Much has been written about Donald Trump’s continuing aim to galvanize an army of potentially violent Americans. We all know what happened on January 6th, and his Nazi-inspired rhetoric has not diminished since then but only increased in the wake of his criminal indictments.
The obvious targets of his rage—Democrats and officers of the court—are easy to spot. Others, including members of his own “party” don’t get the same scrutiny. As Robert Reich pointed out in his recent Substack essay
Data shows extraordinarily high levels of threats against mayors, federal judges, election workers and administrators, public health officials, and even school board members.
He goes on to share an exchange with the Republican majority leader of the Pennsylvania state Senate explaining why she signed a letter backing Trump’s attempt to overturn the results in that state: “If I would say to you, ‘I don’t want to do it,’ I’d get my house bombed tonight.”
Last year Barbara and I were invited to a forum hosted by Alison’s alma mater, James Madison University, and moderated by another JMU grad, CNN’s Jim Acosta. Jim’s guest was Dr. Anthony Fauci. Jim and I became friends thanks to the JMU connection and journalism and I’ve appeared on his program on several occasions addressing the “Guns & Google” quandary. It was a pleasure to see Jim in person again, and an honor to meet Dr. Fauci, whom I consider a national hero.
Dr. Fauci, unfortunately, is among those who have faced threats. I was shocked but not surprised to see metal detectors set up at the auditorium’s entrance and even more disheartened to observe the security detail accompanying the good doctor. He had FIVE federal US marshals protecting him from the constant risk to his safety.
How did we get to this point in our society and how did Trump spawn a legion of vigilantes? The answer is they’ve always been there. Some of these nut jobs are bored with their lives and are thrilled to sow chaos. Others are just pissed off at the world for a real or imagined grievance. Both want to blow shit up, be it Congress or any other institution they feel isn’t performing to their liking. Trump tapped into that psyche and gave them an avenue that now imperils the very fabric of our country, with of course, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and the Google mafia as more than willing accomplices. You know where I am with that.
The thing is, and I hate to say it, I can empathize with some of these folks. Congress has long been broken and institutions like the Federal Trade Commission don’t do jack shit (I’ve been waiting four years for a response from them). Even Senator Mark Warner is being ghosted. His demand letter on my behalf has gone unanswered for almost four months. So, I get it. I’m ready to - only figuratively - blow them up, too.
The problem with all this pervasive angst is that while 99.9% of these millions of people aren’t going to blow up someone’s house or assassinate Dr. Fauci, the odds are one lone wack job will feel compelled to carry out the wishes of his cult leader, Donald J. Trump. This is the consequence of the havoc that this individual has unleashed, creating the dystopian society we find ourselves in today.
Donald Trump has put good people in danger, and Facebook, Google, Elon, and lest we not forget Fox News— have willingly facilitated this kind of evil purely for profit.