WHY NO ONE'S AIMING A GUN AT KAMALA HARRIS, SO FAR

Hey, remember the time in 2017 when Donald Trump -- who was then president of the United States -- tweeted a viral video that showed him beating the crap out of CNN?

#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017

And remember the time, two years later, when a video that showed Trump massacring his enemies was part of the entertainment at a pro-Trump gathering at one of his properties?

A video depicting a macabre scene of a fake President Trump shooting, stabbing and brutally assaulting members of the news media and his political opponents was shown at a conference for his supporters at his Miami resort last week....

The most violent clip shows Mr. Trump’s head superimposed on the body of a man opening fire inside the “Church of Fake News” on parishioners who have the faces of his critics or the logos of media organizations superimposed on their bodies. It appears to be an edited scene of a church massacre from the 2014 dark comedy film “Kingsman: The Secret Service.”

I just wanted to remind you of those moments as context for this news story:

Former president Donald Trump on Monday blamed the “rhetoric” of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the apparent assassination attempt he faced Sunday.

The suspected gunman “believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump said in a Fox News interview published Monday morning. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”

And also as context for this new Trump ad:

NEW: The Trump Campaign drops new ad of Democrat leaders using violent rhetoric against him after the 2nd attempt on his life.

The ad started with Kamala Harris "joking" about k*lling Trump in an elevator.

The ad also featured Madonna, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary… pic.twitter.com/EBR1eqYG1V

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 16, 2024

Also, I want to respond to Republicans who are claiming the moral high ground right now because no one has attempted to assassinate Kamala Harris. That's true -- but it's not because Harris's critics are more virtuous or restrained.

Trump supporters are holding their fire because they expect Trump to exact the vengeance they seek. Notice how they depict him: as the Terminator, as Rambo, as Rocky, as a buff superhero, and, lately, as the "Fight! Fight! Fight!" guy. Notice the rhetoric that makes them happy -- for instance, this message posted by Trump on Truth Social last week:

“The 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again," he wrote.

He continued, “Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”

Trump's fans are waiting for him to smite their enemies. They want him to weaponize the law, as anticipated in this Truth Social post that was "re-truthed" by Trump:

They admire the January 6 insurrectionists, but they're not calling for another January 6, for now. They didn't turn out to protest in large numbers at any of Trump's arraignments or trials. They think he has superpowers, especially after he survived the flesh wound in the Pennsylvania shooting, and they're counting on him to use those superpowers to smite his enemies. And I mean "smite": Notice how often they accuse the people they hate of treason, and how often they point out that the punishment for treason is death.

The time to worry about MAGA violence against prominent Democrats is after the election, if Harris wins. It might not happen right away -- they'll expect a Harris victory to be overturned right up until Inauguration Day. But after that -- assuming Republicans fail to steal the election -- they'll be seriously angry. That's when things could get ugly.

Even before the election, Republicans will try to harm (or at least terrify) less powerful enemies -- swing-state election officials, drag queens, civic institutions in Springfield, Ohio. They like to punch down. But they expect Trump to take care of the prominent people they hate.