The Blood-Dimmed Tide Is Loosed

     After the assassination attempt on Rep. Scalise, one might think that a rational people would tone down violent rhetoric. We are no longer a rational people:

“U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-NY, says she received a threatening email Wednesday morning from a constituent, hours after a gunman shot Republican members of Congress at a baseball practice in Virginia.

“‘One down, 216 to go,’ the email to Tenney began, referencing the number of seats required to have a majority in the House. ‘Did you NOT expect this? When you take away ordinary peoples very lives in order to pay off the wealthiest among us, your own lives are forfeit. Certainly your souls and morality were lost long before. Good riddance.'”

     This is not an isolated incident. Over thirty Republican members of Congress have been threatened or actually attacked since May of this year. This list included Rep. Steve Strivers (R-OH) who received the following threat:

“We’re coming to get every g**amn one of you and your families. Maybe the next one taken down will be your daughter. Huh? Or your wife. Or even you.”

     Such threats may have even contributed to Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who recieved the following threat:

“Hey Jason Chaffetz—I suggest you prepare for the battle, motherfucker, and the apocalypse, […] Because we are going to hunt your ass down, wrap a rope around your neck, and hang you from a lamppost!”

     Members of Congress, however, are better protected than Trump supporters, especially in Left-leaning states:

“The pro-Trump supporter Tony Forman was right in the middle of a recent protest in Cathay where emotions ran hot over the sanctuary city controversy, but nothing like the violence that’s left Foreman now fighting for his life.

“‘This was politically motivated. That’s a concern because he is a good friend of mine,’ Omar Navarro said. ‘I’m just really shocked someone would do this. What happened to free speech?'”

     You want Red Dawn II: The Wrath of Commissar

     You’ll settle for Pinochet 2: Helicopter Boogaloo

     You’ll get An Lushan Rebellion 2.0: The Deathening

     Indeed, a blood-dimmed tide is loosed upon us… and the worst are full of passionate intensity.

“We have reached the point where such a façade can not be maintained anymore. In its broadest sense, America is now divided between those who wish to fundamenally transform it, and those proverbially stand athwart history and yell ‘STOP’.

“America is turning and turning in a widening gyre—the center can not hold. Any chance at empathy or coming together over common ground can not happen when people become polarized into a tribal identity of us vs. them. Even the barest of civility is gone.”

     Add to that, now, the reticence to stay one’s hand from endeavors of violence.

     This will not end well.

     Update: Stabbing story added to post.

     Update: Additional threats against members of Congress with quotes added. Hat Tip: Ace of Spades HQ.

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