? No — and I hope that there are people working diligently to see that that doesn’t happen. (And I hope that the people protecting him are kept always safe.)
Which means, yes, that I agree that Johnny Depp was right to apologize for joking about how long it’s been since an actor assassinated a president. Assassinations are not funny.
variety.com/…
Which brings us to the second headline in the Hill.
Former Trump adviser who called for Clinton to be shot attends White House bill signing
thehill.com/…
One of the reasons that it so easy to hold the Trump White House in contempt is their blatant superficiality and hypocrisy. Is there any honest conviction in anything they say? They say this about Johnny Depp:
President Trump has condemned violence in all forms and it’s sad that others like Johnny Depp have not followed his lead,” the statement read. “I hope that some of Mr. Depp’s colleagues will speak out against this type of rhetoric as strongly as they would if his comments were directed to a Democrat elected official.”
Again, it’s a Democratic official, not a Democrat official.
And then, to show the emptiness of Trumps condemnation of “violence in all forms,” the White House invites a man (a New Hampshire GOP state representative) who said that “Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason” — and has him in the front rows at a signing ceremony.
To say nothing of Ted Nugent.
I know that there are those who have lost patience with the Democratic Party desire not to go as low as the GOP. But there is a rightness and forward-looking wisdom to this approach. As someone has said . . . (I think it was Simone Weil, but I can’t find it) . . .
If you’re not going to stand up for everyone,
then why should anyone listen to you?