David Duke: Clinton Should Be Put To Death By Electric Chair (Audio)

This is where we’ve come to. The U.S. has become a nation polarized by mutual contempt and hostility for anyone whose views do not match their own. There was a time when political candidates would just spar. They would take jabs at one another yes, they would swipe at one another with mocking bravado, sure. They would even go for the occasional low blow. We’ve seen all that before. But we’ve never seen anyone insist that a rival candidate deserves death by electric chair.

That one is new.

Unbelievable

It doesn’t matter that the calls came from infamous Nazi sympathizer David Duke. The former KKK grand wizard is running for Louisiana’s soon to be vacant Senate seat. Even if that doesn’t propel him into the sphere of a legitimate political actor, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s relationship with white supremacists certainly will.

The GOP’s great orange hope has already done more than enough to help legitimize Duke’s deplorable political views.

That Trump has courted the racist vote right from the very beginning is undeniable. Indeed, his description of Mexicans as rapists was merely a hint of what was to come. Amid revelations that he had been sued for refusing to rent to Black people came horror after horror.

Trump hired an anti-Semite to run his campaign. Upon seeing a Black face at his rally, he assumed he was a protester, called him a thug and had him removed; turns out the guy was voting Trump.

And just last week he announced his plan to improve the lives of Black Americans using rhetoric that was so out of touch with reality that is could hardly be considered anything but racist.

No wonder that men like David Duke feel emboldened.

Electric Shock Jock

Speaking on the October 27 edition of Rense Radio Network’s David Duke Show, Duke had this to say about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton:

“The only seat that she should be taking is not in the Oval Office, but maybe in an electric chair if Clinton got justice for her treason against America, literally admitting — she admitted herself that she supports a state, a radical jihadist radical Islamic state that’s been sponsoring terrorism all over the world and has led directly to the rise of ISIS and the destruction of many Americans and Europeans and of course hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle East. I mean it’s just absolutely amazing. She has basically admitted that she’s a traitor to America and if she truly had justice by law she’d be facing capital punishment in this country for what she’s done.”

Conspiracy Weary

A few things need to be set straight here. To begin with Hillary Clinton did not admit to having committed treason and indeed it would have been a strange thing to admit. While many on the right in this post-truth world seem to suffer from an allergic reaction to facts, it’s very important that we establish what constitutes treason and what does not.

Treason is a criminal offence prosecuted under 18 U.S. Code Chapter 115 – Treason, sedition, and subversive activities. It consists of a number of articles within which a person can be charged with a crime. They include but are not limited to : advocating overthrow of government, enlistment to serve against the U.S, seditious conspiracy and rebellion or insurrection. The actual article pertaining to Treason reads:

“Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”

Without Rhyme Or Treason

So yes, the death penalty exists for treason but no, Clinton has not committed that particular crime.

The FBI investigation proved to be embarrassing for Clinton but no charges were made against her. While Trump championed calls to lock her up, not even he has suggested she should be killed. The idea that she should be put to death by electric chair over an email server is patently absurd. No serious legal expert would entertain such a notion. It’s just more, of the over the top, rabid insanity.

The kind that has driven U.S. politics so deeply into the mud that nobody can see the sky anymore.

Let alone remember what it looks like.

Listen to Duke’s idea of what should be done with political opponents

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I'm a full- time, somewhat unwilling resident of the planet Earth. I studied journalism at Murdoch University in West Australia and moved back to the UK where I taught politics and studied for a PhD. I've written a number of books on political philosophy that are mostly of interest to scholars. I'm also a seasoned travel writer so I get to stay in fancy hotels for free. I have a pet Lizard called Rousseau. We have only the most cursory of respect for one another.