ANALYSIS/OPINION:
As the anti-Trump movement begins shifting into high gear for the midterm elections, people are trying to grab attention and headlines however they can. It’s as if they’re hitting the terrible twos — as in nearly two years since Donald Trump won and Hillary Clinton lost.
Peter Fonda knew he had crossed the line, Rep. Maxine Waters was slapped on the wrist by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, of all people, and the fake “victims” at the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, must have ingested some phony baloney before showing up for work.
Ms. Waters is a hardscrabble Democrat whose politics suggest calling spades as trumps even when the game is Uno.
Here’s what she said this weekend at a resistance rally in Los Angeles: “If you see anybody from that [Trump] Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you cause a crowd, and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome — anymore, anywhere — we’ve got to get the children connected to their parents, the children are suffering.”
Well, Virginians were listening, because that’s precisely what happened in Lexington when Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family were dining at the Red Hen. Mrs. Sanders was asked to leave because employees felt uncomfortable with her politics. And she did leave, but grace didn’t follow her family, who went to a nearby restaurant where they reportedly were shouted down outside.
Ms. Waters is not the leader of the House, but she is a leader of her community, so she should not be encouraging civil unrest or even violence. Suggesting a confrontation at a “gasoline station” could ignite violence of the worst kind.
Never really thought I’d be saying this, but Mrs. Pelosi came close to tamping things down, saying her Democratic sister-in-arms in the anti-Trump movement made some “unacceptable” remarks.
“In the crucial months ahead, we must strive to make America beautiful again. Trump’s daily lack of civility has provoked responses that are predictable but unacceptable. As we go forward, we must conduct elections in a way that achieves unity from sea to shining sea,” Mrs. Pelosi tweeted.
Acts of human kindness and civility are hard to come by during an election season when all that seems to matter is the court of social media opinion.
Mr. Fonda apparently doesn’t even care about that. Although he deleted his tweets, he cannot hide because he’s encouraging unthinkable violence against the innocent children of government employees.
Mr. Fonda, in case you’re unaware, is the son of actor Henry, brother of actress “Hanoi” Jane and father of “Jackie Brown” co-star Bridget. No longer a leading man after several decades in Hollywood, Mr. Fonda has remade himself, following Robert De Niro’s lead and dropping F-bombs along way and tweeting worse on the record.
His all-caps script: “WE SHOULD HACK THIS SYSTEM, GET THE ADDRESSES OF THE ICE AGENTS CBP [Customs and Border Protection] AGENTS AND SURROUND THEIR HOMES IN PROTEST. WE SHOULD FIND OUT WHAT SCHOOLS THEIR CHILDREN GO TO AND SURROUND THE SCHOOLS IN PROTEST. THESE AGENTS ARE DOING THIS CUZ THEY WANT TO DO IT. THEY LIKE DOING THIS. F—-.”
In a subsequent tweet, Mr. Fonda suggested sexually assaulting 12-year-old Barron Trump, Melania and Donald’s only child.
“WE SHOULD RIP BARRON TRUMP FROM HIS MOTHER’S ARMS AND PUT HIM IN A CAGE WITH PEDOPHILES AND SEE IF MOTHER WILL 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—-.”
Sore losers.
Pray there are no close encounters of a dangerous kind.
• Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.