People Will Die
The next six months is going to be intense…. We are going to put on the armor of God. And maybe strap on a Glock on the side…. Because we are not going to be the victims of crime. We’re not going to have our Second Amendment taken away, and we certainly are not going to have First Amendment taken away by these tyrants. — Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake speaking to cheering supporters.
As I write this, Jews around the world are preparing to celebrate the festival of Passover, the holiday commemorating the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. As told in the biblical book of Exodus, God visited ten plagues on the Egyptians to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Each time, Pharaoh said no, until the tenth — the death of the firstborn — when God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to paint lamb’s blood above their doors so that the Angel of Death would pass over them.
Regardless of how literally we take the story of the Exodus, most of us no longer believe God intervenes that directly in our lives, so we are not prone to blame God for modern-day plagues (though, I should point out, a “plague” of cicadas — not locusts — is expected in a month or so). What plagues us these days is man-made horrors, such as global warming. (The science on climate change caused by human actions is real and convincing — despite what some right-wing Republicans, often funded by the fossil fuel industry — say).
As Passover approaches, I have been thinking about a very different plague: The plague of authoritarianism. The rise of autocratic leaders is a global problem, one from which the United States is not immune. Though our democratic bona fides are more than two centuries old — and have been only severely tested once, during the Civil War — we now face the threat that a putative dictator may soon be back in the White House.
The rise of authoritarians — especially of the fascist variety, which includes Donald Trump, as I have argued before — relies on violence, particularly street-level violence committed by their followers. The insurrection of January 6 was just a preview of the kind of violence that may be perpetrated by the MAGA cohort in the coming months. (Once in power, it should be noted, fascist dictators disband and disarm their violent followers, reserving all violence to the state, making it easier for dictators to enforce their will.)
We all know the adage: the pen is mightier than the sword. This adage, of course, points to the power of the written word to convey ideas, argue disagreements, and resolve conflicts. The pen allows for compromise, nuance, and middle ground. A sword, after all, just eliminates or, at the least, maims the opponent. We can infer that the “pen” could also be spoken word. Think of great speeches given through the years by leaders such as Lincoln, FDR, Churchill, MLK, Jr. and the like. People were moved by such leaders’ words to do great and oftentimes difficult things requiring great personal sacrifice. Language, both written and spoken, can and has also been used to provoke violence, revolutions, and upheaval. Today, we are witnessing the use of language for just such purposes.
Many Trump devotees talk incessantly of the need for violence to rid the nation of their opponents — who they frequently depict, in apocalyptic phraseology as the “devil” incarnate — as they prepare for a second civil war. Trump’s followers — many of whom are armed — are the raw kindling that could easily burst into street violence when political leaders light their rhetorical matches.
And, unfortunately, there are political leaders holding lit matches. Trump, as I have noted before, has used violent rhetoric and images. He posted a picture on his website of a hog-tied President Joe Biden. He has talked of a “bloodbath” if he is not elected president, and he has told his followers that he is their “retribution.”
Trump has allies willing to stoke the flames. Arizona’s Kari Lake — quoted at the start of this piece — told supporters last weekend to “strap on their Glocks” (the gun of choice, apparently, of criminals and law enforcement) because “they… are coming after us.” The video, click here to see it, is particularly chilling as Lake pauses and smirks while instructing the audience as to where the Glock should be strapped, while the crowd cheers enthusiastically.
Lake’s Glock speech was not her first foray into the rhetoric of violence. A year ago, Lake said: “I have a message tonight for Merrick Garland and Jack Smith and Joe Biden — and the guys back there in the fake news media, you should listen up as well, this one is for you. If you want to get to President Trump, you are going to have go through me, and you are going to have to go through 75-million Americans just like me. And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the N.R.A.” Again, the crowd cheered, with Lake adding, so that no one could miss the meaning of her words: “That’s not a threat; that’s a public service announcement.”
Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton recently urged vigilantism when he told Americans “to take matters into their hands” when encountering pro-Palestine “criminals.” Cotton has a history of advocating use of force to suppress peaceful protests. In 2020, he penned an op-ed in The New York Times urging then-President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act “to employ the military” to suppress protests that erupted after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Politicians and public figures who speak the language of violence know what they are doing. What they do not know — with any degree of certainty — is exactly what they may provoke among their followers. But one thing is certain: People will die as a result of the despicable, irresponsible rhetoric of politicians like Trump, Lake, and Cotton.
In fact, people have already died. In Ohio, in 2022, Austin Combs shot and killed a neighbor, Anthony King, because Combs believed King was a Democrat. Five social justice protestors in Portland, Oregon, in 2022, were murdered by a man who appeared influenced by far-right political screeds. These examples cannot be laid at the feet of political leaders directly, but the mood for such horrific acts had been set. Certainly, Trump’s responsibility for the deaths during the Capitol Hill insurrection is clear. Several weeks before the riot, Trump posted on social media that there will be a “big protest” and urged his supporters, “Be there, will be wild!” And on January 6, Trump told the crowd to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell.” True, Trump never urged his followers to kill anybody, but he egged on his supporters and never said, “We do not want anyone to be hurt.”
Trump, of course, never takes responsibility for his words or his actions. Let me amend that: Trump is more than happy to claim ownership for things that turn out well, regardless of whether or not he had a hand in the outcome. But he never takes responsibility or admits blame for disastrous results.
The question of responsibility is becoming more acute as the November election draws nearer and Trump becomes more desperate because of his legal woes and his financial precariousness. Trump sees victory in the election as his get-out-of-jail-free card. I fear he will ramp up his rhetoric — and encourage other MAGA politicians to do the same (if he has not already) — as his desperation mounts. The MAGA cultists across America will internalize Trump’s words, and people will die.
It will not be Trump’s fault, he will claim, a claim which brings me back to Passover. At the Seder, the holiday meal during which we tell the story of the Exodus celebrating freedom for the Israelites, we are instructed to mourn the death and suffering of the Egyptians.
I expect no such empathy from the right-wing politicians spewing the language of violence.
Posted April 19, 2024