4th of July

Tantrump

 "What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and brought up in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric? Will no one rid me of this turbulent cleric?”
Henry II Tantrump


The video of Trump body-slamming “CNN” is rightfully being called a threat by the news media. It is a specific type of threat, based upon its target audience. And many of us are old enough to remember a number of similar messages that targeted similar audiences in the past. Let's start by looking briefly at two examples.

When President Kennedy was preparing to visit Dallas, retired General Edwin Walker tasked his top aide, Robert Surrey with producing and distributing 5,000 copies of a now infamous “Wanted for Treason” flier. Walker was the General Flynn of his day: in 1961, JFK had rumors that Walker was distributing John Birch Society pamphlets among troops investigated, and Walker was forced to resign in disgrace.

Walker moved to Dallas, which at the time had the highest per-capita rate of KKK membership in the United States. Walker became a leader of the combined Bircher-KKK types in the city. This group also had a “religious” tone, in that Rev. W. A. Criswell, the head of the First Baptist Church, actively opposed JFK.

Now, let's fast-forward to 1964-65. There were growing tensions between the Nation of Islam, and former NOI Minister Malcolm X. In the NOI publication “Muhammad Speaks” – which was actually created by Malcolm years before – there were a series of disturbing articles that clearly suggested Malcolm should be killed. The April 10, 1964 edition included a cartoon of Malcolm's decapitated head bouncing down a street.

In each of these instances, it is accurate to identify these as threats. But when we look closely at them, there is more. A threat is normally communicated by one person to the victim of their threat. It seeks to intimidate the victim. Yet the Trump threat – like the other examples – is primarily directed at a different target, the unstable idiots who believe it is their patriotic and/or religious duty to carry out a fatal attack upon the victim of the threat.

It is worth noting that the treason flier, the Malcolm cartoon, and the Trump video share an important characteristic: each of the three contains a visual component. They aren't simply written words, that are processed in a specific portion of the human brain. The wanted poster had two pictures of JFK, the cartoon had four images of Malcolm's severed head, and the Trump film featured a not-that-old clip of Trump performing violence at a professional wrestling events. Visual images such as these are processed in a different area within the brain.

Thus, Trump's message was directed towards the mentally unhinged freaks who love pro wrestling and the confederate flag, and who are convinced that the NRA and Donald Trump are looking out for their interests. And from the campaign season, when Trump verbally attacked reporters such as Katy Tur, we know these people are prone to responding to Trump's call to action – Ms. Tur had to hire private security to insure her safety outside of work.

I'll end this with a personal anecdote. I was speaking to an extended family member, an in-law, who is somewhat conservative. I asked him what he thought of Trump? He said, “He is the greatest threat to our country today.” He went on to say that Trump wishes that he had the same “power” that Putin has in the context of his relationship with the media. He said that Trump would like to have several of them murdered, so as to fully intimidate the rest.