When Presidential Rhetoric Turns Into Threats

When presidential rhetoric turns into threats, this story isn't about abstract polarization. It's about what happens after president names, names. According to NBC News, since President Trump returned to power in 2025, at least 22 elected officials across both parties say they have received threats after being attacked directly in his his social media posts. These threats include bomb threats, swatting incidents, and direct death threats, often arriving within hours of Trump's remarks. NBC reports that several members of Congress accused by Trump of sedition saw their offices inundated almost immediately. Even Trump allies have been hit. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene says Trump's public attacks on her triggered a pipe burst, bomb threat at her business, and death threats against her son. Political violence, researchers warn this isn't random, dehumanizing. Language like traitor lowers the threshold for violence, especially when it comes from the most powerful office in the country. History shows this tactic works, which is exactly why it's so dangerous. Okay, what's the real message here? Look, Mussolini did it. Dictators across the world have done it. They attack their opponents by name, and then they act surprised when there's violence or that person is just eliminated. Well, it's happening in the United States today, and the threats are coming worse every day from the White House. Let's dig a little bit deeper here, okay? Fear can, in fact, become a political enforcement mechanism. It's. Look, I'm not, I'm not talking about Germany in the 1930s, so you can, you can relax. We're not going to go there yet, because you don't need to. To find highly specific examples from history of how this works. Pinochet did this in Chile. His use of intimidation and violence to crush dissent. Franco's Spain, it happened a lot. Mussolini and the black shirts definitely use these tactics. So it's well known among authoritarians that you don't necessarily have to send your state police to rub out an opponent. You just attack them by name and your own fans, your own followers will do it. So again, don't, don't listen to the MSNBC crowd if you don't like them. You don't have to listen to AOC if you don't like her. If you are a conservative or a MAGA supporter, listen to someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene. She says she loves President Trump, supports him in his agenda, but she's getting death threats simply for asking for the Epstein files to be released. She said her own son has received death threats once. Trump called her a traitor and a disgrace. The Indiana lawmakers who refused to go along with Trump's gerrymandering escapades are receiving dozens of death threats because of what he's posted, what he said about them. An Indiana senator was swatted at his home. So these are some nasty, nasty times we're in, folks. Now, remember, it's both Democrats and Republicans. It's really anybody who has the temerity of standing up against Dear Leader. Once he attacks you, the threats come. Now you can say, well, T.J. that's be a big boy. Big. Be a big girl. You want to play in the big leagues. You criticize a powerful person, you should be prepared for criticism back. Okay, we're not talking about criticism. We're talking about physical threats to your life, to your children's life. That is not supposed to happen in a democracy. That is not what civilized human beings do. And that is what's happening Now. Several lawmakers have filed complaints with the Capitol Police and they're frankly tired of it. Now, this is not new in 2025. Former U.S. senator Mitt Romney has spoken quite eloquently about the fact that other Republicans told him in confidence that they would have voted to impeach President Trump because of the numerous atrocities he committed and laws broken in the first term. They didn't because they feared physical attacks on their, their home, their children. And Mitt Romney dealt with that issue by reaching into his pocket and spending $5,000 a day to hire personal security guards because he's rich and good for him. He's worth, according to various reports, between quarter million and a half a. Not even a quarter million, a quarter of a billion and half a billion dollars. He's a rich guy. But do we really want to say that's the price of entry. Now, if you want to be a member of Congress, if you want to have a voice in public affairs, that you have to be fabulously wealthy just so you can hire enough security so you don't have to deal with mad men, crazy people trying to kill you just because you criticized someone powerful. Is that the world we want to live? I don't think so. So look, it's. If you consider yourself a conservative, a centrist, a liberal, whatever it is, if you consider yourself an American, you owe it to yourself and to your country to stand up for this and say, look, we're. Regardless of my position on the capital gains tax or the estate tax, we as Americans need to come together and say we oppose this violence, this nastiness, this authoritarian dictatorship style of. If you disagree with me, I'm going to attack you and my henchmen. My and it is mostly men, my henchmen, my followers are going to attack you, and I'll either ignore it or I'll give them a full pardon, because that is what's happening in America, my friends, and it's un American. You do not deserve the right to call yourself a conservative or a constitutionalist or a decent member of society. If you think that's acceptable and you're not willing to, damn it.