Donald Trump is playing with fire
After House Democrats announced formal impeachment charges against Donald Trump on December 10, the thin-skinned narcissist reacted by attacking Rep. Adam Schiff. He tweeted: “Shifty Schiff, a totally corrupt politician, made up a horrible and fraudulent statement, read it to Congress, and said those words came from me. He got caught, was very embarrassed, yet nothing happened to him for committing this fraud. He’ll eventually have to answer for this!”
It’s now almost two months later and Trump has been impeached. Although the trial is not expected to remove Trump from office, it’s not exactly helping his prospects of reelection. It’s no surprise, then, that Trump lashed out at Schiff this morning, tweeting: “Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man. He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!”
Although today’s tweet resembles the other, this one is more alarming. Trump now screams his accusation of Schiff as a corrupt politician in all caps, then ironically labels Schiff as the one who’s disturbed. Of greater concern is the point behind Trump’s tweets. In the first tweet, Trump suggests that Schiff will have to answer “eventually,” which could be interpreted to mean at the ballot box. This time, Trump declares that Schiff hasn’t “paid the price” for what he allegedly has done to America.
Trump worshippers will insist this isn’t a big deal because Trump didn’t directly threaten Schiff. For example, Sen. James Lankford told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” this morning, “I don’t think he’s encouraging a death threat,” adding that he thinks Trump simply meant that Schiff will pay a political price for pursuing impeachment. But when Chuck Todd asked Schiff today on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether he thought Trump’s tweet was a threat, he responded, “I think it was intended to be.” In typical Trumpian style, Lankford attempted to turn the tables, adding: “I’m offended only because Adam Schiff believes that the only reason that we act the way that we do is because the President’s going to put our head on a pike.”
Trump doesn’t need to tweet “Death to Adam Schiff!” for there to be something seriously wrong. Last August, a deranged gunman killed 22 people and injured dozens more in a mass shooting in El Paso. The killer admitted he was targeting Mexicans and referred to “the Hispanic invasion of Texas” in a manifesto, directly linking his shooting spree to Trump’s rhetoric. As Palmer report told you then, there’s a term for the dangerous role that Trump is playing. Trump is a “stochastic terrorist,” which means he demonizes people in a way that will likely provoke others into committing violent acts.
Trump’s latest threat against a sitting member of Congress is unlikely to persuade Twitter to cancel his account. But it should motivate us all to cancel Trump’s presidency by whatever legal means possible — hopefully before another innocent person gets killed by his hateful and deranged rhetoric.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month