Trump pretty clearly both meant to make a mafia like veiled threat that appeals to gun owners and a statement on the power of the pressure of the will of people that appeals to gun owners.GreenGoo wrote:I'm not even remotely making excuses for her, but I see a pretty big gap between "I'm sticking around in case he gets shot" versus "if she's elected only people with guns will be able to stop her"LordMortis wrote:As utterly inexcusable as the 2nd amendment shit is, it's not like veiled suggestions to assassinate your opponent haven't happened before
Just as inexcusable then as it is now from someone coming from a space of psychological influence.
Not that I am, but you can read Hillary's statement as "bad things happen, I'm sticking around in case the worst happens". You can't read Trump's statement as anything except "once Hillary is elected you can't stop her, except for the gun people, maybe, I don't know".
For the record I don't see Trump's statement as solely a call for assassination, it could easily be interpreted as people with guns should overthrow the government. Whether Trump meant "kill her" or he meant "destroy democracy in the US through violence" is only an important distinction to the target of the assassination. As far as these ideas coming out of the mouth of a presidential nominee, both are fucking awful.
Clinton pretty clearly both meant to make a mafia like veiled threat that appeals to bigots and a statement on shit happens, and I'm here to roll the dice, much like Sanders did, only he never said she might get assassinated. He never even said she might be in jail which is what I assumed he was hanging around for.