What To Not Do And Do
Trump's violent rhetoric and imagery
I realized today that this newsletter is at times like The New Yorker in that the cartoons have nothing to do with what I write. This has always been the case with the magazine, unless there’s an specific drawing that illustrates an article or profile—that’s called an illustration. The famous cartoons in The New Yorker provide a relief from some heavy stuff. Maybe the drawing above is related to the below, maybe not. You tell me. Maybe it’s not a relief!
It’s consistently unclear to me why anyone finds Trump’s threats and violent imagery against his opponents in any way acceptable. It’s beyond horrible and to think that this man is the nominee of one of our major political parties is —well I am running out of words here. He has gone way beyond the “locker room talk” of the Billy Bush tapes, although those words were violent. Just yesterday, Trump promoted on his Truth Social page a video of President Biden hog-tied and gagged. It’s here if you want to see it.
He is inciting political violence.
Trump was put under a gag order last week by Judge Merchan, but that didn’t stop him from attacking the Judge’s daughter. The gag order did not include attacks on the Judge or his family (I don’t know why!). Here is what Trump said, and I feel he is becoming even more unhinged. This is from an article on PBS.org.
“So, let me get this straight,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, “the Judge’s daughter is allowed to post pictures of her ‘dream’ of putting me in jail, the Manhattan D.A. is able to say whatever lies about me he wants, the Judge can violate our Laws and Constitution at every turn, but I am not allowed to talk about the attacks against me, and the Lunatics trying to destroy my life and prevent me from winning the 2024 Presidential Election, which I am dominating? Maybe the Judge is such a hater because his daughter makes money by working to ‘Get Trump’ and when he rules against me over and over again, he is making her company, and her, richer and richer. How can this be allowed?”
The kind of verbal and visual violence could possibly incite one of his dedicated followers to hurt someone. It cannot be glossed over or normalized. It is the talk of a madman seeking to be president—or, rather, seeking to become a dictator. No one can tell me this is not something we should be screaming from the rooftops, constantly.
That’s one thing we have to do.
Happy Saturday, I hope you are enjoying it and sorry for the political rant. It’s a lovely day out! See you tomorrow.
For my subscribers who are paid subscribers, we will have a zoom on April 15th at 5pm EST. Link below. Look forward to seeing you then!