Dan Rather Rips Trump’s “Direct Threat” Against Clinton on Facebook

Dan Rather, the disgraced former CBS Evening News anchor, took to Facebook in an epic rant after Donald Trump remarked at a campaign rally in North Carolina yesterday that maybe “the Second Amendment People” could stop Hillary Clinton from appointing anti-gun judges if she becomes president:

“No trying-to-be objective and fair journalist, no citizen who cares about the country and its future can ignore what Donald Trump said today. When he suggested that ‘The Second Amendment People’ can stop Hillary Clinton he crossed a line with dangerous potential. By any objective analysis, this is a new low and unprecedented in the history of American presidential politics. This is no longer about policy, civility, decency or even temperament. This is a direct threat of violence against a political rival. It is not just against the norms of American politics, it raises a serious question of whether it is against the law. If any other citizen had said this about a Presidential candidate, would the Secret Service be investigating?

Candidate Trump will undoubtably (sic) issue an explanation; some of his surrogates are already engaged in trying to gloss it over, but once the words are out there they cannot be taken back. That is what inciting violence means.

To anyone who still pretends this is a normal election of Republican against Democrat, history is watching. And I suspect its verdict will be harsh. Many have tried to do a side-shuffle and issue statements saying they strongly disagree with his rhetoric but still support the candidate. That is becoming woefully insufficient. The rhetoric is the candidate.

This cannot be treated as just another outrageous moment in the campaign. We will see whether major newscasts explain how grave and unprecedented this is and whether the headlines in tomorrow’s newspapers do it justice. We will soon know whether anyone who has publicly supported Trump explains how they can continue to do.”

The Clinton campaign also condemned Trump’s remarks, and like Rather, accused him of suggesting violence against Clinton.

“This is simple—what Trump is saying is dangerous,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement. “A person seeking to be president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.”

The Trump campaign disputed the Clinton campaign and the liberal media’s assertion that Trump wanted any harm to come to Clinton.

“It’s called the power of unification—2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won’t be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump,” said senior communications adviser Jason Miller.

But the Democrats seem to suffer from selective memory loss as Hillary Clinton made the following comments in 2008 when she was urged to drop out of the race against Obama:

“My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it.”

And then there is none other than Obama’s running mate in 2008, Joe Biden who spoke about guns at a campaign rally:

“I guarantee ya’ Barack Obama ain’t takin’ my shotgun, so don’t buy that malarkey. Don’t buy that malarkey. They’re gonna start peddling that to you. I’ve got two. If he tries to fool with my Beretta he’s got a problem. I like that little over and under. I’m not bad with it. So give me a break. Give me a break.”

These comments are certainly more ominous than what Trump said.

Nevertheless, the reaction from Democrats, Never Trumpers and the liberal media has been swift and severe, and only adds to the woes plaguing the Trump campaign, which are largely self-inflicted.

Trump has accused the media of being dishonest. To the extent that the liberal media are favoring Clinton by not being as hard on her as they are on him, he is right and nothing he does will change that inherent bias. But if he stays focused and makes the campaign a referendum on Obama, Clinton and her scandals, he can blunt some of the negative media coverage against him and make the election competitive again.

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