Even among those who’ve come to expect the worst from Donald Trump, his threatening rhetoric toward six Democratic members of Congress was extraordinary. On Tuesday, the Democrats, each of whom served in the military, the intelligence community or both, appeared in a video and reminded current service members that they are obligated to refuse illegal orders.
On Thursday morning, the president responded with over-the-top apoplexy.
The Republican began by posting an item to his social media platform that accused the lawmakers of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR,” adding, “Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. … An example MUST BE SET.” That was soon followed by a related message that read in part, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”
Never one for subtlety, the Republican added, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” which roughly coincided with Trump amplifying an online message written by someone else, who wrote, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
Amid widespread concerns that Trump’s hysterics might put the Democratic veterans in danger, the president returned to the subject a day later during a Fox News Radio interview with Brian Kilmeade. It might’ve seemed like an opportunity for the Republican to walk back his rhetoric, but that apparently wasn’t part of his plan.
“I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble,” the president said, referring to the Democratic lawmakers. “In the old days, it was death. I’m not threatening them, but I think they’re in serious trouble. I would say they’re in serious trouble.”
He didn’t elaborate on the nature of the “trouble,” or who might target them.
For good measure, he added, “But in the old days, if you said a thing like that, that was punishable by death. What they said is, I mean, I don’t know about the modern-day things, because, you know, modern day is a lot softer.”
Trump concluded that the military veterans “broke the law,” though he didn’t explain which law was broken. (The president has a habit of defining “illegal” as “stuff I don’t like.”)
Right off the bat, it’s worth emphasizing that any sentence that begins, “I’m not threatening death, but…” is the sort of line a political leader shouldn’t deliver. What’s more, his repeated references to “death” — in reference to Democratic comments that were entirely accurate — only make the underlying problem worse and seriously undermine his effort to claim that he’s not threatening them. As for the broader political context, the controversy Trump created Thursday morning could’ve faded from headlines, which makes it all the more notable that he returned to the subject a day later to add fresh fuel to the fire. On Capitol Hill, Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado — a decorated military veteran who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan — is seeking a U.S. Capitol Police investigation into Trump for what he described as “intimidating, threatening, and concerning” threats the president made. Democratic Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, an Air Force veteran who also appeared in the video in question, told The New Republic’s Greg Sargent that she made a similar appeal to the Capitol Police. Whether such an investigation will actually happen remains unclear, though if a regular person sent members of Congress a message accusing them of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” it’s a safe bet law enforcement would follow up and knock on the sender’s door. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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