The Daily Dose: Killing Time

Trump wants to assassinate Democratic lawmakers.

Yesterday, President Trump announced that he is considering pardoning Barry Croft Jr. and Adam Fox, two men convicted in 2022 of heading a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer. During the 2020 election campaign, you may recall, a group of whack jobs hopped up on Infowars dietary supplements hatched a plot to abduct the Democratic governor, which for some reason they believed would spark a second civil war (a good thing, in their view). The plan failed, as a number of their accomplices turned out to be undercover FBI agents.

Trump's announcement comes on the heels of the mass-pardon of hundreds of criminals sentenced for their roles in the January 6^th insurrection. Among them were Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, high-profile leaders of white supremacist groups who were found guilty of seditious conspiracy.

These are not the only examples of Trump attempting to foment violence against his enemies. Federal judges, in particular, have faced bomb threats and other acts of intimidation thanks to a constant fusillade of incendiary remarks from the president, top Republicans, and rightwing media.

What all of this adds up to is a big flashing green light to commit violence against Democratic lawmakers. The policy is summed up by a quip from the Pardon Attorney, an emotionally unstable man named Ed Martin: “No MAGA left behind,” he tweeted Tuesday.

Declaring open season on the opposition is not typical of nascent authoritarian regimes. India's Narendra Modi and his ruling party do sometimes encourage violent attacks on their opponents. Vladimir Putin is notorious for ordering assassinations of his critics. But no autocrat that I know of makes a habit of announcing it publicly; they tend to be a little more subtle about it.

This is yet another example of Trump's authoritarian overreach. As I have written previously, he is attacking more targets more quickly than any other modern-day autocrat. He is doing it, moreover, with nary an attempt to conceal his actions. This is not sustainable and is likely to trigger backlash as his grab for power accelerates in the coming years.

Still, you would not know it from the statements of Democratic leaders. In between incessant declarations about Medicare and Social Security, most Democrats scarcely have time to mention Trump's public efforts to have them assassinated.

Gretchen Whitmer, for her part, is unlikely to change course from her current strategy of finding areas of compromise with the president. “He might want to get me killed, but at least we can work together to restore Asian carp to the Great Lakes” would not be a far-fetched response on her part to the recent pardon revelations.

Trump's reckless assault on rights and freedoms offers enormous potential for a large-scale civil resistance movement. But making it happen will require leadership. What the Democrats are offering is not that.