One can waste a lot of time thinking about the most recent stupid thing said by Trump loyalists. Every time Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lauren Boebert open their mouths the collective IQ of public discourse drops several points. But that doesn’t mean everything said from that camp is meaningless. We should listen very carefully because some of that apparent noise is in fact signal. Frequently, it is a signal telling us how Trump and his administration plan to justify future acts that in normal times would be well beyond what the American public would tolerate.
As was widely reported, early Sunday morning a man broke into the home of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, after the family had celebrated the first night of Passover, and set fire to the residence. A suspect, identified as Cody Balmer, said he committed the act because, according to Politico, “he thought Governor Shapiro was helping perpetrate ongoing violence against the Palestinian people.”
Shapiro, who is Jewish, in condemning the attack, commented that “nothing…the assailant could do would deter me from doing my job as governor, nothing he could do would deter me from proudly and openly practicing my faith.”
Shapiro, who well understands the abhorrent nature of political violence, said the following.
“I said after the assassination attempt on the president in Butler, I said in Altoona after we captured the individual who shot and killed a U.S. health care CEO, and I said on Sunday that this kind of violence has no place in our society, regardless of what motivates it.”
That may be a bit of political boiler plate but it is the kind or statement that must be made in these circumstances by our political leaders to, as the saying goes, turn down the heat.
Enter Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Dan Meuser. Meuser, after obligatory comments condemning the arson, said the the “Left has to look in the mirror too,” adding that Democrat’s use of “violent and hostile commentary” is a contributing factor. Posting on X, Meuser went on the say, “Every action Josh Shapiro has taken so far against the president has either been a lawsuit or a falsehood.”
After getting generally slammed for his comments, Meuser backtracked by saying that what he meant was that “…the broader political rhetoric we’re seeing from both sides is dangerous,” but one gets the sense that this is nothing more than damage control. Also notable is that so far President Trump has not reached out to Governor Shapiro to express his concern, nor has he condemned the violence, which is another signal we should not ignore.
We are already seeing violence in the Trump Administration’s illegal and unconstitutional immigration raids, but because it concerns so few in our own orbit, we let it pass. But anyone paying attention must know that violence against Trump’s political enemies, whether by the state or condoned by the state, is just a matter of time. When Rep. Meuser calls the words of those who criticize the president “violent and hostile,” he is preparing the country for a response to those words that is not in the nature of verbal repartee. An actual violent response to a verbal challenge is the kind of playground dynamic that defines the way Trump sees the world. What, he might ask, did you expect?
There is a lot of noise here, but also an important signal.
;
