Calling Trump a Tyrant Is Not a Call to Violence

Thursday, April 30, 2026

Conservatives want to police how we talk about Trump"while excusing how the president talks about everyone else.

Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 05:24 AM | 6 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

The ruling as out of bounds any discussion of Trump's contempt for democracy is not merely some unfortunate by-product of the right's rhetorical gambit, but its central purpose. Trump has been glorifying and stoking violence since he entered politics. He has urged his rally-goers to "kick the crap out of" counterprotesters; has fantasized about unleashing the brute strength of his supporters ("I have the tough people, but they don't play it tough"until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad"); and, of course, mass-pardoned the insurrectionists who did precisely that on January 6, 2021.

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Jonathan Chait notes:

the conservative principle would seem to rule out any criticism of authoritarian tendencies, however real they may be. If calling a politician an aspiring authoritarian is tantamount to inciting their murder, then doing so is irresponsible even if the charge is true. Republicans could nominate the reanimated corpse of Benito Mussolini for president, and Democrats couldn't question his commitment to democracy without being accused of ginning up violence.

#1 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-04-30 05:27 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Trump may not be a pet person but he sure has one helluva collection of Pavlovian dogs.

#2 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-04-30 09:39 AM | Reply | Funny: 1

Neither is calling him a rapist, a liar, and a thief.

Telling the flat truth cannot be a bad thing. You're either honest about reality of it eats you. As witness MAGA, who lives in a fantasy world that seeks to cover over every Trump crime and obscenity with implications of super-human powers.

The election and re-election of Trump have been the greatest national failures likely since the failure of Reconstruction. Donald Trump is a Monster. That is not a call to violence. It make be a call to place him in a zoo.

#3 | Posted by Zed at 2026-04-30 09:56 AM | Reply

It's not a call to violence.

But when violence occurs.....there will be accusations like that.

Every time

lazy, apathetic, and biased people want to be told what they want to hear. This is what they want to hear

#4 | Posted by eberly at 2026-04-30 10:16 AM | Reply

people want to be told what they want to hear.

#4 | POSTED BY EBERLY

What do want to hear?

#5 | Posted by Zed at 2026-04-30 10:20 AM | Reply

What do you want to hear?

#6 | Posted by Zed at 2026-04-30 10:21 AM | Reply