Fusion reports that Trump supporters are threatening to hang Democratic Congressman Al Green in the wake of the Congressman’s declaration on the floor of the House earlier this week, “This is where I stand, I will not be moved, the president must be impeached.”
Recorded death threats received by Democratic Texas Congressman Al Green, who this week called for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, are some of the vilest, most racist attacks you’re likely to hear in a good while. (Or, maybe not.) And unsurprisingly, they come from Trump supporters.
“Try it,” the first caller threatens, referring to impeaching Trump, “and we’ll lynch all you fucking n****rs, you’ll be hanging from a tree. I didn’t see anybody calling for the impeachment of your n****r Obama when he was born in Kenya. He’s not even an American. So, fuck you, n****r.
Unwavering, the congressman promised to continue his fight to oust Trump, which so far has been a solitary one among his congressional colleagues who have stopped short of calling for president’s impeachment.
The Fusion piece contains the actual audio and it is hard to hear that language; reading it with asterisks is bad enough but the words are shocking to the senses — and that was their purpose.
The issue of impeaching Trump is by no means a black issue and Congressman Green did not frame the issue that way. He kept repeating that he was speaking “to the American people...let’s let the American people weigh in.” The New York Times had this:
So far, members of the Congressional Black Caucus are taking the most aggressive tack, a recognition of the boiling anger toward the president in many black communities.
In a speech to the liberal Center for American Progress on Tuesday, Representative Maxine Waters of California drew applause and whistles when she reminded the audience of her insistence that Mr. Trump be driven from office. But even more notably, Ms. Waters, a veteran lawmaker, has also been intensifying pressure on her colleagues to recognize the threat she said is posed by a reckless president.
“I know that there are those who are talking about, ‘Well, we’re going to get ready for the next election,’” she said, mimicking her more cautious colleagues. “No, we can’t wait that long. We don’t need to wait that long. He will have destroyed this country by then.”
Liberals are planning a series of nationwide protests on July 2 known as “Impeachment Marches” to increase the pressure.
The New York Times went on to say that while Congressman Green was thundering from the well of the House, “The president must be impeached,” California Congressman Adam Schiff was saying, “No one ought to, in my view, rush to embrace the most extraordinary remedy that involves the removal of the president from office,” Schiff warned that Democrats should not let their actions “be perceived as an effort to nullify the election by other means.”
My sense is that Adam Schiff wants to let the impeachment issue proceed slowly and surely so as not to have the Democrats appear reckless or overhasty. That is prudent, but it is also prudent to heed what Maxine Waters had to say that the longer we delay in bringing impeachment proceedings the more damage Trump will be able to do. More from The New York Times:
Even Senator Bernie Sanders, the liberal Vermont firebrand, counseled patience. “What needs to happen is that we have got to go forward with an absolutely bipartisan investigation,” Mr. Sanders said. “The public must understand this is not a Democratic issue.”
Senator Richard J. Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, was even more forceful in speaking of the party’s activists.
“They wanted the president gone on November the 10th of last year,” Mr. Durbin said. “I want to make certain that we follow the law, follow the Constitution, do it in an orderly way and not to get into a crazed political crusade at this point.”
Whatever happens here, I don’t want to see another Democratic strategy snafu where we lose our momentum and our opportunity. In this instance Bernie Sanders is dreaming if he thinks that this is going to be a bi-partisan effort. The only way that might happen is in a 2018 where the House has been lost and the Republicans have taken a hell of a beating and while that would certainly be lovely to watch, I agree with Maxine Waters that we don’t have the time nor the luxury to wait for it. With the issue of obstruction of justice on the table there’s very little to be gained by waiting.