If Saddam Hussein had ever been booed at an Iraqi national soccer team’s event the way Trump was booed on Sunday night at the World Series, he probably would have had his security forces lock the gates and burn all the spectators alive. We can be grateful that in America those kind of orders would not be followed. And, precisely for that reason, people felt free to express their disdain for Trump on national television and even unfurl banners and hold up signs calling for his impeachment.
What I find odd is that there are people who strongly disapprove of Trump and feel like he urgently needs to be frog-marched out of the White House who are nonetheless furrowing their brows and expressing discomfort with the way Trump was serenaded with abuse.
I can’t really decide on what basis someone would conclude that Trump is an inherently better person that Saddam Hussein. He’s constrained in what he can do, but that’s not an inner constraint. The people still have the right to boo him and the freedom to get away with it. Why wouldn’t they take advantage of this?
The idea that people should respect an office that is being defiled holds no water with me. Martin Luther King Jr. said “the ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” Silence is an objective moral failing here–even a tragedy.
Donald Trump is one of the worst world leaders we’ve seen, and freed from constraints he would demonstrate this beyond any dispute. The people of Washington, DC know him better and more intimately than most, and they rendered the verdict at the World Series.
He’s a pariah and he should be removed from power immediately. The more people who use their chance to say this, the better.
The dismayed punditocracy needs to meditate upon the fact that once “conservatives” start some distasteful practice, their opponents are going to feel entitled to respond in kind—one must fight fire with fire, and there is certainly no doubt which political faction started the game of Lock Her Up. You don’t like some instance of factional warfare? Then denounce the side that initiates it, and when the other side takes it up, explain that this is to be expected. But don’t look to the wronged side to self-censor and then cry “hypocrisy!” when they don’t. Apparently only the left is to sit upon our rights and not exercise them.
Also, too, there obviously was a comedy/satire element to the crowd chanting “Lock Him Up” after all the mileage the vile political criminal Der Trumper has gotten out of the phrase. So Sorry Morning Joe, you self-important doofus.
Finally, it strikes me that a candidate who incites his Deplorabes into rousing cheers seeking the (bogus) incarceration of his political opponent (even after he has won!) is abusing his first amendment rights, whereas a crowd of ordinary citizens spontaneously and independently heaping abuse upon an historically unpopular prez is doing precisely what the Framers envisioned.
Opinions can legitimately vary, but the reaction of fans at the ballgame struck me as more like an example of fighting fire with water, than fighting fire with fire.
Trump’s been going around the country for 4-5 years now, indoctrinating his followers by, among many other things, leading and/or encouraging “Lock Her Up!” chants. It’s Authoritarian Leader Public Speaking 101.
What happened the other night was a shining example of a free people taking collective, improvised action in defense of their democracy…and doing so with wit, humor, passion, and dexterity. Similar words, totally different actions.
Thank you!
Nailed it. I think I will have a red t shirt made saying just that. Lock. Him. Up. And with the words across the top: ” Make America Great Again”
So say we all.