Dem
47
GOP
53
Yesterday's rain delay was fortuitous, as it allowed our star pitchers Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain to get an extra day's rest. As they say: "Spahn and Sain, and then pray for rain."
No wait, we got confused for a moment. As it turns out, we are not, in fact, the 1948 Boston Braves. In our case, the rain delay actually added additional elements to each of the three news stories we're running. So, the literal clouds had a metaphorical silver lining.
Maybe you heard—and maybe you didn't; keep reading—that six Democratic members of Congress recorded a video, entitled "Don't Give Up the Ship," addressed to members of the U.S. Armed Forces and the U.S. intelligence community:
The six speakers—Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA)—are all veterans of the armed forces and/or intelligence services, and they take turns delivering a message whose main thrust is this:
We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now. Americans trust their military, but that trust is at risk. This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens. Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad but from right here at home. Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders.
The subtext, for Americans who might be put in this position, is: (1) If you've been worried that some of the things you've been ordered to do are illegal, you're not crazy, and (2) If you do decide that an order is illegal, you will have the support of half the politicians in Washington, and maybe more. Just to make sure nobody misses that latter point, the video also includes Slotkin noting "We've got your back."
Donald Trump, of course, blew a gasket when he learned of the video. He got on his seditious social media site, and sent out this angry message:
It's called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand - We won't have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET. President DJT
We very seriously doubt that he could even define what the word "sedition" means. Still, just in case anyone was unable to infer Trump's preferred outcome for this hypothetical trial, he added it just a bit later:
SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!
So, that's the President of the United States, expressing his preference that members of the opposition party be rounded up, tried and executed. Perfectly normal, perfectly healthy.
This immediately prompted quite the response in Washington. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who has made clear time and again that he is nothing more than a Trump lapdog, lived up to his reputation. Johnson said that while he would not necessarily like to see his colleagues executed, that IS the proper punishment for sedition, and the video was "wildly inappropriate" and "beyond the pale."
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) was not willing to endorse, even indirectly, the execution of Democratic members, but concurred that "what [the six Democrats] did was ill-advised and provocative and unnecessary." Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), another lapdog who is also one of the biggest show horses in the Senate, posted a message to his webpage asserting that he's opposed to illegal orders, too, but demanding that the Democrats give him an example of "a single example of an illegal order during this administration." Hmmmm... how about opening fire on civilian fishing boats without provocation or warning, and without benefit of a declaration of war, Mr. Senator?
The White House, for its part,
explained
that everyone misunderstood Trump's response. White House Minister of Information Press Secretary Karoline
Leavitt said that the President does not wish to execute anyone, and that it's the six Democrats who "brought the
president to responding in this way." And Trump himself
appeared
on Fox to tell whatever fawning host he was talking to that he was merely accusing the six Democrats of sedition, not
calling for them to be executed. After all, "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" is pretty ambiguous, right? Maybe
he thinks it doesn't REALLY count if he fails to add "Thank you for your attention to this matter."
Of course, Trump can claim his words were not to be taken seriously, but that does not make it so. When the President of the United States calls for violence against someone, all it takes is for one person to take it seriously. Slotkin has already revealed that the Capitol Police believe she's in enough danger that they are assigning a 24/7 security detail. One imagines that some/most/all of the other five are getting the same treatment. Well, maybe not Kelly. A former U.S. Navy captain and astronaut probably has an idea or two about how to protect himself, if needed.
And here is the dimension that a day's delay added to this item. Here is a list of the highest-on-the-page Trump-related item from 10 major media outlets, as of Friday night at 9:00 p.m. PT. See if you notice a pattern:
Yep. Not a one has anything to do with Trump pulling a Mussolini/Hitler/Franco, and calling for leading members of the opposition to be put to death. And the story is not to be found lower on the page(s), either. It has completely disappeared. If you were not paying attention during the correct news cycle, you might never even know what happened. For any other president, this would dominate the news for weeks, if not months. For Trump, it's just another Thursday. (Z)