Threats, intimidation, and outright acts of violence against conservatives and supporters of President Donald Trump have been occurring from the so-called resistance ever since Trump won his upset victory in the November 2016 election. Words of intimidation and other actions even have recently gotten the blessing of — and new energy from — top Democrats.
Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, and Eric Holder, the former attorney general, both endorsed hostility against Republicans. And now New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has weighed in on some of this.
Clinton told CNN this past Tuesday that civility toward Republicans cannot return until Democrats regain power in the 2018 election. She said in the interview, “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about. That’s why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and/or the Senate, that’s when civility can start again. But until then, the only thing Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength.”
And Eric Holder, the chief law enforcement officer under Barack Obama, told supporters of Georgia’s Democratic nominee for governor that when Republicans “go low,” people should “kick ’em.”
These comments follow the remarks of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) this past summer that members of the Trump administration should not have peace — and that people should get in their faces at gas stations, department stores, restaurants, and elsewhere. And that’s exactly what many angry leftists have done.
On Friday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the protesters who confronted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in a Washington, D.C., restaurant last month went too far and should not have done what they did.
Related: Look What an Angry Mob Did to Sen. Ted Cruz and His Wife at a Restaurant
“I think when someone is in their private life, I do think there’s a certain civility that should be recognized,” de Blasio told the radio station WYNC during a Friday interview.
He went further. “There’s still gotta be some humanity in the equation and some sense that people are still individuals,” he said.
De Blasio made his comments in the context of a separate incident in his own case, in which he rebuffed an activist for the homeless last week who approached him while he was working out at the YMCA in Park Slope, Brooklyn, as the New York Post reported. (De Blasio lived in Park Slope before moving into Gracie Mansion, the traditional residence of New York City mayors.)
A black activist approached him while he was sitting down and stretching his legs in the gym — and asked him why he wouldn’t commit to more housing for homeless New Yorkers.
Related: Here Are 12 of the Left’s Worst Recent Attacks on Conservatives
As the activist continued to talk while he was exercising, the mayor rebuffed her, said, “We can’t do this now,” and quickly got up and walked away from her as his security detail moved in (see the video of that encounter at the bottom of this article). He later insisted he did so “only because she was violating the gym’s rules by filming inside,” the Post said. And that accoster has now earned herself a meeting on Monday at City Hall (de Blasio will not be present).
De Blasio is OK with protests against politicians while they are “on duty,” however.
But De Blasio didn’t condemn all of the protests by resisters. He went on to say in the Friday radio interview that other types of protests while politicians are at work and “on duty” — such as activists’ confrontation of Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) two weeks ago inside a Capitol elevator after Flake said he would vote for Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court — are perfectly legitimate.
After White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was chased out of a Virginia restaurant by its own staff — she had gone there to have dinner with members of her family — de Blasio also said he disagreed with that move by the restaurant.
Political violence has been a very real threat since a crazed supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders and his campaign for the Democratic nomination in 2016 used a high-powered rifle and a pistol to fire repeatedly at GOP congressmen who were practicing baseball at an Alexandria, Virginia, ballfield last year. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was critically wounded in that attack — and has still not fully recovered.
Check out this video — and share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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