Just in time for Halloween,Trump followers ramp up the violent rhetoric 

Last Monday, a man in Boise, Idaho asked a question that summed up where many Trump supporters’ heads seem to be these days:

“’At this point, we're living under corporate and medical fascism. This is tyranny. When do we get to use the guns?’ the man asked, to applause from the crowd. ‘No, and I’m not – that’s not a joke. I’m not saying it like that. I mean, literally, where’s the line? How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?’”

 

“When can we start killing people who don’t follow Trump?” may not be the question that *every* Republican is asking. In fact, the Boise Trump supporter was immediately rebuked by the host of the conservative forum. But the fact that conservative events draw people asking this kind of question, in public, with cameras rolling, is pretty concerning. 

Because some of them eventually may decide there’s no time like the present. 

Don’t believe me? Think it was just some lone nutjob blowing off steam? 

“Tell the truth or your three kids will be fatally shot.” That’s the threat a Republican election official received in Philadelphia—because he didn’t try to overturn results showing Biden winning the election there last November. The threat included the official’s address, the names of his three kids, and a picture of his house. 

Or, how about this: a school board president in Nevada has received death threats, including messages saying she should be hung or shot, along with disturbing images, after a school board meeting where a large crowd demanded that the local school district not enact a mask mandate. 

This at a time when some states are seeing rising cases of COVID among kids creating a dynamic where more children are testing positive than adults. This report from Michigan noted that schools and classes are shutting down because of the new infections. 

But let’s not think about the sick kids; there’s tyranny to oppose, and non-Trump supporters to threaten. 

I know this is unpleasant and troubling stuff to think about. I know I’m presenting it in pretty stark and pessimistic terms. But this is based on events that are really going on, right now. It’s not fearmongering if there is a real threat. And how can we not see this river of abuse and promises of violence as anything but a credible threat?

On a daily basis, we hear Trump supporters express anger about those who voted for Biden, or those who support vaccination and mask mandates to prevent COVID-19, or those who don’t want to censor teachers for being honest about racism in the USA. 

The fact is, the leaders of the Republican party have created an extreme atmosphere of hate and fear among their followers. They have pushed a storyline that an election was stolen from Republicans, when they know that is not true. And they have done it intentionally, because they believe it will motivate their voters—at a time when conservative voters are declining in numbers overall. They have to get as many voters as possible out to every election, by any means necessary. They lose power otherwise. 

So, it’s come to this. A rancid, hateful undercurrent of violence among conservatives, especially among fervent Trump supporters. They stormed the Capital, calling for Mike Pence’s life. They come to conservative events begging for permission to start executing people they disagree with. They are sending death threats on a regular basis to public officials. 

I want to believe that we can come back from the brink. In fact, I have to believe that—I have to have hope that this country is not as scary a place as it seems to be. Whether that hope is justified rests on the decisions and judgment of the conservatives in this country. They can continue to wallow in a political cesspool and indulge the worst elements of our society, or they can choose to value truth, human rights, and the principles of democracy. 

What will it be?

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