Now Donald Trump suggests shooting Hillary Clinton
This should have been a good day for Donald Trump. He has been dogged by poor poll numbers and what one might term a succession of “gaffes” (although that word does not do justice to the idiocy of his interventions). But the father of the Orlando shooter was pictured in the audience behind Hillary Clinton at a rally this week. Of course Seddique Mateen is a declared American patriot who is not responsible for his son’s crimes, and the Clinton campaign did not know he was there. But let’s be honest, in the current febrile climate it is not a good look.
All Trump had to do in response was nothing, other than reiterate the new economic message his team has crafted in an effort to save their sinking candidate. This is Trump, however. He cannot help himself. The man says whatever comes into his head on stage, and at his latest rally the Republican nominee rambled his way towards an apparent suggestion that supporters of gun rights might take action again Clinton if she gets in and picks Supreme Court judges that are in favour of gun control. It sounded horribly as though he was suggesting maybe they should shoot her, or maybe the judges.
Speaking at a packed rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, with thousands more outside, Trump said: “If she gets to pick her judges ― nothing you can do, folks. Although: the Second Amendment, people, maybe there is. I don’t know.”
The Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects the right to keep and bear arms.
The clip is extraordinary, even by Trump standards. Immediately behind Trump one gentleman in the audience realises, judging by the look on his face, the importance of what has just been said.
Trump’s defenders will point out that he is hardly the first to employ violent imagery in US politics. In 2008 Obama (the soon to be winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, before he had done anything in office peaceful or otherwise) himself talked of not “bringing a knife to a gun fight” when he discussed combatting Republican attacks. Sure, and that’s a metaphor. No-one thinks Barack Obama would have seriously contemplated encouraging his supporters to assassinate his rival John McCain. With Trump, who knows what is a sick joke and what is trainee demagogue menace?
Trump has played with violent rhetoric and stoked rage from the start, treating the presidential race as though it is a made for TV wrestling contest in which swaggering boasts and threats are all part of the entertainment. But this is real life. Although it is mercifully a rare occurrence, candidates and elected representatives do get shot. And the US has a particularly bleak history in that respect.
That being the case, a responsible person fit for office wouldn’t even joke about the possibility or risk feeding the fantasies of some deranged loner who owns guns and hates politicians . But then Trump is not a responsible and fit person. He’s an out of control reality TV celebrity in the early stages of a personality meltdown.