Dissent Becoming Life-Threatening

When President Trump announces his choice for the U.S. Supreme Court next week, I hope he also considers authorizing temporary U.S. Secret Service protection for his nominee.

In the current vitriolic environment of Democratic and liberal media hysteria over Trump’s appointment and the wave of hostile and violent confrontations, a nominee’s safety can’t be assumed.

With the murders of five journalists in Annapolis, Maryland — although not politically motivated — but still fresh in our minds, you would think that Democrats and those on the left would put the brakes on the toxic and incendiary rhetoric they've voiced in recent weeks.

Democrats and the left have compared the situation at the Southern border with Nazi concentration camps; engaged in threatening confrontations of Trump officials and others as noted above; and called for the abolition of the U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) Agency. Democrat Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., even went so far as to call ICE "a group of incompetents."

As I pointed out last week in this space, these "name callers, protesters, and their enabling supporters in Washington, Hollywood — and the major media — should not be surprised if the consequences of their anti-Trump rhetoric inspires one of their crazed leftist disciples to assassinate one of those against whom . . . they spew hate.

Since the announcement of Justice Kennedy’s retirement, much of the left and their media cohorts have engaged in a ranting and raving wave of rabid fear and "the sky is falling in" hysteria. They predict that any Trump appointee would virtually mean the end of the world as we (they) know it.

They don’t say it publicly, but their rhetoric stops just short of advocating stopping the confirmation of a new nominee "by any means necessary."

We are witnessing one of the most toxic, dangerous, and politically hostile environments since the political assassinations, riots, and social chaos of the 1960’s. Prominent Democrats and some of their liberal media and entertainment industry comrades are filling the political air with dangerous ignitable fumes of intolerant, hateful exaggerated rhetoric.

The list of those willing to sink to the bottom of the fear mongering septic tank is lengthy.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., "This is a line that's been drawn about whether we are going to criminalize women, whether we are going to be arresting women for making decisions about their bodies."

Sen. Kamala Harris ,D-Calif., "We are looking at the destruction of the Constitution. "We cannot relent. We will have to fight 'til the end."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., "We do not want an extremist judge on the United States Supreme Court. . . women’s health, equal marriage, and civil rights are all at risk. This is the fight of our lives."

The Democrats’ unhinged feeding frenzy over Trump appointing another Supreme Court Justice is shared by their friends in the media.

NBC 's "Meet the Press" Moderator Chuck Todd said in a tweet: ">>>summer is going to suck . . . it will be ugly; normally nice people will act like idiots . . . "

MSNBC Host Chris Matthews: “Democrats must fight tooth and nail … this is the time for vengeance for what happened two years ago…”

CNN’s Don Lemon, "If President Trump gets another conservative Justice on the Court Roe v. Wade is at risk; there will likely be more cases of business owners claiming religious freedom to refuse to serve Gay people . . . campus affirmative action programs could be on the chopping block."

CNN Chief Legal Analyst Jeffrey Tobin, " . . . 20 states will pass laws banning abortion outright . . . abortion will be illegal in a significant portion of the United States in 18 months . . . " 

Comedian Stephen Colbert: " . . . we are supremely screwed."

Documentary Film Maker Michael Moore, "If this judge goes through… it's a right-wing court . . . It's over…We first have to find ways to stop that vote from happening . . . we’re all going to have to put our bodies on the line."

As we have seen, the left had no problem confronting and threatening Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in public, all of whom have some form of personal security protection.

Given that experience, and the incendiary rhetoric coming from Democrat politicians and the media predicting "doom and gloom" regardless of whom Trump selects, why should any Trump nominee feel safe? In this hateful venomous political environment, they won’t be!

Let’s see which Democrats, late night comics and media pundits send the first verbal poison arrows into the nominee’s back.

Who would have ever thought that political discourse in the U.S. would become so uncivil that just being nominated for the high honor of serving on the Supreme Court of the United States could put your life at risk?

Clarence V. McKee is president of McKee Communications, Inc., a government, political, and media relations consulting firm in Florida. He held several positions in the Reagan administration as well as in the Reagan presidential campaigns. He is a former co-owner of WTVT-TV in Tampa and former president of the Florida Association of Broadcasters. Read more of his reports — Go Here Now.