Former President Donald Trump delivered an enormous political bombshell on Thursday. When some legislators pushed back on his incendiary wannabe warlord rhetoric he went to social media and called those lawmakers out for “seditious behavior”. This escalation comes amidst a long-running debate over the legality of military service orders. It’s based on his inflammatory depiction of violence in a new AI-generated short video.
In this social media outburst, Trump highlighted a video posted by Democratic members of Congress that stated, “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.” His answer was to double down on his claim that these legislators were, in effect, committing treason, pouring more gasoline on the partisan fire.
There was a surprising AI-generated video at the center of Trump’s rhetoric. In it, he presented himself as “King Trump” who bombed U.S. cities with bombs of human feces. Shock and outrage followed this spectacle. It prompted and deserves scrutiny on how appropriate, passive aggressive, bigoted, or unwise his messaging was, especially given today’s environment in politics with regards to threats toward politicians.
Earlier today on Friday, Trump welcomed city council member Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected New York mayor, to the White House. Despite their friendly tête-à-tête, Mamdani doubled down on his earlier comments calling Trump a “fascist” and a “despot.” This mostly friendly encounter stands in shocking contrast to the blistering political attacks. More importantly, this demonstrates the realities of modern political coalitions.
On the heels of these developments, Trump went further, asserting that Democrats were seeking to weaponize the Jeffrey Epstein scandal against him. In response he threw himself into a multi-day social media tirade claiming that even the allegations were false, trumped up efforts to discredit his credibility. One survivor of Epstein’s abuse also weighed in on Trump’s comments, saying that it was dismissive to victims working so hard to have transparency and accountability.
Senator Mark Kelly spoke in September about the threats and dangers posed by Trump’s inflammatory statements. He called on GOP legislators in the state legislature to vocally oppose and condemn Trump’s threats against him and five other Democratic legislators. Kelly emphasized the gravity of Trump’s words, stating:
“His words carry tremendous weight, more so than anybody else in the country, and he should be aware of that, and because of what he says, there is now increased threats against us.” – Mark Kelly
He criticized the bipartisan acquiescence by congressional Republicans to Trump’s incitement to hang members of Congress.
“We’ve heard very little, basically crickets, from Republicans in the United States Congress about what the president has said about hanging members of Congress,” – Mark Kelly
This profound political discourse happens to be occurring with the backdrop of other, more tangible things. Marco Rubio just returned from Switzerland, cautiously optimistic about negotiations with a Ukrainian delegation, as heavy hearted international turmoil continues. These local issues came to a head when immigration officers detained a high school student in Oregon over the lunch hour. This unfortunate incident may even result in criminal potential obstruction charges against the student.
In a move to make its platform more transparent, Elon Musk’s social media platform Twitter, now rebranded X, introduced an “About this account” feature. Doge fizzles – Musk launched a government efficiency initiative called “Doge,” but according to reports, it has been dissolved, which has added to the emerging skepticism of Musk’s management style.
Collectively, these events paint an unsettling portrait of today’s national discourse. We know that anytime Trump goes on social media, it elicits a visceral response from both sides of the aisle. His actions and statements not only impact legislative discussions but reverberate through local communities grappling with immigration issues and broader societal concerns.