Dan Rather:"No citizen who cares about the country and its future can ignore what Donald Trump said"

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

"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 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.

We are a democratic republic governed by the rule of law. We are an honest, fair and decent people. In trying to come to terms with today's discouraging development the best I can do is to summon our greatest political poet Abraham Lincoln for perspective:

'We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.'

Lincoln used these stirring words to end his First Inaugural Address. It was the eve of the Civil War and sadly his call for sanity, cohesion and peace was met with horrific violence that almost left our precious Union asunder. We cannot let that happen again."

https://www.facebook.com/theDanRather/posts/10157249295185716

[MichiganVote]

1. This cannot stand.

[Stuart G]

2. k and r..nt

[major debacle]

3. So far, top Republican leaders have stood behind Trump is spite of all

This is the test, the final exam. Which Republican leader will step up and say, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

[Cresent City Kid]

4. This cannot be overstated.

We cannot allow the media to classify this as yet another blunder and fold it into the usual horse race coverage. The kind of country we are living in just changed for the worse.

Any one who supports him must be tied to this statement.

[chwaliszewski]

5. I know some Trump supporters...

who would gladly agree with his(Trump) statement. Some of our nation's people are becoming quite ill with their hatred. This shit has got to stop. I'm still butt-hurt over Bernie not getting the nomination but anybody advocating for 'taking out' Hillary needs to head straight to jail. Seriously.

[Stonepounder]

6. Thank you, Dan Rather.

One of the few true Journalists left. No he said, she said. No, we present both sides and let you decide. Just flat out truth telling.

I watched CNN this afternoon and I swear, if Trump said that the sun rose in the West, Wolf Blitzer would take to a bunch of Trump surrogates asking them to explain Trump's remarks. Then he would give someone from the Clinton camp a couple of minutes to say "but you can see he is lying, just get up and look", and then Wolf would paraphrase, "Well that's what the two camps are saying. We report, you decide."

[mahannah]

7. Well put, Mr. Rather. But tomorrow, none will care.

[PatrickforO]

8. Great post.

As another poster said, this cannot stand.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

9. At least Rather had the decency to be ashamed of the Bush letter debacle.

If that sort of thing happened on FOX, the reporter would move on to the next load of accusations and act like nothing happened.

I never heard FOX apologize for claiming WMD's were found during the early days of the invasion of Iraq, for example.

[Third Doctor]

10. Trump's supporters will and will justify it.

[groundloop]

11. I'm just dumbfounded that tRump can be this stupid, he's outdone himself by tenfold.

Criticizing the family of a fallen soldier - stupid.
Joking about receiving a purple heart - ignorant.
Calling for the murder of his opponent in the presidential election - UN-FUCKING BELIEVABLE.

Just when I felt like his handlers were going to get tRump somewhat under control and force him to stick to prepared statements he has gone absolutely bat-shit crazy. I was starting to wonder what kid of October Surprise the raunchy little minds of the republican party could cook up against Hillary. I never believed it could go worse for him, but he never ceases to amaze. I don't believe any conceivable dirty trick will have any sliver of a chance of helping him now.

[tblue37]

14. Tourette's patients who suppress their tics say that after suppressing them for several

hours, when they finally stop holding back, all their tics explode in a flurry of expression.

I think something similar happens with Trump. When he is chastised and reined in for a day by the establishment, he cannot help exploding the next day with even more extreme statements.

[napkinz]

12. K&R

[many a good man]

13. "We are an honest, fair and decent people."

Apparently a large majority of Republicans are dishonest, unfair, and indecent just like Trump.