In for a Penny — In for a Pound (of Flesh)
The NY Post ran the headline: “Reid Hoffman, who wished Trump was [an] ‘actual martyr,’ wants to be Democratic mega-donor like George Soros.” The billionaire Hoffman was a co-founder of LinkedIn, and he has a longstanding relationship with Kamala Harris, stemming from both of them having lived in the Bay Area of California.
In the days leading up to the assassination attempt on Trump, Hoffman said as a panel speaker that he hoped Donald Trump would be an “actual martyr.” A day after the assassination attempt, which left one spectator dead and two others seriously wounded, Hoffman attempted to walk back the original statement in a post on X (formerly Twitter):
Of course I meant nothing about any sort of physical harm or violence, which I categorically deplore. … I am horrified and saddened by what happened to former President Trump and wish him a speedy recovery.
Can you not feel the compassion, warmth, and sincerity just oozing from that tweet (much like a festering sore)?
Let’s be honest for a change:
How many of those, who were quick to speak against violence after the assassination attempt on Trump, nonetheless would have been relieved had the attempt on Trump’s life been successful?
How many of this same persons would have privately celebrated Trump’s ultimate “defeat” and publicly reveled in what almost certainly would have been a rout of the GOP and a pronounced loss for the tens of millions of citizens and voters, who still refuse to embrace a leftward lurching Democratic Party?
How many political minions and media mavens sought to profit from the chaos and destruction related to the nationwide and monthslong riots of 2020, which they insincerely and disingenuously denominated “mostly peaceful protests”?
How many of those, who are now conveniently averse to violence, proposed or endorsed “taking Trump out back and beating the hell out of him,” a la Joe Biden?
How many actively supported a baseless impeachment effort almost immediately upon Trump’s taking office?
How many endorsed or enabled abuses of judicial process through politically motivated prosecutions turned persecutions?
Their behaviors belie their words. Their actions imply a willingness to tolerate and accept, if not enable, some level of violence, supposedly in the names of “justice,” “fairness,” and “equality,” as they conveniently (re)define those things in the most self-serving manner.
Some violence is seemingly “OK” so long as they may benefit from it. Just as self-serving lies are entirely acceptable. It is a mindset of the “[selfish] ends justifying [ignoble] means.” What then is the level of violence, which we must be prepared to endure?
They unabashedly lied to the American people. They unapologetically abused the powers afforded to them. They continue to lie, and they are certain to abuse whatever further or additional powers they might secure.
Nevertheless, they ask now to be entrusted with continued and additional powers. They falsely claim that they — and only they — are miraculously immune to the inevitably corrupting influence of unrestrained power. They have demonstrated themselves unworthy of the powers that they command. We extend to them continued and expanding powers at our peril.
