Whining about a death threat is now the highest form of humblebragging for Democrats in Congress and liberals in the national news media.
The second any one of them gets a threatening tweet from some nameless, photo-less person on the internet, we’re all expected to drop what we’re doing and lament the state of our politics — bonus points if you can blame some Republican, preferably President Trump, on “inciting violence.”
The latest episode of “I Got a Death Threat Now Pay Attention to Me” played out over the weekend and into Monday after Trump posted a video on Twitter splicing flippant comments about Sept. 11 made by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and images of the twin towers engulfed in flames. This type of thing was once known as “an attack ad,” and believe it or not, boys and girls, they were perfectly acceptable. And they still remain effective in political debate.
This particular one happened to be very effective, exquisitely capturing the emotion of the deadliest attack on America and Omar’s irreverent attitude toward it. And so naturally, the opposition reacted with horror.
The best way they know how to fight back, however, is by claiming victimhood. Omar said Sunday in a statement that since Trump’s tweet, she had “experienced an increase in direct threats on my life—many directly referencing or replying to the president’s video.” She directly accused Trump of “violent rhetoric” and “hate speech.”
This is how liberals get their opponents to shut up and stop beating them. They accuse them of “violent rhetoric,” complain about subsequent death threats, and sit back as the news media lap it up.
Rolling Stone magazine said, “It shouldn’t be surprising that the smear campaign has led to death threats.”
The Washington Post hopped on that train with a story about Omar’s “hundreds” of death threats. The BBC wrote that she saw a “rise in death threats” after the Trump video.
While Trump was in Burnsville, Minn., on Monday, a local reporter asked him if he had “any second thoughts” about the video with Omar and the twin towers. Trump said no. And why would he? It was a brilliant video and it contained nothing untrue. It’s perfectly acceptable to elevate Omar’s apparent disregard for the tragedy. The Democrats’ own leader in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saw something wrong with what Omar said about Sept. 11. Why should the subject be off limits for Trump?
Anyone with a public profile worth a damn has received a death threat. Ask Trump how many he’s received. And don’t tell me it has nothing to do with Democrats and the media routinely calling him a bigoted, sexist, racist homophobe.
At a Trump campaign rally in June 2016, a British man was arrested after grabbing for a police officer’s gun with the intent to use it to assassinate then-candidate Trump. He, like most would-be assassins in America, had a history of mental illness.
Threats against Omar aren’t any more remarkable than threats against Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. Oh, wait, that’s a bad example — Scalise wasn’t threatened, he was critically wounded after a Bernie Sanders supporter shot up a baseball field where Republicans had been practicing for a game.
Still, death threats for public figures are, unfortunately, a fact of life. Omar doesn’t deserve special sympathy simply because she gets them, too.
