OPINION:
When Peter Fonda tweeted his thoughts on the border by calling for Barron Trump to be caged with a bunch of pedophiles, it didn’t take Melania Trump long to call for the Secret Service to investigate.
And right she was.
Fonda’s tweet was unconscionable.
But why isn’t the left calling out this Fonda tweet for the horrific content it contains? If this tweet named Malia or Sasha Obama instead of Barron, you better believe the Democrats would be up in arms.
Fonda wrote, in reference to the 12-year-old boy: “WE SHOULD RIP BARRON TRUMP FROM HIS MOTHER’S ARMS AND PUT HIM IN A CAGE WITH PEDOPHILES AND SEE IF MOTHER WILL STAND UP AGAINST THE GIANT A—HOLE SHE IS MARRIED TO. 90 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE STREETS ON THE SAME WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY. F—.”
Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s communications director, called the tweet “sick and irresponsible,” The Hill reported.
Grisham also confirmed that Secret Service had been notified of the situation. Good deal on that.
But the tweet goes to the deeper root of Democrats’ mental state.
There’s Robert De Niro, taking to public stage and proclaiming “F— Trump,” as if he were making some sort of somber, serious political statement. There’s Kathy Griffin holding up bloody fake heads of President Donald Trump, all for comedic charm. There’s Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters, calling for resistance and impeachment against this president, this White House — caring little if that resistance takes a turn toward violent.
Those are but a few examples of loony leftist rants passed off as proper political dissent.
Now comes Fonda, with his sick and disturbing call-to-arms against a 12-year-old boy?
Back when Barack Obama was president, there was this Missouri State Fair circus clown who made a regular show of poking fun at presidents. He did it to George W. Bush; he did it to Bill Clinton; he did it to Ronald Reagan. But when he donned an Obama mask to kick up his normal comedy routine?
Oh no you don’t, said the left. Oh no he didn’t, said the Obama supporters.
The rodeo clown was vilified by the left; he was denounced by Democrats; he was targeted by progressive-leaning special rights people who demanded Secret Service step in and put a stop to it. Ultimately, he lost his job — his long-running, popular circus gig.
“The rodeo clown won’t be allowed to participate or perform at the fair again,” The Associated Press reported, back in 2013.
Well, where’s that level of outrage from the left now?
Apparently, the standard is mocking a president with thin skin is over-the-top — even though the First Amendment explicitly speaks to the right of the people to gather and express their political views. But taking to Twitter to advocate a pedophiliac attack on the son of the president and first lady is A-OK? That’s First Amendment protected political speech?
The first lady’s call for Secret Service to step in is a rational reaction any mother would make. But now the Democrats need to speak up and show they agree — that Fonda’s tweet is too morally repulsive for even them to defend. They did it for Obama over a rodeo clown act. They can do it at least the same degree of outrage now.
Democrat, Republican, Independent, progressive, what have you — there should not be any individual of any political persuasion in America who stands silent when a grown man calls for a little boy to be thrown to the pedophiles. This should be an issue that unites all.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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