(03-15-2019 08:51 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(03-15-2019 07:57 AM)JustAnotherAustinOwl Wrote:  

(03-14-2019 12:41 PM)At Ease Wrote:  

Quote:WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump has warned his political opponents of the possibility that they could eventually be confronted by armed Trump supporters in and out of uniform, telling a right-wing website on Monday that “it would be very bad, very bad” if his backers in the military, police and a motorcycle group were provoked into getting “tough.”

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2019/...tough.html

This is going to get lost in the news about the horrific Mosque attacks in New Zealand, but it is one of the most disturbing things Trump has said. If he had mentioned just bikers maybe you could write it off as a bad, highly inappropriate joke. But bringing police and the military into it is highly problematic. That's pretty much the definition of an authoritarian regime.

Disturbing? Perhaps.

But realistic? Quite possibly. I don't know about your daily affairs, but what I'm seeing regularly convinces me that there is very real and very widespread dissension with the way things are going in this country. I think he has expressed a very realistic concern. I am quite seriously worried that we are headed toward something like that, and if you are not worried I think you should be.

I don't think this is any kind of "dog whistle," although I'm quite certain that it will be portrayed that way in some media outlets. Whenever I hear that term, I'm reminded that a dog whistle is something that is heard only by the dog, and most "dog whistle" comments are directed at things that are heard by everybody but the purported dog.

If Trump was actually concerned with the widespread dissension, he would have expressed the concern about them and encouraged them not to play tough. Why did he not encourage those supporters who he called tough, to not ever play tough, regardless of what point they get to?

Quote:"I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad."

Breitbart said Trump was talking about the "vicious" tactics of "the left."

“So here’s the thing—it’s so terrible what’s happening,” Trump said before discussing his supporters. “You know, the left plays a tougher game, it’s very funny. I actually think that the people on the right are tougher, but they don’t play it tougher. Okay?"