I’ve learned not to expect much from Ann Coulter, so I wasn’t at all surprised to see that she is a loud-and-proud surrogate for Donald Trump. But on Sunday, the veteran right-wing commentator may have gone too far. She let it be known that she has no problem at all with the ugly violence that we’ve seen lately at Donald Trump’s rallies. Indeed, she wants to see more of it.
Coulter has supported Trump’s bid to buy the presidency almost from the beginning. But on Sunday, we learned just how far she was willing to go. A little more than 12 hours after Trump threatened to sic his supporters on Bernie Sanders’ rallies, Coulter had this to say on Twitter.
I would like to see a little more violence from the innocent Trump supporters set upon by violent leftist hoodlums.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) March 13, 2016
I hope I’m reading this wrong. I really am. Coulter seems to have no problem at all with protesters at Trump rallies getting beaten up. Even if you do buy the false narrative that there are “violent leftist hoodlums” lurking around Trump’s rallies, that doesn’t excuse responding with violence.
But just in case Coulter didn’t make herself clear earlier, she had this to say minutes later.
Trump supporters exhibiting manly temper–the same manly temper that drives the U.S. Marine Corps that Rubio wants to send around the world.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) March 13, 2016
Um, Ann? So it’s “manly” to cold-cock a protester being escorted out of an arena, then threaten to kill him if he returns to another Trump rally? And is it “manly” to whale away at a protester the way several Trump supporters did in Birmingham?
A number of people have called for Coulter to be booted off Twitter for “promoting violence.” I’m not entirely certain whether Twitter should go that far. On paper, this appears to be a classic case of what I call the “Julius Streicher doctrine.” For those who don’t know, Streicher, the notorious Jew-baiter, landed in the dock at Nuremberg not because of his scurrilous articles, but because he was well aware that Jews were being slaughtered and kept churning out incendiary articles anyway. However, Coulter was non-specific enough to retain plausible deniability. Had she or any other Trump surrogate tweeted, “At Trump’s next rally, I would like to see a little more violence,” it would be a slam dunk.
Just because Coulter’s tweets may have been just barely within the law, however, doesn’t mean they’re in any way acceptable. Remember, folks, the standard of whether something is acceptable behavior is much higher than the standard for legality. And now a prominent Trump surrogate is on record condoning behavior that should never be acceptable in any self-respecting democracy. It says a lot about Coulter that both of these tweets are still available.
Perhaps we should ask Coulter if she really does find this thuggery from Trump’s supporters acceptable. You can find her on Twitter or on Facebook.
