There's More to Life than Rhetoric

For all intents and purposes the presidential election campaign ended last Saturday. American got to see the true face of the anti-Trump faction and, by all indications, will turn away from it.

And yet, there is more to life than rhetoric. One can say that the eliminationist rhetoric, directed at Donald Trump, incited the maniac in Pennsylvania, but still there is plenty of responsibility to go around.

Evidently, the United States Secret Service, led by a woman who comes to the job from work at Pepsi-- no kidding-- failed.

Apparently, Kimberly Cheatle was a fan favorite of the Biden family, because she worked with them previously. But it does not take too much imagination to understand that she was chosen for her gender, the better to make the Secret Service more diverse.

If she had any decency she would resign. After all, observers saw the shooter before he took his shots. They alerted the proper authorities. Said authorities did nothing. 

The Wall Street Journal lead headline this morning reads:

Trump Shooting Is Stunning Failure for Secret Service.

Libs of TikTok offered this:

Secret Service Director a few months ago: We’re focusing on hiring more women to be more diverse.

Yesterday:

- Female agent couldn’t holster gun.

- Female agent frantically shouted “what are we doing? Where are we going?” after the shots.

One adds that this same Secret Service refused to provide protection for Robert Kennedy, Jr. Given the history of his father and uncle you would imagine that the minimum the agency could do would be to provide protection. Apparently not.

Again, the Pepsi saleswoman was not up to her job.

And Megan Kelly had this to say on Twitter:

Women are not empowered by attaining jobs for which they are not qualified or well-suited, and neither a president nor any of us should be endangered to make someone feel better about their obvious limitations.

And then we recall, with some chagrin, the list of Congressmen who offered legislation stripping Donald Trump of Secret Service protections. Led by Rep. Bennie Thompson.

Of course, one of Thompson’s aides said this:

Following the attack, Thompson's Case Manager and Field Director Jacqueline Marsaw's Facebook page had the following post:

"I don't condone violence but please get you some shooting lessons so you don't miss next time oops that wasn't me saying that," the post read.

The post has been deleted. And Marsaw has been fired.

Still, Rep. Thompson led a group of representatives who wanted to strip Donald Trump of his secret service protection.

Their names were:

Troy Carter, Barbara Lee, Frederica Wilson, Yvette Clark, Bonnie Coleman, Jasmine Crockett, Joyce Beatty, Steve Cohen

And, of course, the New Republic just published a cover featuring Trump as Hitler.

Victor Davis Hanson explains the rhetorical flourish on Twitter:

But in a wider sense, if the common referent day after day on the Left is that Trump is another Hitler (cf. a recent The New Republic cover where Trump is literally photoshopped as Hitler), then it seems reckless not to imagine an unhinged or young shootist believing that by taking out somewhat identical to one of the greatest mass murderers in history, he would be applauded for his violence?

 

So is their logic, shoot Trump and save six million from the gas chambers?

 

After all, The New Republic defiantly explained their Hitler-Trump cover photo this way, "Today, we at The New Republic think we can spend this election year in one of two ways. We can spend it debating whether Trump meets the nine or 17 points that define fascism. Or we can spend it saying, “He’s damn close enough, and we’d better fight.” 

Hanson continues, calling out the rhetorical extremists, generally half-wits who are trying to gain attention:

If ad nauseam, a Joy Reid is screaming about Trump as a Hitlerian dictator ("Then let me know who I got to vote for to keep Hitler out of the White House”) or Rachel Maddow is bloviating about studying Hitler to understand Trump, then finally the message sinks in that a mass murderer is about to take power—unless....

This is not recent and it is not all. Hanson recalls some of the rhetoric surrounding Trump:

So since at least 2016 there has been a parlor game among Leftist celebrities and entertainers joking (one hopes), dreaming, imagining, and just talking about the various and graphic ways they would like to assassinate or seriously injure Trump: 

 

By slugging his face (Robert De Niro), by decapitation (Kathy Griffin, Marilyn Manson), by stabbing (Shakespeare in the Park), by clubbing (Mickey Rourke), by shooting ( Snoop Dogg), by poisoning (Anthony Bourdain), by bounty killing (George Lopez), by carrion eating his corpse (Pearl Jam), by suffocating (Larry Whilmore), by blowing him up (Madonna, Moby), by throwing him over a cliff (Rosie O’Donnell), just by generic “killing” him (Johnny Depp, Big Sean), or by martyring him (Reid Hoffman: “Yeah, I wish I had made him an actual martyr.”).

You might or might not have noticed, but most of these people are profoundly stupid. They say outrageous things because they are incapable of saying anything intelligent, anything that contributes to the national conversation. Most of them are celebrities, seeking attention and clicks.

Sadly, those of limited intelligence take them seriously. Perhaps we ought to consider them to be entertaining. Unfortunately, when their idiocies translate into action, it is not funny. 

In the end, we are living in an idiotocracy. And we are paying a price for it.

And, let’s not forget the immortal words of President Joe Biden, on July 8, 2024:

"We’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye."

There’s more to life than rhetoric, but still ….

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