In my book on our age of rage I explore how rage is addictive and contagious. What people do not want to admit in places like Minneapolis is that they like it, they need it. Politicians know that. Even after Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones was shown to have threatened to kill his political opponents and their children, other Democratic leaders continued to support him and he was elected to the highest law enforcement position in the state. Now, Ohio Democratic Attorney General candidate Elliot Forhan appears to be attempting to ride the same rage wave in a video in which he says, “…I am going to kill Donald Trump.”
A video is making rounds on X in which Forhan says, “I am going to obtain conviction, rendered by a jury of his peers, at a standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt, based on evidence, presented at trial, conducted in accordance with due process, resulting in a sentence, duly executed, of capital punishment.”
Forhan continued, “That is what I mean when I say I am going to kill Donald Trump.”
The video shows the thrill of saying (or hearing others declare) that you are going to kill your political enemies. After the thrill-kill statement, Forhan then adds the legal rationale, like a fast-talking commercial warning of product risks. He knows, as with those warnings, people will tune out the perfunctory verbiage. Indeed, like a commercial, he immediately returns to the marketing pitch in saying, “I am going to kill Donald Trump.”
This is protected speech under the First Amendment, but it is also reprehensible rhetoric at a time of increasing social unrest. Forhan is trafficking in rage in the hope that it will secure him a political office.
This pledge to hunt a single individual has worked for other Democratic Attorney General candidates like Letitia James.
Other prosecutors are feeding the rage addiction with their own overwrought and dubious pledges. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has been holding chest-thumping press conferences promising to arrest federal agents, which is highly unlikely given federal immunity protections.
Krasner was back, thrilling the MS Now crowd with a vow to “hunt” down federal immigration agents if they move into the city. He repeated the Democratic mantra that these law enforcement officers are Nazis and Gestapo.
“This is a small bunch of wannabe Nazis. That’s what they are. In a country of 350 million, we outnumber them. If we have to hunt you down the way they hunted down Nazis for decades, we will find your identities. We will find you. We will achieve justice.”
This reckless rhetoric from Krasner (who was in my class at the University of Chicago) is occurring as protesters in cities like Minneapolis have been shown carrying signs reading “Kill Nazis.”
From pledges to kill Trump to hunting down federal enforcement officers, Democratic leaders are attempting to ride the rage wave to midterm victories. It is a call not for democracy but mobocracy. They will find that it will be a short-lived ride. Today’s revolutionaries often turn into tomorrow’s reactionaries.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the author of the forthcoming “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution,” which will be released on Feb. 3 as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
1st Amendment
Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech….
Although the Supreme Court evidently has not, you may have heard of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
If you pay close attention, the Constitution states that Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, which actually means that Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.
American fundamental law was written clearly, and it is readily understandable to the vast majority of citizens, with the sole exception of the Supreme Court.
So much when it come to ICE….
BREAKING: President Trump’s approval rating among Hispanics now at +9, per Rasmussen.
OOPS they goofed.
_________________
Wrong @LeadingReport
Hispanic Trump Approval = 54%-45% or +9 per @Rasmussen_Poll
The bottom line is simple. Democratic leaders support protecting convicted criminal illegals from deportation. This should tell honest citizens everywhere something. if not, we’re screwed.
Do those on the left who advocate violence to achieve their political goals believe that their targets will not resist and meet violence with violence?
I thought threatening to kill someone in public was a punishable offense?
Agree, Danley. It is another complex area of First Amendment jurisprudence, here, distinguishing what the law calls “true threats” from “political hyperbole,” yet more complex now in The Age of Social Media. This is informative:
https://lawlibrary.blogs.pace.edu/2016/11/10/true-threats-against-the-president-elect-via-social-media/
Alleged threats via social media: Elonis v. United States, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/575/723/
(All – For the record, the above is provided solely as information from legal resources, not my personal opinion.)
He added the disclaimer that he would get a capital conviction first, just like those commie streamers who add “… in a video game.” after each time they threaten to kill someone. But reading your comment reminded of the old Clue movie:
Mrs. White: He didn’t seem to like me very much. He had threatened to kill me in public.
Miss Scarlet: Why would he want to kill you in public?
Wadsworth: I think she meant he threatened, in public, to kill her.
Johnathon’s topic reads like more offerings from the Lawrence Tribe Fan Club. There will always be a quest to meet rage speech with better speech. I’ve always liked the notion that the first one to raise their fist is the first one who has run out of ideas. That informs reaction to over the top. That idea came from watching David Niven at the podium at the Academy awards. A streaker ran across the stage. David looked out at the audience and said “Nice of him to show us his shortcomings”. That’s what unflappable looks like.
Ohio Democratic Attorney General candidate Elliot Forhan is suffering from Lizzie Borden Syndrome (El B.S.).
The simple fact these vile hate mongers are allowed to continue to run for office even after threats of murder to a sitting president should tell you they want division so to continue to divide and conquer America!
It should be very clear by now America has fallen and is the NT harlot hidden within the OT harlot in the language the bible is the most printed in for these last days!:
JER(USA)LEM
https://sumofthyword.com/2016/10/04/the-rapture-of-the-church-is-after-the-tribulation/
Wow, talk about irony. Professor Turley has been rage-baiting his readers for a few days now, and today is no different.
The professor doesn’t seem to understand, or maybe he’s just being deliberately obtuse for his audience. Putting out of context quotes and cherry-picking lines from a statement to emphasize the rage “addiction” of the left to sell books is hilarious.
i’m sure Turley is aware, perhaps just being in obligatory denial per his Fox News contract that the rage coming from the left is deliberately incited by Trump and his immigration crackdown run by what is turning out to be a bunch of undertrained and some barely literate law enforcement agents who have been described by some senior DHS whistleblowers as a bunch of idiots hired off the street or racists lowlifes looking for the thrill of catching illegals.
It’s already turning into a disaster for Trump and his DHS. After trying in vain to control the narrative by blatantly lying to the public and ignoring the fact that the same under-trained and poorly vetted ICE and CBP recruits have been on a constitutional violation spree, obviously because they are hiring idiots, police department rejects, and racists. DHS had to lower its standards to meet its hiring quotas, and it is not ensuring that these new hires meet any high standards, legal knowledge, or even physical fitness requirements.
For example, yesterday, some of these idiots and morons at ICE decided to force their way into the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis—no warrant, no idea where they were, and looking to apprehend illegals in the building. After being forced out the door by Ecuadorian officials, one ICE moron proceeded to threaten to “grab” one if they didn’t comply. Never mind that they were on sovereign territory and were definitely trespassing onto a foreign government’s property. Poor training and basic stupidty seem to be the norm for ICE and CBP recruiting.
george
Putting out of context quotes and cherry-picking lines from a statement to emphasize the rage “addiction” of the left to sell books is hilarious.
_______________________
Stay away from mirrors george.
The real concern for me is that our American populace, dumbed down by information obtained via social media or slanted agenda-driven MSM, combined with an increasingly diverse representation of foreign immigrants inundated with nonstop words for which they have little contextual or historical understanding (other than it must be something negative) (like “Nazi!” and “Fascist!”), in addition to the commanding control of academia and media by certain political ideologies—-makes Forhan’s successful run for election not as comfortably distal as we would like.
Lin,
Well said. If there was a deep dive comparison of 1930s Germany and our current political climate, we would see how the leftist Democrats, a compliant MSM, academia have much more in common with the then rising Nazi party.
Nazis for enforcing laws duly enacted by Congress? That’s looney tunes right there. That’s the Democratic party in America today – certifiably insane.
Professor Turley –
If you think Jay Jones getting elected despite making hateful comments is bad, you’re never going to BELIEVE it when you hear how Donald Trump got to be president after what he said about women, minorities, the handicapped, dogs, immigrants, fellow Americans, Africans……I mean – he bragged about getting to rape women as a celebrity and STILL got elected! I’m sure that’s a chapter in your book too – right?
False.
^ TDS on display. ^
Your statement is as credible as the Democrat AG candidate from Ohios statement that he has evidence of a proveable capital offense by Trump.
Trump indulged in hyperbole. He bragged he could kiss any woman. he wanted to — that they would allow him to, bc of his celebrity
Then came the exaggeration: “You can do anything! Grab them by the p!”
You mean “two bullets johnson”….that evil bog of manure ?. Literally fantasizing about murdering political oppo and their children ?. See this is the problem with leftist twinks , so full of intolerance and violence they can not see the forest from the trees.
unfortunately I see only two possible outcomes for the US at this point. A divorce between Red States and Blue States dome peacefully. Or Civil War. We are far to divided on what is Right and Wrong. There is no way we can resolve our differences if the left thinks it’s ok to murder those with a different opinion than theirs.
@Rick
I’m hoping, and it may be a thin hope, but I’m hoping it’s generational and the mentality will age out (though our education system definitely needs to be addressed regardless). I actually see catastrophe across the entire Western world if we don’t iron things out, not just conflict here, and this time the global, modern left would not be on the side of right, I fear.
Rick, things are not that hopeless. Frankly they are not all that bad at all.
Peter Theil beleives we hit peak woke in 2020 – and I agree.
We are on the downhill slope from this insanity
But dying regimes lash out – occasionally with small success.
But the decline is inevitable.
There are very few red states turning blue -MAYBE North Carolina.
But we have seen Ohio turn red, while PA and michigan have gone from Blue to pinkish.
Minesota and Illionois are NOT turning red tomorow -but absent a change in trend they will be red in a decade.
As likely will New York.
Republicans have been gaining in voter registration for over a decade.
They are making huge gains with minorities.
The democratic party is pushing itself ever more extreme.
People are leaving blue states.
more importantly MONEY is leaving blue states.
NY and CA both of which should be practially utopia’s are loosing people and loosing wealth.
People do not leave CA to TX for the weather, or the natural beauty.
They leave because democrats have made it a h311hole.
This is not the start of a civil war – it isthe last gasps of insanity.
Multiple studies have reported that people identifying as Trans has dropped in half in 3 years.
The left is failing.
Throughout this entire ICE drama in MN – Trump’s approval has varied little and is 47% – the same as it was in October.
Trump has actually gained among hispanics.
Multiple polls confirm that there is still majority support for deporting ALL illegal immigrants and super majority support for deporting criminal illegal immigrants.
Absolute the left has succeeded in tarnishing the image of ICE – but they have also harmed their own perception and that of democrats,
And they have not damaged Trump or support for deportation.
Americans want the impossible – a kinder gentler ICE that manages to deport 2-3 times as many people a year.
43% of Minnesotans vote Republican. An open Senate seat in MN is in play for republicans this term – it is a stretch – but not an impossible one.
Regardless, Democrats are going to have to spend alot of money defending what should be a safe seat – and MN is not the only place that is true.
While I do not personally see this as a red blue thing –
Sen. Fetterman does not share most of my views – but he is a traditional democrat – rational, moderate.
We forget there are 10’s of millions of people who are democrats LIKE Feterrman.
D’s won the NJ and VA governorships by moving HARD to the center.
But they are not governing as they promissed.
A major change Trump has introduced to politics is that he is and does what he says.
You KNOW what you are going to get when you vote for him.
Increasingly ALL voters – including far left voters expect that from their candidates.
I thing the future is increasingly dark for politicians who make promises to get elected and do not even try once in office.
We WANT authenticity.
Ultimately that is actually harmful to the far left.
Mamdani is rapidly finding he does not have the power to keep his promises and his own voters are pi$$ed.
Walz merely talking with Trump has turned his supporters against him
There is not going to be a civil war – or atleast not more than there already is.
Further the really big deal for the future is people are ever more tied of the chaos.
While Trump causes chaos – real change requires disruption.
Much of what he has done is slowly being accepted as the norm.
And that is why the left is so frenzied. As it is harder and harder to cast MAGA as extreme
people see the far left more and more as the font of chaos.
Chaos leading to positive change is frequently chosen by people
Trump, Milei, as an example.
But constant chaos causes rising anxiety and someone is going to get blamed.
absolutely ICE is currently falsely getting blamed by way too many people,
But that is correctable.
But the left is also being blamed and they can not fix that.
@John
‘Peter Theil beleives we hit peak woke in 2020 – and I agree.’
I think so too. We just have to hold the line; a lot of the youngest are actually quite conscientious and really want peaceful lives, even if they don’t know precisely what to do. This is my experience, not conjecture. Woke millennials might truly end up being a lost generation. Sane people of every age do not agree with anything they think, and won’t abide lives based on it. that the DNC went whole hog in with any of it will likely be their demise, over time.
A couple generations of dumbed down education , and a huge influx of third world riff raft and here we are. This is all going according to left wing socialist plans. There are no coincidences here.
Rick,
The Civil War was mostly divisible by a demarcation line of North vs South. If, as a hypothetical Civil War 2.0 were to occur, it likely would look more like a Balkanization type war. I do not think we are at that point yet. It is all fun and games when LEOs and the NG have to restrain themselves against violent mobs, quite something different when bullets start to fly in earnest.
. The left is indeed lawless.