If Dems refuse to denounce incitement to harassment and murder, make them own it

With Steve Scalise still needing canes to walk after surviving an attempted mass assassination of GOP congressmen; Maxine Waters loudly urging Democrats to harass Republicans whenever they venture out, even to "gasoline stations"; paid demonstrators pounding on the doors of the Supreme Court while the newest justice was sworn in; and the rank and file urging the murder of Justice Kavanaugh, the Republic now faces a crisis of political violence. The idea of America recapitulating Japan's slide into fascism through a period called "government by assassination" is no longer unthinkable. Had Bernie Bro James Hodgkinson (Remember him? The media certainly have done their best to erase him from memory.) succeeded in his true mission, of wiping out a chunk of the GOP caucus, the history of this Congress would be very different. "It can't happen here" is a delusion.

So far, nobody of standing in the Democratic Party is calling out the thugs operating as the Dems' enforcers. I suspect that the political calculus among Republicans has been to let Waters shoot off her mouth and alienate more and more independent voters. But the risk of violence is such that this may be foolish. It is now time for President Trump to start calling them out, reinforced by as many voices as possible, telling the public that if they don't condemn it, they approve of the violence and harassment. The worst among the Democrats have free rein to speak and act on their murderous fantasies. The old slogan used by AIDS activists applies to the Democrats today: Once political violence becomes common, the toothpaste is difficult to put back in the tube.