News Flash, Trump: Words Can Kill
As big as Donald Trump’s mouth is, you’d think he wouldn’t have room left for any more of his foot. But he manages.
The latest is this statement: “Hillary [Clinton] wants to abolish — essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”
Do I believe that the candidate was actually urging the assassination of his opponent? Absolutely not. If that were really on his mind, he wouldn’t say it in front of the whole nation. Nor do I believe that’s what he meant.
But he was being incredibly stupid about the effects his words would have on both the good people of both parties who would recoil at what sounded like a veiled threat — and on the fringe idiots who might take him at his word.
Trump is forgetting his history — assuming he ever read it — and my website is about history. Over eight centuries ago, there was a monarch, Henry II, who also had a thorn in his side, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. One night, Henry was said to have uttered words that were interpreted by his men as the king’s wish that Becket be put to death. And so he was.
Was the wish actually for murder? Was is merely that the troublesome priest get punched in the nose? Or was it just Henry grousing in his cups, not realizing how his words would be interpreted? The point is that four of his knights believed that was what the king wanted, and they set out to do just that.
Fast forward to today. We have an extremely volatile election going on. There has already been one fortunately inept attempt at assassination, ironically against Trump, which ought to make him sensitive about this sort of thing. Furthermore, his rallies have been attended by extremely angry people, at least one of which has expressed a desire that Clinton be shot. It is not a far reach to imagine that someone may be rabid enough to decide Trump is right — this is what they can do to prevent her from becoming president.
Should the unthinkable happen, Trump will no doubt express his shock that anyone could do such a thing. I’m sure Henry II did too.