No. I’ll say it again. It’s reckless and irresponsible for a candidate for president of the United States to state, irrespective of the context, that there will be a bloodbath if he loses the election. It’s part of a recurring theme, similar to a statement he made in January (and similar to comments made during the 2020 campaign) that if he loses “it’ll be bedlam for the country.” Or “the only way I’ll lose is if the election is rigged.” Two months before the Nov 2020 election, before a single vote was cast, he railed about “voter fraud” and he refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. We found out later that that wasn’t some off-the-cuff remark.
Same with his criminal prosecutions. More not-so-veiled threats of violence. In Sept 2022 he warned that the nation would face problems “the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen” if he were to be indicted, and that the people “wouldn’t stand for it.” And his comments have consequences. The FBI and DHS have reported a dramatic uptick in threats against law enforcement and judges.
What he does is stoke political violence at every turn, and that’s what he did over the weekend. His description of the January 6 rioters and cop-beaters as “unbelievable patriots” and “hostages” was the icing on his shitty cake.
He floods the zone with his reckless commentary, millions have become desensitized to it, and it’s become normalized. But there’s nothing normal about it. Prior to Trump, any one of the hundreds of incendiary remarks he has made would have immediately knocked any presidential candidate out of contention if they had uttered it. But no more. Trump has lowered the bar to a level I never thought possible in the US, and he’s weakened us as a country and as a society. As General John Kelly said about the prospects of Trump returning to the White House, “God help us.”