OPINION:
Bill Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts who’s making a run against President Donald Trump for the Republican ticket to the White House, managed to move the old impeachment call a bit further down the delusion scale by reminding MSNBC audiences that the punishment for treason, the only proper punishment for treason, is — “death.”
No, really, Bill. Give it to us straight. Death for treasonous Trump; really?
Go big or go home, as they say.
The good news is maybe the snore-fest called Impeachment has ended, and we’ve moved on a bit to something different.
The bad news? Well, the bad news is that the thing we’ve moved on to is calling for this president’s death.
Remember the days when political differences didn’t have to end in death? Ahh, good times. Golden times.
Anyhow, Weld said this, on MSNBC, while talking about the Ukraine thing — you know, the Ukraine Collusion Call involving Hunter Biden: “Talk about pressuring a foreign country to interfere with and control a U.S. election, it couldn’t be clearer. And that’s not just undermining democratic institutions, that is treason. It’s treason, pure and simple,” Weld said, Mediaite reported.
Pure. And. Simple.
Indeed.
“And the penalty for treason under the U.S. code is death,” Weld went on. “That’s the only penalty.”
Yep. Death. Do not pass go. Death. And like a good puppet obeying the string-puller, MSNBC’s Elise Jordan pressed for details: “You said that Donald Trump has committed treason and the penalty for treason under American law is death. … Have you looked into this? What — how do you see this proceeding?”
Can it be done today? Tomorrow? Shall I call Texas and see if there’s an electric chair available this week?
Weld: “Well, the legal framework is under the U.S. criminal code. The only penalty for treason is death. … He’s such a lawless man.”
Thank goodness Weld is a Massachusetts Republican, which means, as any good Bay Stater knows, he’s really a Democrat — and that means he really doesn’t stand a chance to seize Trump’s GOP thunder. Or Trump’s GOP ticket. Or gain any political steam at all, outside his own cranberry-eating RINO select circle of a few, that is.
Or else Trump’s head on a platter, as envisioned by not-so-funny comedian Kathy Griffin back in 2017, might become a real thing.
“We’ve got treason,” Weld said, Mediaite reported. “And we don’t have to dribble around the court. We can go right for the hoop. It’s well past time for this guy, in my opinion, to be carted off to save us all. He’s daring us all to let him be totally lawless.”
Yep. ’Cause basketball makes a great analogy for talking about putting to death a president.
Way to go, Weld.
He may not be the Republican pick for president. He may not ever make it above 5 percent in the polls for challengers against Trump. But he will hold the historical record for something very, very significant — for something that just a few days ago, would’ve been considered undoable, unthinkable, unattainable.
Weld will be remembered in political books as the guy who made Rep. Maxine Waters appear sane.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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