Trump says Democrats who didn't clap for him at the State of the Union are "un-American" and "treasonous." pic.twitter.com/lKUx0m3KKK
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) February 5, 2018
He’s just a tummler at heart, a white-bread Rodney Dangerfield, working the Suburban Racist circuit. Getting the reliable cheers by promoting time-worn tropes of Us vs. Them — honor and patriotism be damned. Kudos to Tammy Duckworth for her response, as reported in the Washington Post:
… “We don’t live in a dictatorship or monarchy. I swore an oath — in the military and in the Senate — to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap,” Duckworth (D-Ill.) wrote in a tweet. She used a nickname she has given Trump, who has said he was granted a medical deferment during the Vietnam War after he was diagnosed with bone spurs in his feet.
Duckworth, who lost her legs in 2004 while serving in Iraq as an Army helicopter pilot, then shared this quote from Theodore Roosevelt, lifted from an opinion piece the former president wrote during World War I: “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”…
In a Senate floor speech last month, Duckworth called Trump a “five-deferment draft dodger” who had no business accusing Democrats — such as herself — of not caring for the military.
“Does he even know that there are service members who are in harm’s way right now, watching him, looking for their commander in chief to show leadership, rather than to try to deflect blame?” Duckworth said…
Trump supporters: I love Trump because he speaks plainly and says what he means!
Trump: If you don't cheer me, that's treason.
Trump supporters: Ok, see, he didn't mean that like it sounds
— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) February 7, 2018
You know what country would view people as traitors for not clapping for their leader?
North Korea. https://t.co/frxvOXfPDE
— mieke eoyang (@MiekeEoyang) February 5, 2018
Every American should be alarmed by how @realDonaldTrump is working to make loyalty to him synonymous with loyalty to our country. That is not how democracy works.
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) February 5, 2018
.@realDonaldTrump: “Treasonous” means betraying your country – like, say, if someone colluded with Russia to influence American elections. The freedom not to clap for ideas you disagree with is called the 1st Amendment. https://t.co/0wQaifeiph
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) February 5, 2018
Useful guide
Not clapping = treason
Welcoming clandestine offer of stolen information from a hostile foreign government to your presidential campaign? “That’s politics!” https://t.co/R48x9JxWno
— David Frum (@davidfrum) February 5, 2018
It takes real effort to make the headline of your tax-cut-celebration speech at an Ohio factory be "Democrats are treasonous, president says."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 5, 2018
The president often answers criticism by accusing others of doing what he’s accused of (“No puppet- you’re the puppet;” those calling him racist are denounced for “hatred”). Remarkable, then, for the president to talk of “treason.”
https://t.co/5TwPDKB1Wk— Steve Inskeep (@NPRinskeep) February 5, 2018
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: “Treasonous”Post + Comments (235)