He’s telling us what he will do to his political enemies if he’s president again. Is anyone listening?

It’s Official: With “Vermin,” Trump Is Now Using Straight-up Nazi Talk He’s telling us what he will do to his political enemies if he’s president again. Is anyone listening?

I feel pretty safe in saying that we can now stop giving him the benefit of that particular doubt. His use—twice; once on social media, and then repeated in a speech—of the word “vermin” to describe his political enemies cannot be an accident. That’s an unusual word choice. It’s not a smear that one just grabs out of the air. And it appears in history chiefly in one context, and one context only.

  • JonEFive
    1·
    7 months ago

    And the concept that all ideas are valid and have the same merit is just as silly as your scenario. The act of locking a person up for very bad ideas is not new or uncommon. For example, making actual plans to commit a serious crime. Or what about lying to a person to encourage them to do something violent? What about encouraging a crowd of people to riot? What about using words that don’t directly encourage violence, but imply that they should be angry and should do “something” about it, while giving very clear indications of who the crowd should be angry at? When do we cross the line from an idea to incitement or conspiracy?

    Criminal incitement refers to conduct, words, or other means that urge or naturally lead others to riot, violence, or insurrection.

    So here we have a former president using very similar language to a historical genocidal dictator to dehumanize those who oppose him. And he’s using that language while speaking to a crowd of supporters who might take his words as encouragement to riot or commit violent acts. We have evidence of that mob behavior being a very real possibility, so it is reasonable to presume that the same type of speech may cause it to happen again.