To hear the most diehard supporters of Donald Trump talk, you would think that there was an 11th commandment added to the Bible–“Thou shalt not speak ill of Donald Trump.” After all, depending on the source, fundie supporters of Trump believe you’re under the influence of witchcraft and demons, and are putting yourself at risk for being cursed down to the third generation. The Joe Sixpack crowd puts it more simply–you’re a “cuck.”
Well, a Democratic congressman from Texas learned just how deep the hate runs toward anyone who isn’t willing to bow down to Trump. After publicly calling for Trump’s impeachment on the House floor–the first member of the House to do so–he was bombarded with a host of racial slurs and calls for his lynching.
Al Green represents Texas’ 9th District, located in southwestern Houston, since 2005. It is one of the most Democratic districts in the nation; Hillary Clinton carried it with a punishing 79.3 percent of the vote–by just a few percentage points, her strongest showing in Texas.
In a district this ridiculously blue, it goes without saying that Green has some freedom to stick his neck out. He did so in a big way last Monday, when he demanded that Trump be impeached by the House. Watch coverage from KHOU in Houston here.
Green contends that the firing of Comey, and Trump’s statements since the firing, potentially amount to “obstruction of a lawful investigation” into the Russian effort to hack the election. He cites three specific acts–the firing itself, Trump’s acknowledgement that the hacking investigation was a factor, and his now-infamous tweet warning that Comey should pray that no tapes exist of their conversations. For this reason, Green believes that the new mantra should be “I. T. N.–Impeach Trump Now.”
Four days later, Green took to the House floor to demand that Trump be impeached. Watch here.
Green said that “democracy is at risk” from an offense occurring in real time. “The president is not above the law,” he thundered, and that demands impeachment. He called for the American people to have a chance to weigh in “so we can get a sense on what the American people want.”
It didn’t take long for some pro-Trump thugs to take Green up on that offer. On Saturday, Green held a town hall meeting at Fountain Life Center in Houston, during which he played excerpts from three voicemails he received at his offices in Houston and Washington soon after calling for Trump’s impeachment. Listen here (warning, NSFW).
The first caller threatened Green with a public hanging.
The second caller warned that Green would be “hanging from a tree” if Trump were impeached.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykZb_OZ-YEY
The third and longest of all was possibly the most coherent–though that didn’t take a whole lot of effort.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykZb_OZ-YEY
If these bottom-feeders thought they would scare Green into silence, they had another think coming. Green declared those calls would not detract him from “what we believe to be the right thing to do, and that is to proceed with the impeachment of President Trump.” He told the audience that he played the calls because “the best way to deal with evil is to expose (it).”
Green spoke further about the tapes with CNN’s Brooke Baldwin on Monday. Watch here.
Green admitted that it wasn’t an easy decision to play those tapes. However, he felt he had to play them because “you cannot hide hate.” He was also saddened that blacks today still have to live with the threat of lynching and murder. The only way to combat it, he said, is to expose them. He has forwarded the calls to the Capitol Police, and there is an investigation well underway.
As he sees it, there is nothing partisan about it. He believes that while firing Comey was not in and of itself impeachable, when combined with his statement that he did so in part because of the investigation, “you have an impeachable act.”
To those who left those messages, he had this to say.
“I would want him to know, first, that you are in the midst and in the company, I am sure, of some African Americans, and I’m just concerned about your behavior towards them and how you would treat them. I would also want them to know that there are little black girls and boys who grow up in this country, and we don’t want them to be exposed to the level of hate that they would perpetrate. This is a great country. It can be made greater if we can eliminate the hate against African Americans, also other communities, LGBT, persons who happen to be of a religion that you don’t respect. These are the things that we have to fight constantly. If we don’t fight them, hate will rule, and if hate rules, we lose our democracy. I want you to know we’re going to protect our democracy.”
Truer words were never spoken.
Regardless of what you think about whether Trump should be impeached, this sort of pigweed has no place in any self-respecting democracy and must be strongly condemned. Hopefully it won’t be long before these bottom-feeders are brought to justice.
Let’s let Green know we have his back. Send him some love on Facebook and on Twitter.
(featured image courtesy Green’s Twitter)
