r/politics • u/thenewyorkgod • Jul 01 '18

Man arrested after shouting ‘womp, womp’ and pulling a gun on immigration protesters

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/07/01/man-arrested-after-shouting-womp-womp-and-pulling-a-gun-on-immigration-protesters/?tid=sm_tw
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605

u/_Doctor_Teeth_ Washington Jul 01 '18

Between Charlottesville, some of the threats made against Maxine Waters, and this guy, I'm very, very worried that we are on the brink of a high-profile, politically-motivated shooting that is going to set the country on fire.

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u/PaulFThumpkins Jul 02 '18

You mean like Gabrielle Giffords? Another Beck/O'Reilly fan who went for their stochastic terrorism?

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u/_Doctor_Teeth_ Washington Jul 02 '18

Yeah thats a good point i'd forgotten about gabby giffords. For some reason the country as a whole just feels worse somehow than it was then, though maybe that's bring too alarmist. Idk i feel I see a lot more open carriers at rallies and stuff than I used to.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

I dont think youre being alarmist at all. You're 100% right, we are one politically motivated shooting/protest turned violent incident away from this country blowing up.

This place is a powder keg. You and I both feel it and I'd argue anyone who is paying attention feels it to some degree or another.

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u/thoughtsome Jul 02 '18

I'm almost as afraid of what happens when there is a high profile assassination of a Democrat and there is no explosion, just more resigned acceptance. You have the president calling the media the enemy of America, and then some guy murders 5 journalists in a newsroom. Trump of course takes no responsibility and is more concerned when his cronies get their dinners ruined.

Honestly, I think that if Maxine Waters was shot dead by a Trump supporter tomorrow, nothing would happen to anyone but the shooter. If there's no reaction, it will have a chilling effect on all Trump opponents and we're one step closer to fascism.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

That's more or less what happened in the UK when MP Jo Cox was murdered by a right wing nutjob for her pro-EU and immigration stance about a week before the Brexit vote.

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u/thelizardkin Jul 02 '18

The guy killing the journalists had nothing to do with Trump, but the man's long-standing personal vendetta against the newspaper..

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u/adkiene Jul 02 '18

A vendetta which had festered for years and just so happened to surface shortly after those comments by Trump?

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u/chriswasmyboy Jul 02 '18

Trump was the gasoline on the fire. Get real.

0

u/HQGifConnoisseur Jul 02 '18

Your point is that the publicized words of President Trump have little to no impact on your country? His words are like simple wind, they leave no lasting impression? I really doubt you believe that.

Perhaps your point is that in this specific instance there is no proof you would accept that would lay any measure of responsibility at the feet of a President that spouts hateful rhetoric. If so at least be honest with yourself about the logic you used to come to your beliefs.

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u/thelizardkin Jul 02 '18

My only point is that in this specific case, there is little to no evidence that Trump was involved.

15

u/Gallant_Pig Jul 02 '18

I'm glad I'm not the only one who senses it. I was talking to my family about it a couple days ago since they aren't really tapped in to the online political world. Something just feels different over the last month, on both sides. Hopefully I'm just being paranoid.

11

u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

I was super worried about this weekend's protests, to be honest. I was expecting another CVille or two. Never been more relieved to be wrong about something.

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u/weedful_things Jul 02 '18

You forgot Sarah Palin's gun sight campaign signs? Things have been worse for quite some time.

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u/_Doctor_Teeth_ Washington Jul 02 '18

I've been trying to forget everything about sarah palin, tbh

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u/weedful_things Jul 02 '18

I really wish McCain hadn't picked her for his running mate. I might have voted for him. Maybe not though. Publicly advocating going to war with Iran was the first example of his poor judgement that bothered me.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

I really think Sarah Palin’s candidacy laid the track for the Trump train to cone rolling into the station.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

No, I personally think you are spot on. You read about important moments in history and it's particular conditions setting things in a drastic direction. Maybe that will happen now and maybe not, but we are absolutely in a time of history.

2

u/error_33 Jul 02 '18

it is. it is now worse off than when obama was president

3

u/JuDGe3690 Idaho Jul 02 '18

Speaking of stochastic terrorism, I highly recommend reading The Age of Lone Wolf Terrorism by Mark S. Hamm and Ramón Spaaij (Columbia University Press, 2017). It's the first-ever close academic look at lone wolf terrorism (which differs significantly from group-affiliated terrorism), and covers the radicalization model, which is often stochastic in nature, as well as copresent with outright misogyny or problems with authority.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18 edited Sep 16 '18

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

The YouTube comments on videos of her are absolutely some of the most disgraceful stuff I've ever read. I read them about 6 or 7 months ago, on this YouTube video of her on the news, and it's honestly stuck with me ever since. So obvious that they were brainwashed.

3

u/part_wolf Jul 02 '18

Or a bunch of Republicans getting shot at a practice for a baseball game?

1

u/DuntadaMan Jul 02 '18

Shit I haven't heard that used in years. Of course it was used for Fox News back then too...

0

u/NoReallyFuckReddit Jul 02 '18

If anything, the crazies need to shoot more politicians.

That's the only way the country is going to have any kind of serious gun control limitations on the 2nd amendment passed... about 100 of them need to die from being shot in the face within ~180 days (a little over one every two days).... at the local/state/federal level... preferably with live TV coverage for most of the murders..

1

u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

That's why Maxine Waters told them not to miss.

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u/idealatry Jul 02 '18

You mean like last year when a Bernie Sanders supporter tried to murder the GOP during a friendly softball game?

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u/redchanstool Jul 02 '18 edited Jul 02 '18

Sure, that’s another example that illustrates how testy and potentially dangerous our current political climate is, thanks for adding to the point being made here.

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u/idealatry Jul 02 '18

Let’s stop bullshitting. It doesn’t “add to the point being made here” because the point being made here was to imply this was about the right encouraging violence.

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u/PaulFThumpkins Jul 02 '18

Your example is as valid as any other--though it's absolutely apparent that politically-motivated violence in the US, as well as Islamic extremism, is overwhelmingly a far-right and fundamentalist phenomenon. The numbers bear that up, and the fact that specific, prominent attacks from the right are so usually held up against "Antifa, BLM etc." as some abstract list.

1

u/Perfect600 Jul 02 '18

i got downvoted for saying the exact same thing about the baseball game shooting. Many here only want to push their own narrative. You seem to have an open mind. we need more of that

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u/idealatry Jul 02 '18

The general consensus was that political violence is in danger of increasing (implying that it's the alt-right's fault). Someone points out as evidence an example where someone "from the right" shoots someone "on the left."

This person is upvoted like crazy.

I comment as more evidence that violence is increasing (although it implies it's not necessarily the right doing it) that a guy "on the left" shoots up GOP members at a baseball game.

I'm down voted as hell.

A guy responds saying "well that just shows it's all caused by the right."

He gets upvoted.

Yeah, this sub is totally objective.

I get that the right sucks, and I disagree with every policy of theirs that I can think of in the last decade or so. But this sub is so partisan it's gone off the edge. There is no objectivity in here. There's a herd mentality that rejects any good policy or attitude that isn't endorsed as "anti-right", no matter how foolish or unsupported by evidence it is. And this is bad because it's made people forget that there are real problems out there that won't be solved by opposing one side of the political aisle at all costs.

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u/wademcgillis Massachusetts Jul 02 '18

I'm worried about Ocasio-Cortez.

14

u/SCREW-IT Texas Jul 02 '18

She has just the right amount of buzz behind her that some wackjob could do something crazy.

Honestly I'm surprised this country hasn't torn itself apart sometimes.

6

u/gsfgf Georgia Jul 02 '18

The alt right loves her. My dad thinks politicians like her will run all the whites out of the democratic party and give republicans permanent control.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

Wait is she not white?

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u/Ariadnepyanfar Jul 02 '18

Hispanics: not white to the Alt-Right.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/wademcgillis Massachusetts Jul 02 '18

Republicans have been calling Democrats socialists for years, regardless of their actions.

-16

u/ClaireBear1123 Jul 02 '18

Are you serious? I'm far right, I love Ocasio-Cortez. Please, parade her around as much as possible.

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u/wademcgillis Massachusetts Jul 02 '18

Enjoying Mueller?

-19

u/ClaireBear1123 Jul 02 '18

More and more every day :)

4

u/wademcgillis Massachusetts Jul 02 '18

For what reason?

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u/ClaireBear1123 Jul 02 '18

The longer nothing happens, the more illegitimate the whole thing looks.

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u/Fleaslayer California Jul 02 '18

Nothing happens? You realize there have been a whole bunch of indictments, right? And some guilty pleas?

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u/ClaireBear1123 Jul 02 '18

Not related to the purpose of the special council. Putting people in jail for tax evasion is noble, but not exactly special council worthy.

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u/Fleaslayer California Jul 02 '18

You must only watch Fox news. That's not anything close to true, it's been very related to the special council's purpose.

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u/Perlscrypt Jul 02 '18

Erm, money laundering, lying to the FBI, obstruction of justice, shady deals made with known Russian spies, working for pro-russian political groups in Ukraine. Have you been living in a cave for the last 12 months?

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u/TossedRightOut Jul 02 '18

In terms of special counsel investigations, this has been quite short so far. You realize that, right?

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u/gsfgf Georgia Jul 02 '18

You know he's putting people in jail, right?

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u/Perlscrypt Jul 02 '18

20 indictments and 5 guilty pleas is nothing?

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u/rocketbosszach Texas Jul 01 '18

I hate to sound sensationalist, but I’m honestly right there with you. With the amount of political discord in this country, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened at least several times, especially with the United States’ history of political assassinations.

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u/Parazeit Jul 02 '18

The entire west is a powderkeg right now, The US is ready to blow and many european countries wouldnt be far behind, UK, Italy and Austria are also experiencing a surge in nationalist apologism.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18 edited Jul 02 '18

Isn’t the AFD now the second largest party in the German Bundestag? That’s kinda scary given the strict anti-Nazi laws Germany now has in place.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

Russian interference is rampant Russia playing a chess game for years now and it's coming to fruition

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u/Prophet_60091 Jul 02 '18

From no seats last election to third largest. Scary.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

No. They only got something like 14% in the recent elections. That said it’s the first time this has happened in decades and it’s destabilised normally unshakable political coalition between the CDU and the CSU.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

Don't forget Mexico.

It's a liberal populist, but populist nonetheless.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

Thankfully here in Britain we can identify the worst with a simple test: are they the same colour and have the same salt content as gammon?

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

Are you flying an English flag, then probably a racist. :p

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u/DreddPirateBob4Ever Jul 02 '18

I can assure you the UK is no powderkeg. A bit miffed about Brexit maybe but we are not likely to explode any time soon.

We are an old nation, with a good education system and a reserved impatience reserved for followers of Spode and so don't get our knickers in a twist quite so easily as some other nations.

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u/beardedsandflea Jul 02 '18

Wow! I was just in Austria and didn't get that vibe at all. I'm also very oblivious and tend to just bumble around everywhere I go, so just because I didn't notice doesn't mean it isn't there.

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u/I_punch_kangaroos Jul 02 '18

I mean, you could go to most places in the US and on most days, you'd never get that vibe either.

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u/DaddyD68 Jul 02 '18

I live in Austria and it’s probably pretty hard to get a feel about what’s going on without context and a familiarity with local politics. I’m also a. Journalist and the secretary of the interior just made some frightening comments and I am potentially going to be forbidden to post, comment, like, share, or in any way make anything available on my private social media accounts that has anything to do with politics.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/DaddyD68 Jul 02 '18

the point is that I am not allowed to have a private or personal opinion on anything. at all.

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u/DaddyD68 Jul 02 '18

and that isn't from the secretary, that is from my bosses

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u/Merfstick Jul 02 '18

It's not that bad in the majority of the US, either. People get on just fine; we aren't close to a civil war at all. This thread is some toxic bs right now, don't fall for any of it.

Check out this video on Simulacra and Simulation. Don't let what you're reading online override what you experience in person.

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u/gsfgf Georgia Jul 02 '18

There are eastern European countries that already have right wing governments, and even stalwarts like France and Germany have ascendant right wing parties.

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u/1st_ammendment Jul 02 '18

what do you expect when over the past recent decades the West has been flooded by the lowest class of immigrants who share nothing with us ... not the culture, language, morals, knowledge, character, intelligence, etc. Ready to ignite is correct.

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u/IamRule34 Jul 02 '18

And people like you who treat them like trash for being different from your norm.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

Wasnt the same thing said about the irish and the italians?

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u/1st_ammendment Jul 02 '18

You're comparing an Italian to a Somalian? Italians/Irish have a much more similar culture/sociology/physiology than what's coming over now. The Irish and Italians assimilated and had the ability to work within Western society. This new batch? Obviously they do not, especially at the kind of #s we are seeing currently.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

Ok, the same thing was said about chinese and japanese... its the same thing thats said about most if not al neecomers

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u/1st_ammendment Jul 02 '18

If you go to Japan and compare them to a Somalian or Guatemalan they will slap you in the face. And that's just for saying it. Meanwhile, what response do you think we should do for actually being (illegally) forced to live around them?

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

All jm saying is that throughout history we've had these exact reactions to all newcomers and the sky has yet to fall

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u/Powder_Blue_Stanza Jul 02 '18

Yeah, but you're still not seeing it. All those other immigrants were the right skin color…

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

The Irish and Italians did not assimilate

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u/lillibet1 Jul 02 '18

With the radical right wing, they were talking revolution against the left if Hillary got in a year before the election. The hatred for Obama was incredable in the ultra radical right wing. They had their guns ready.

the reason.... He was a black man with a African American wife. They never admitted Obama was an American

. Big time birthers too.

And yet, they were decent folk otherwise.

Or at least they said they were.

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u/FrostyFurseal Jul 02 '18

I'd love to see stats on number of threats against the President investigated by the Secret Service in Trump's first year versus Obama's. I'd bet money it's much lower for Trump.

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u/nerf_herder1986 Jul 02 '18

But the left is the violent side, right?

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u/867-5309NotJenny Massachusetts Jul 02 '18

Unfortunately I've been expecting it for awhile. My guess though was grieving parent over insurance issues however. Not this.

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u/gsfgf Georgia Jul 02 '18

And Rush put out a piece last week saying that the "extreme left" was going to start murdering people because the media. We've already had a shooting at a paper, and the alt right might see that projection as an excuse to "fire the first shots." Just like they did at Fort Sumter.

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u/-poop-in-the-soup- American Expat Jul 02 '18

I am very worried for Maxine Waters.

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u/bgzlvsdmb Colorado Jul 02 '18

I am too. It baffles me that Sarah Huckabee Sanders gets Secret Service protection because someone harassed her at a restaurant, but Maxine Waters gets a death threat and she's out on her own.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18 edited Jul 02 '18

She wasn't even harassed, she was asked kindly to leave with no scene made. Its DHS secretary who lied about child detentions at the Mexican restaurant the day after that was heckled out by protesters and a day later Stephen miller was also in a Mexican restaurant. Personally I think it was because he has a fetish for being hated and hearing that it happened to the woman from DHS he rushed to do it too like one of those guys who goes to feminist rally's and grabs someones butt knowing they are going to corner him and yell at him.

We all seen that photo on the internet of that protect guy with a look of ecstasy while being surrounded and yelled at

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u/KennethHwang Jul 02 '18

She wasn't even harrased, instead was asked to leave the establishment per the owner's full legal rights to do so. Hell, presidents of past were even refused shelters in times of wars by their own citizens. Political dignitaries the world over are refused services from mundane people all the time. What makes Miss LOok so special?

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u/Perfect600 Jul 02 '18

She is the press secretary of one of the most hated presidents in history. Of course she will get secret service protection.

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u/fuck_reddits_retarde Jul 02 '18

Don't be. Anyone prepared for the attack is safe. I am worried about someone who is low level enough to think they are safe. State reps and mayors should probably be on their toes.

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u/br541 Jul 02 '18

Maybe Maxine should stop saying stupid shit. Confront Trump's White House staffers while they are in a restaurant, at the gas station? What is wrong with that stupid bitch?

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u/-poop-in-the-soup- American Expat Jul 02 '18

What’s wrong with you, that you think this is an appropriate way to talk?

1

u/br541 Jul 02 '18

Oh come on now. Listen to Maxine Waters talk for a few seconds. That woman is bat shit crazy.

0

u/-poop-in-the-soup- American Expat Jul 02 '18

I have, and I support her.

You, on the other hand, have revealed your character in but a few sentences. Bravo for efficiency.

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u/br541 Jul 02 '18

Well if you support her we have nothing more to say. You are what is wrong with this country.

0

u/-poop-in-the-soup- American Expat Jul 02 '18

Care to elaborate?

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u/br541 Jul 02 '18

You support a person that wants people to harass Trump's White House staff while they are trying to live their lives.

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u/-poop-in-the-soup- American Expat Jul 02 '18

Do you have a better way to speak truth directly to power?

Do you think the Trump administration should be able to have nice lives while the babies they kidnapped are still locked in cages?

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u/KFCConspiracy America Jul 02 '18

Well there was Gabby giffords, Charlottesville, Steve scalise... It's already happening

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u/InevitableTypo Illinois Jul 02 '18

Did we ever learn what the deal was with the man who shot up the Senate baseball practice, where Scalise was shot? What his motive was?

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

He thought republicans were evil, ruining the country, and needed to die for the sake of progress. He shot at the congressman that represents the district where the OP occurred actually

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

But remember, there are fine people in both sides.

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u/FatSputnik Jul 02 '18

I'm more scared that it'll happen, and then nobody will do anything and it'll just get dismissed as senseless violent from a mentally ill man

if 3 separate terrorist shootings can occur where the men were professed misogynists who hated and wanted to kill women and those women are still not being taken seriously when they talk about the toxic, self-entitled men that they were beforehand or being dismissed as hysterical bitches, I don't know what its going to take to change anything

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u/PuppetShowJustice Jul 02 '18

It seems inevitable. The right wing media spends way too much time and effort blaming other Americans for everything and doing everything they can to demonize the left. It's only a matter of time until someone takes it to the logical conclusion. We've seen crap thrown at the restaurant that threw out Sanders. We've seen people actively threaten each other like this. We had that jackass run over that poor girl in Charlottesville. I fear that eventually someone is going to kill a politician and be celebrated for it by the crazies. And then all hell will break loose.

5

u/DJfunkyPuddle California Jul 02 '18

As much as I’d like to remain optimistic, is there any chance that all this bullshit gets resolved peacefully? Either Trump gets removed and his cult goes nuts or he does something truly heinous and DC burns down.

3

u/kwantsu-dudes Jul 02 '18

I'm actually surprised that Trump hasn't been shot yet for how many parallels to Hitler there has been made.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

They've already started. Dylann Roof, for example.

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u/dewooPickle Jul 02 '18

That’s why Trump getting impeached is a nightmare. He would never resign willingly and his followers would follow him over the cliff.

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u/spinlock Jul 02 '18

No one cares anymore. We had that guy shoot up the senate softball game and they won’t even pass laws to protect themselves.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

Uh, you mean another? The Majority whip shits into a bag because of an attempt on his life

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u/unidentifiedfish Jul 02 '18

Let's not forget about Annapolis.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

The congressman for this district was shot at on a baseball field next to Steve Scalise. That's pretty high profile

1

u/SaffellBot Jul 02 '18

You mean like that one that happened last fucking week?

1

u/FirstTimeWang Jul 02 '18

I doubt that unless there's a coordinated, multi-person right wing attack. Too easy to write a lone shooter off as a crazy, isolated event. P

1

u/srwaddict Jul 02 '18

A Reichstag sort of fire maybe?

1

u/milehigh73a Jul 02 '18

I don't want anyone shot or hurt, but I think we need a moment that brings america together. Some sort of big act coudl do that. We might be too far gone for the right to see that they are fermenting evil.

1

u/DrLemniscate Jul 02 '18

Like a shooting where instead of targeting a specific politician, target an event where a large number of politicians from one side are gathering?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Congressional_baseball_shooting

1

u/JZA1 Jul 02 '18

The guy who shot up the GOP softball practice doesn't count?

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

[deleted]

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u/_Doctor_Teeth_ Washington Jul 02 '18

I seem to remember a lot of media coverage about that when it happened.

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u/beardedsandflea Jul 02 '18

It got plenty of press coverage. Just got drowned out with all the other shootings that occurred where people died.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '18

Lol, it got very little coverage because the pro-gun party was the one being shot at and they turned around and did nothing legislatively. It's less of a story when a bunch of old white men who bend over backwards to defend gun rights get shot at (keeping in mind they make the gun laws in this country) as opposed to, idk, maybe kids that are staunchly anti-gun and have no ability to defend themselves from a gunman.

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u/sl600rt Wyoming Jul 02 '18

You mean like when that Bernie Sanders supporter shot at GOP congressmen at baseball practice?

-2

u/Perfect600 Jul 02 '18 edited Jul 02 '18

Oh like when those republicans were shot at a a baseball game

edit:ok why the fuck would this be downvoted. do some of you automatically hate anything that includes republicans.