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As we stumble into another outrageous attack on President Trump, we have finally said it is beyond the pale. People reacted with scorn and shock as Griffin stood there with an effigy of a bloody and beheaded Trump. Why were you shocked? Where did you think this was all heading (no pun intended)?
The unhinged attacks on Trump have been devolving since he secured the nomination of the Republican Party. Upon his election the fusillade of attacks has been escalating. Instead of someone from the political opposition standing up and saying enough is enough they keep feeding the "resistance".
A fringe member of Congress, who is best known for her racially-slanted rants and questionable ethics for hiring her daughter and feathering the nest of her husband, has been turned into an Anti-Trump hero by calling for Trump's impeachment from Day One of his presidency. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has turned -- as characterized by The Daily Beast -- from being the "Most Corrupt" to a "Resistance Hero." Her constant drumbeat for Trump's impeachment despite not once being able to establish the charges for his impeachment and admitting there is no proof of collusion with Russia continues to enrage citizens' behavior and inflame the body politic.
Where is Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calling for more reasoned communication from her caucus? Nowhere. But shouldn't she? When asked how Trump is different from other presidents she has worked with, Pelosi told the San Francisco Chronicle: 'it would be a long list. 'But how is he the same? I can't think of anything." Anything. When leaders of Congress make wild statements like this, why would you expect any parameters on citizens' behavior?
Why would the elected leaders rein in their rhetoric when the established press invigorates them by publishing statements that question the validity of Trump's presidency? The New Republic was first published in 1914, and one of the beacons of free political thought in America has fueled that discussion. On February 17th they published a column that fed the beast on two fronts.
First, a column by physician Steven Beutler repeats the charges made by supposed medical personnel that President Trump has a mental disorder. He refers to an online petition that states he exhibits all the symptoms of the mental disorder Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). That is despite the fact that not one of these so-called "professionals" ever personally examined Trump, and their own professional rules state they should not comment on someone's medical condition without proper examination.
Beutler does not stop there. He states that Trump appears to be suffering from the medical symptoms of syphilis. He puts a proviso at the end of his column that he has not personally examined Trump, but he started the discussion and the questioning. Yet, the New Republic lowered itself to publishing this piffle. They knew what this would wrought, and people like Chelsea Handler used the New Republic's now-diminished creditability to throw unsubstantiated accusations at a sitting president based on their irresponsible act. Why would we be shocked where this was heading?
The New York Times this week ran a front page column by one of their lead reporters entitled "A Constitutional Puzzle: Can the President Be Indicted?" This is supposedly the paper of record as they say. This is where the Left takes its lead. Based on what is in the NYT, the networks follow suit. You know every CNN and MSNBC host talked about the subject and had what they consider as a 'heady' discussion about indicting President Trump. They talked about possible this and possible that. Of course, nothing was verified nor attributed to an actual witness. Hard to obstruct justice when there is no underlying crime, but no matter when you want to get Trump.
What is the next jump off point when the leading lights of journalism are chattering about Trump either being mentally ill and/or a criminal? One may feel license to do anything when all the opinion leaders are talking about extraordinary times and contemptible actions. When congressional offices plot to impeach or may we say on this case overthrow a duly-elected president. But when you don't feel he was fairly elected, it is all justified.
What is the natural extension of all this? Mob violence? We have already seen this. Why would the bloodied and decapitated head of Trump be out of line? Griffin obviously did not think so.
What is going on right now worries me -- seriously worries me. Sure Democrats point fingers at Republicans and said they did this or that in the past. But the level of hysteria, histrionics and hatred aimed toward our president are at a level I am not aware of ever happening in our history. If allowed to continue, not only will our government become totally dysfunctional (apparently their goal), it will create precedents to be replicated in the future. Will the next president ever be accepted as legitimate by the opposition party and why would they when the bar has been lowered to ground level?
Griffin's actions have been universally condemned, but will it put a stop to the death spiral we are currently experiencing? I am afraid it will only be a momentary stall unless some grown-ups step up and say enough. So far that does not appear to be happening.
Bruce Bialosky is the founder of the Republican Jewish Coalition of California and a former Presidential appointee.