A Texas woman, Tiffani Gish, has been arrested after leaving an unhinged diatribe message for U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon (left) that threatened to kill the judge if she continued to order an independent review of seized material from Mar-a-Lago. According to the federal complaint, Gish used the fake name of Evelyn Salt to tell Cannon “stand the f**k down or get shot.” Gish appears unstable but she is precisely the reason why the use of “rage politics” is so dangerous on both sides in this election.[Warning: this story contains vulgar or offensive language].

Gish’s alleged voicemails on Sept. 1, 2022. The first message stated:

Hi, yes, this message is for Aileen Cannon, this is Evelyn Salt, I’m in charge of nuclear for the United States Government. Again, Donald Trump has been disqualified long ago, and he’s marked for assassination, you’re helping him ma’am. So, here’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to let you disarm fucking live nukes off your coffee table….how about you sit on an electric chair a couple times over…you think you’ve got the magical ability to pop up from the dead…pretending that you’re on the team of justice. Again, I told you he’s disqualified, he’s marked for assassination and so are you, you stupid botch, stand the fuck down or get shot…and guess what, I’m also Trump’s hitman, so consider it a bullet to your head from Donald Trump himself…

The name “Evelyn Salt” appears to be taken from the 2010 movie, Salt with Angelina Jolie. The message clearly shows a delusional and disturbed mind, including claims of a “license to kill.”

The threat follows an alleged assassination attempt against Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh by another unbalanced individual.

This is why I have been critical of both President Biden and former President Trump in their use of “rage rhetoric” for political gain. President Biden’s recent speech is an example of such reckless and inflammatory rhetoric.  He has called supporters of President Trump “semi-fascists” and enemies of the state. Former President Trump responded in kind. Such attacks will no doubt serve to rally supporters in both parties but it will also serve to enrage unstable figures who believe that they are righteous in threatening violence or taking actual violent steps.

The attacks on the judiciary from the left are particularly concerning, including Vice President Kamala Harris recently joining those unfairly calling justices “activists” and attacking their integrity.

Law professors and lawyers have also fueled this rage with unsupported attacks on our constitutional system. Some like MSNBC regular (and past writer for Above the Law and the Nation) Elie Mystal objected that Biden’s speech did not go far enough because it is not just “MAGA Republicans” but  all Republicans who are white supremacists. Mystal and others have denounced the Constitution as “trash,” and even some law professors want to “reclaim America from Constitutionalism.”

This crisis of faith is being fueled by a failure of leadership in fueling the rising rage in our country. It was particularly chilling to see Biden denounce millions of voters as enemies of the state while flanked by two Marines in Philadelphia. While such speeches will bring out core voters, it will also bring out those unstable individuals who hear such words as an actual call to arms.