Republicans are seeking to capitalize on Trumpā€™s assassination attempt ā€” using it to demand everyone stop talking about his threats to democracy

AsĀ Donald Trump recovers from anĀ assassination attemptĀ and Republicans head toĀ MilwaukeeĀ for his coronation this week, the GOP elite has rallied around a new messaging strategy: emotionally blackmailing Democratic politicians, journalists, Hollywood celebs, and numerous other Trump critics into shutting up about the former presidentā€™sĀ openly authoritarianĀ vows and his extreme policyĀ agenda.

Since the deadly shooting at a Pennsylvania rally Saturday, prominent conservativesĀ have beenĀ working to blameĀ the incident on Trumpā€™s enemies for labeling him a ā€œfascistā€ and for fanning heated ā€œrhetoricā€ that, in their telling, caused the would-be assassin to shoot at the former and perhaps future American president. ā€œWhen the message goes out constantly that the election of Donald Trump would be a threat to democracy and that the Republic would end, it heats up the environment,ā€ House SpeakerĀ Mike JohnsonĀ (R-La.)Ā saidSunday, adding: ā€œItā€™s simply not true. Everyone needs to turn the rhetoric down.ā€

  • kautau@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    Ā·
    4 months ago

    Itā€™s the subtext that matters. It could just as easily say 45,47, or the options you said, but it pretty definitively says Trump should be president for three terms, and if Trump is elected, I guarantee he wonā€™t step down to a democratic election when his term is up, itā€™ll either be:

    • He uses his presidential power to fully and without question prevent any new elections, which he can now basically do anything legally in power as Americaā€™s king
    • The vote is a sham, itā€™s rigged, like Putinā€™s and he just has landslide wins
    • He passes power to his new puppet VP or someone else that can maintain the fascist reign