Toning Down the Dangerous Rhetoric Didn’t Last Long
Just a few short days after a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump, and after Democratic political leaders and their media accomplices expressed “horror” at the attempted assassination, urged that the political rhetoric be toned down, and called for “unity,” they are right back at it — calling Trump a danger to democracy.
President Joe Biden led the way, telling NBC News that Trump is still a threat to democracy. Eric Levitz, writing in Vox, remarks that the attempted assassination should not cow Trump’s critics who rightly call him a threat to democracy. Meanwhile, at the Trump-deranged MSNBC, Joe Scarborough scolded his own network and threatened to quit Morning Joe after the network decided to pull his show on Monday. The Morning Joe show (and, for that matter, almost every MSNBC show) is infamous for its hosts and guests calling Trump a wannabe dictator, a fascist, a threat to democracy, and Hitler-like. The New Republic, which featured a cover with Trump as Hitler, says that after being shot at the Pennsylvania rally, “Trump is a bigger threat to American democracy than ever before.” David Farris, writing in Slate, says “Trump is still as dangerous as he has ever been.” The Left and the Democrats are doubling down on the “threat to democracy” rhetoric, as if that is all they have (other than abortion, which is the Democrats’ sacramental issue). As Brittany Bernstein writes in National Review, “[T]he president and his fellow Democrats have so far failed to take accountability for their own heated political rhetoric, which has frequently targeted Trump.”
In an essay in City Journal, Heather Mac Donald admits to having felt “a sense of dread that Trump would be assassinated, in light of the nonstop, ubiquitous rhetoric against him.” Mac Donald believes that calls for toning down the ugly rhetoric “are unlikely to go far.” Many Democrats actually seem to believe that “Trump is the next coming of Hitler.” Trump occupied the office of president for four years, and there was nothing he did that was “fascist,” or dictatorial, or that “threatened democracy,” but the Democrats and their media allies have constructed a narrative that they cannot afford to abandon. That is why the rhetoric about Trump the would-be dictator and threat to democracy will continue, even if there are more assassination attempts. As Politico reports, “Rhetorical changes aside, the overall messaging will be the same: Despite the tragedy in Pennsylvania, democracy will still be on the ballot.” One Democratic official compared the assassination attempt to Jan. 6 and the attack on Paul Pelosi. Joe Trippi, a Democratic consultant, summarized the heart of Biden’s campaign: “The reality is Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, period.” Princeton University history professor Eddie Glaude urged Democrats to “continue to tell the truth about the danger [Trump] presents.” “The fact that there was an attempt on his life,” Glaude continued, “does not change the threat Trump poses to American democracy.”
There will be no unity. The rhetoric comparing Trump to Hitler, and calling him a dictator and threat to democracy will continue, just as if the assassination attempt never happened. MSNBC hosts and guests wouldn’t know what to do if they didn’t have Trump to pummel with insults, and if they couldn’t warn their (few) viewers/listeners about the danger Trump poses to our democracy. With the polls showing Trump leading in most of the battleground states, and even threatening to upset Biden in Nevada and Virginia, in the wake of Biden’s miserable and, frankly, scary debate performance, characterizing Trump as a threat to democracy may be their only hope — assuming enough voters believe them.
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