Photo by Taylor Wilcox on Unsplash
June 14, 2024-
Today is a day to celebrate. It’s Flag Day.
It’s also former President Donald Trump’s birthday. Happy birthday, sir.
Despite the 4 bogus cases backed by Democrats, polls show Trump trending ahead of Joe Biden.
Sadly, politics have been raging out of control. A commentary at NBC News equated some supporters of the former president with Nazis and co-opting the America Flag.
Hoping to pack the U.S. Supreme Court with liberals, a scandalous scheme which is opposed by members of the high court and especially Justice Stephen Breyer, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants him to resign with Democrats in power.
Such radical politics are reminiscent of a tragic Flag Day event on Wednesday, June 14, 2017.
Flag Day went largely unobserved after a gunman – an angry critic of President Donald Trump and a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) – opened fire on Republican Congressman Steve Scalise and four others at a ball field. They were innocently attending an early-morning practice for a charity baseball game.
So, Flag Day was marred by the ambush, which was a result of the growing murderous political rhetoric by the extremist wing of the Democrat Party and biased media coverage, which today prompted Mr. Scalise to tell left-leaning Democrats “We must never defund the police.”
Well, so much for unity on Flag Day this year.
America has celebrated the red, white and blue of Flag Day ever since 1777 when the Second Continental Congress called for an official flag with the 13 stripes honoring all the original states.
That’s when Americans were fighting for freedom in the American Revolutionary War that lasted from 1775 to 1783.
Through the decades, the flag evolved as more states were added to the Union. Flag Day became an official permanent observance in 1949 when it was signed into law by President Harry Truman.
Flag Day all but forgotten
Dramatic footage showed the full exchange of gun fire between the heavily armed gunman and Capitol Police who were at the baseball field to protect Rep. Scalise and the nation’s political leaders.
Rep. Scalise was critically wounded. Three Congressional staffers and a lobbyist were also shot in the ambush.
But heroic Capitol Police returned fire and saved their lives. They fatally wounded 66-year-old James T. Hodgkinson, an unemployed home inspector from Illinois just outside St. Louis, who had also been a volunteer for Sen. Sanders’ failed presidential campaign. (The attacker had made voluminous hateful posts on social media.)
Here’s footage from The Wall Street Journal with graphic content:
Also courtesy of The Wall Street Journal, shortly after, President Trump made the following call for unity.
The president later visited Rep. Scalise in the hospital.
Graciously, Sen. Sanders made a statement condemning the attack. Ironically, however in 2011, it was Sen. Sanders who sent a fundraising email blaming right-wing political rhetoric for the tragic shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.).
Neither he nor any Democrats bothered to go to the hospital to visit the fallen Scalise, who was in critical condition as doctors fought for his life.
Indefensible in the free market of ideas
To her credit on the floor of the House of Representatives, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said:
“We, as the American people, have a responsibility to safeguard our communities from such rhetorical terrorism – both online and offline.”
She was right. America has to understand what’s happening with the extremist left-wing of the Democrat Party and the media.
Vitriolic hatred on social media and the 24-hour news cycle have driven unbalanced people to violence.
Yes, the political rhetoric has inflamed unstable Americans. But the Democrats, celebrities and leftwing media pundits aren’t taking any responsibility for their behavior.
Where is their accountability?
There wasn’t any contrition from the leftwing when one of their own tried to slaughter a Republican leader.
We’re left with their words and deeds tantamount to political rhetorical terrorism.
Examples of rhetorical terrorism
Just after the ambush at the ball field, the Huffington Post deleted an article advocating the “execution” of President Trump. It was written four days earlier by Jason Fuller.
Ostensibly, still anguished seven months after the election of President Trump, no Democrat condemned the New York City theatrical production of Julius Caesar, which makes headlines for the bloody stabbing of an actor closely resembling President Trump.
Personal note: In CNN’s first year of broadcasting, I was a freelance contributor to the network. So I was horrified to see CNN’s Fareed Zakaria praise the play it as a “masterpiece.”
CNN belatedly fired Kathy Griffin after she joked in holding up a bloodied severed head, which was a President Trump look-alike.
Then there was the toilet sarcasm of CNN’s Anderson Cooper in talking with President Trump’s supporter, Jeffrey Lord:
“If he took a dump on his desk you would defend it,” said the CNN personality. “I mean, I don’t know what he would do that you would not defend!”
National Security Agency contractor, Reality Winner, who is a supporter of Sen. Sanders and who faces prison time for alleged treason in leaking classified information, wrote in her diary that she wanted to burn down the White House.
At a rally, Madonna talked about her desire to blow up the White House.
Snoop Dogg’s music video showed a simulated assassination of President Trump in a clown costume.
Of course, there are countless other examples.
Angry rhetoric leads to violence
The hateful rhetoric has prompted unstable Democrat supporters to commit ever-increasing coercion and violence toward Republicans.
For example, you might Google these disturbing examples:
- A 71-year-old female employee for Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-Ca.) was knocked unconscious in a violent protest outside the Congressman’s office.
- Rep. Tom Garrett (R-Va.) and his family have received multiple death threats.
- A Tucson Unified School District employee, Steve Martan, was arrested by the FBI for making death threats to Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) warning her that her days were “numbered.”
- Following a town hall meeting, a 35-year-old woman, Wendi Wright, was arrested for trying to run Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.) off the road.
- After another town hall meeting, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND.) was physically accosted by a man.
- On the night after the election, Olivia Corn, the president of Cornell University’s College Republicans, was physically attacked. An attacker yelled at her: “Fxxx you, racist bitch, you support a racist party.”
- In Maryland, a high school student was kicked and punched by a mob for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.
Leftwing and media should be role models for civility
A new dialogue is need for America. Leading Democrats need to be role models for positive change.
Instead of referring to President Trump supporters as “deplorables” and all Republicans as her enemies, former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton should be a diplomatic good loser and stop her pitiful excuses tour over losing the election.
She and another leftwing leader, former President Barack Obama, must admonish their supporters to accept opposing viewpoints – to stop the violent sarcasm – to grow up and to accept the election of President Trump who defeated their progressive movement.
It follows that they need to tell college students to allow freedom of speech and to tell the leftwing to stop the rhetorical terrorism, and to work for the good of America.
After all, whether the leftwing and media agree or not, millions of Americans believe President Trump represents autonomy and freedom for all Americans.
We must stop the hateful political rhetoric. The safety of the nation and all its citizens depend on it.
From the Coach’s Corner, related public-policy articles:
Solution to Cure Worker Skills Gaps, Underemployment — An innovative solution has been unveiled to solve a big economic conundrum. The solution is designed to create 25 million new jobs and help grow the economy by 4 percent.
Why President Trump’s Growth Budget, Reforms Matter — Deficit-spending and the resulting massive debt severely damages America’s economic prospects and hurts each American. But a disciplined approach will make America great again — by shrinking the national debt and implementing other needed reforms.
No Thanks to Bad Policy and Journalists, Economic Handcuffs Coming Off — By removing economic handcuffs on the nation’s economy, i will continue its strong growth if we capitalize on lessons in common-sense economic-growth policies from two late presidents.
Analysis: Trump’s Vision to Fix Trade Deficit, Create Jobs — Donald Trump acts positively: Americans are tired of the reign of politically correct terror, the movement for income redistribution, and the massive loss of good-paying jobs.
“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.”
-Pericles
__________
