“The use of violence or the threat of violence, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political goals.”
– American Heritage Dictionary
Today, Donald Trump announced that he wants to commit an act of terrorism against Democrats.
If you use the American Heritage Dictionary’s definition of terrorism, what Donald Trump did today was itself an act of terrorism.
As he stood in front of a live microphone at a political rally of his supporters today, Donald Trump declared that he wanted to physically attack the speakers at the Democratic National Convention.
“I was gonna hit one guy in particular, a very little guy. I was gonna hit this guy so hard his head would spin and he wouldn’t know what the hell happened.”
Often, what happens people are hit so hard that their heads spin and they don’t know what the hell happened is that they’re killed. It isn’t like with the bar room brawls in the movies, in which people can be hit over the head with chairs and then get back up again as if nothing happened. Fists can kill.
It’s true that Donald Trump is an old man, and though he likes to talk tough, he doesn’t look very physically strong.
Then again, Donald Trump specifically said he wanted to attack a “little guy” – a “very little guy”. Trump said he wanted to attack someone who wouldn’t have the physical strength to stand up to him and fight back.
Donald Trump’s purpose in making such an attack, and in making this threat, is political. He means to intimidate Democrats with violence, and to inspire other people to acts of intimidating violence. He wants to use physical brutality for political purposes.
That’s terrorism.
What kind of a man thinks that he will look like a strong, effective leader by visciously beating up a very little guy?
Donald Trump is that kind of a man.