Donald Trump's apparent defense of his supporters call to "hang Mike Pence" is just the latest rationalization for political violence by right-wing Republicans.
The twice-impeached one-term president justified the threats in a recorded interview with ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl, saying "people were very angry" that he had lost the election and that Pence refused to go along with his scheme to remain in office, and Washington Post columnist Philip Bump said it may not even be the worst offense by a GOP politician this week.
" Trump was sitting there offering the same nonsensical, self-serving chaff to a prominent journalist that he might offer to attendees at a Mar-a-Lago fashion show or a crowd at a rally — mostly because he has never had the ability to moderate his rhetoric or to evaluate its political utility beyond the question, 'How excited do my fans get about this?'" Bump writes.
He pointed to comments or social media posts made this week by Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance, that appeared to threaten political opponents or justify violence against them.
"Given all of this, if you were to choose to commit an act of violence against an elected official in the name of opposing socialism (supporting spending on infrastructure) or stopping voter fraud (which plays no meaningful role in election outcomes), what might you expect the response to be?" Bump writes.
A recent poll found nearly one in five Americans agreed "true American patriots may have to resort to violence," but that figure rises to three in 10 Republicans or nearly four in 10 among those who believe the election was stolen from Trump.
"Gosar's cartoon was a cartoon, sure, but one that cast political disputes as physical ones," Bump writes. "Greene was simply encouraging people to complain to Fred Upton, she argues, but when the nature of those complaints emerged, she simply pushed them further. Vance is just criticizing a legal process — by dehumanizing his perceived opponents and rationalizing vigilantism. And, of course, Trump is doing nothing more than calmly explaining why someone who had been lied to about the election might then think that Pence deserved a death sentence."
