GOP fundraisers promote violence against Joe Biden. Biden bashing encouraged with baseball bats provided! Are republicans nothing but thugs?

[Ceallaigh]

I am willing to bet that none of those instances were performed by official party members with the goal of raising money.

2 out of 35,739,952.

 

[Hammster]

The people authorizing the event were Republican leaders.

They were criticized by higher ups concerned about the bad publicity.

That doesn't erase the scandal or the responsibility of those officials. When you find an official apology by the person's responsible print it here.

The fact that the higher-ups called them out negates the point of the OP.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I am willing to bet that none of those instances were performed by official party members with the goal of raising money.

Well, A), they have done that

https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Trump-effigy-battered-by-Sanders-supporters-6795894.php

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/local/article/Trump-effigy-battered-by-Sanders-supporters-6795894.php

Bexar County DNC chair did it for the "Bernie Beats Trump on the West Side" event they were hosting...

Local proponents of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders took his message of political revolution to the West Side on Saturday, leading a few dozen supporters in a Donald Trump-bashing exercise and encouraging voters to register by Monday’s deadline.
A sturdy Trump piñata endured a vigorous beating by several adults and children before a large piece of lumber was brought out to finish the ritual.

B) During the Bush era, official party members at the federal level were participating in something even uglier...

Some democratic heavyweights went to the premier of Fahrenheit 9/11 (a misinformation-ridden conspiracy movie by Michael Moore) and gave it a standing ovation..

But last night the city's political heavyweights -- well, the Democratic ones, at least -- greeted Moore with open arms as they turned out en masse for the Washington premiere of his new film Fahrenheit 9/11. Packing the Uptown Theater to the rafters, about 800 people -- including South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle, Florida Senator Bob Graham, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, to name just a few of the prominent Democrats in attendance -- took in Moore's two-plus hours of Bush-bashing, applauding throughout and giving Moore a standing ovation when it was over.


When the National DNC Chairman and Senators (among others) are giving a standing ovation to a bogus movie that's making the claim that the President had a hand in killing 2,000 of his own people, that represents the civility train leaving the station.

 

[JustOneWay]

Well, A), they have done that

https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Trump-effigy-battered-by-Sanders-supporters-6795894.php

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/local/article/Trump-effigy-battered-by-Sanders-supporters-6795894.php

Bexar County DNC chair did it for the "Bernie Beats Trump on the West Side" event they were hosting...
View attachment 344003



B) During the Bush era, official party members at the federal level were participating in something even uglier...

Some democratic heavyweights went to the premier of Fahrenheit 9/11 (a misinformation-ridden conspiracy movie by Michael Moore) and gave it a standing ovation..

But last night the city's political heavyweights -- well, the Democratic ones, at least -- greeted Moore with open arms as they turned out en masse for the Washington premiere of his new film Fahrenheit 9/11. Packing the Uptown Theater to the rafters, about 800 people -- including South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle, Florida Senator Bob Graham, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, to name just a few of the prominent Democrats in attendance -- took in Moore's two-plus hours of Bush-bashing, applauding throughout and giving Moore a standing ovation when it was over.


When the National DNC Chairman and Senators (among others) are giving a standing ovation to a bogus movie that's making the claim that the President had a hand in killing 2,000 of his own people, that represents the civility train leaving the station.

My comment was for the other pictures in your post. This one is new. My comment stands.


I find making a pinata out of any President and hitting it to be deplorable. At least I have the guts to disavow bad behavior in the Democratic Party.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

My comment was for the other pictures in your post. This one is new. My comment stands.


I find making a pinata out of any President and hitting it to be deplorable. At least I have the guts to disavow bad behavior in the Democratic Party.

That's good... like I noted, any of us who fancies ourselves to be "civilized" should be condemning it broadly.


But it is important to acknowledge the catalysts and patterns of escalation that lead to such behaviors.

Like with anything that's escalating, the most recent iteration is almost always going to be the worst, which is why it's important to recognize the preceding events in the chain as well (as to not repeat certain things if one is amply aware that A -> B)

For instance:
Jim makes fun of Steve and calls him names
Steve spits at Jim
Jim shoves Steve
Steve punches Jim in the face and breaks his jaw

Obviously Steve's most recent action is "worst" in that regard, but I think "Jim-fans" inject intellectual dishonesty into the mix by downplaying the prior things in the chain by way of simple comparison to the last thing that happened with "Well, as long as Jim hasn't broken anyone's jaw like Steve has, you're not allowed to bring up the name-calling and shoving, that's a false equivalency!"

 

[Larniavc]

Well, A), they have done that

https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Trump-effigy-battered-by-Sanders-supporters-6795894.php

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/local/article/Trump-effigy-battered-by-Sanders-supporters-6795894.php

Bexar County DNC chair did it for the "Bernie Beats Trump on the West Side" event they were hosting...

Local proponents of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders took his message of political revolution to the West Side on Saturday, leading a few dozen supporters in a Donald Trump-bashing exercise and encouraging voters to register by Monday’s deadline.
A sturdy Trump piñata endured a vigorous beating by several adults and children before a large piece of lumber was brought out to finish the ritual.
View attachment 344003



B) During the Bush era, official party members at the federal level were participating in something even uglier...

Some democratic heavyweights went to the premier of Fahrenheit 9/11 (a misinformation-ridden conspiracy movie by Michael Moore) and gave it a standing ovation..

But last night the city's political heavyweights -- well, the Democratic ones, at least -- greeted Moore with open arms as they turned out en masse for the Washington premiere of his new film Fahrenheit 9/11. Packing the Uptown Theater to the rafters, about 800 people -- including South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle, Florida Senator Bob Graham, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, to name just a few of the prominent Democrats in attendance -- took in Moore's two-plus hours of Bush-bashing, applauding throughout and giving Moore a standing ovation when it was over.


When the National DNC Chairman and Senators (among others) are giving a standing ovation to a bogus movie that's making the claim that the President had a hand in killing 2,000 of his own people, that represents the civility train leaving the station.

Banter. Locker room behaviour. A child's game.

 

[wonderkins]

An effigy is not a real person. Biden was not beaten.

It's distasteful, not deplorable. Definitely not something to get all upset over.

I hear about this and think, "that is distasteful." And then I move on with my life. No pearls have been clutched.

 

[JustOneWay]

An effigy is not a real person. Biden was not beaten.

It's distasteful, not deplorable. Definitely not something to get all upset over.

I hear about this and think, "that is distasteful." And then I move on with my life. No pearls have been clutched.

It is deplorable.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

It is deplorable.

I love word study.

Deplorable "very bad in a way that causes shock, fear, disapproval or disgust"

From Latin deplorare
1 to weep, to lament, to mourn for, to cry over
2 to complain of
3 to lose
4 to despair, to give up on

I think it is deplorable and a disturbing sign of how sick our society has become. And not just because Biden is the target.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

An effigy is not a real person. Biden was not beaten.

It's distasteful, not deplorable. Definitely not something to get all upset over.

I hear about this and think, "that is distasteful." And then I move on with my life. No pearls have been clutched.

It represents a dumbing down of politics.

Depending on what definition of "deplorable" you go with, one of the definitions is "shockingly bad in quality".

Not sure how others would define it, but "We're mad, so we're going to punch/hit/etc... something that looks like our political opponent" certainly isn't what I would call good in quality.

I elaborated on it more in my previous post, so I'll spare the more lengthy details, but the trajectory that started back in 2000 has taken us down a pretty bad path. The environment of "I can say or do whatever I want about/to anyone on the other side because my causes are so virtuous" has shown to be a particularly regrettable form of political tunnel vision.


Where it's gone really off the rails is that the "goofballs" aren't just confined to pockets of general population anymore, it's crept it's way into the congress. You always had citizens who exhibited some of those silly traits.

...But you could at least could be pretty assured that Newt Gingrich and Dick Gephardt weren't going to show up to the state of the union address to do Hamas Cosplay

Or stroll in looking like the Carnie couldn't guess their weight at a county fair and they won a bunch of MAGA swag...

 

[probinson]

I am willing to bet that none of those instances were performed by official party members with the goal of raising money.

In a world where facts matter...

“The Johnson County Republican Party’s successful series of events last weekend was tarnished by a brief incident where a mask depicting President Biden was added to an interactive self-defense display,” Ms. Holiday said in a statement. “The mask was regrettable and removed. No one collected or solicited any funds or donations in exchange for hitting the training device.”​

​

Attendees at Kansas G.O.P. Event Punch and Kick Mannequin Wearing a Biden Mask

The mannequin was dressed in a T-shirt that said “Let’s Go Brandon.” The county party chair said that “the mask was regrettable and removed.”

www.nytimes.com

​

 

[probinson]

They were criticized by higher ups concerned about the bad publicity.

False. The main criticisms came from someone who wan't even there.

Michael Kuckelman, who served as chair of the Kansas Republican Party from 2019 to 2023, denounced the assault on the effigy in a Facebook post on Saturday. He didn’t attend the event, he said in a phone interview on Monday, but shared photos posted on social media that he was made aware of by “concerned Republicans” to express that “the overwhelming majority of Republicans in Kansas are as disgusted as I am.”​

​

...​

“It’s unfortunate the events took place, and even more so the former state party member created a false narrative in order to spew rhetoric and capitalize on continued attempts to divide the party,” he said.​

​

Attendees at Kansas G.O.P. Event Punch and Kick Mannequin Wearing a Biden Mask

The mannequin was dressed in a T-shirt that said “Let’s Go Brandon.” The county party chair said that “the mask was regrettable and removed.”

www.nytimes.com

​

 

[Ceallaigh]

I love word study.

Deplorable "very bad in a way that causes shock, fear, disapproval or disgust"

From Latin deplorare
1 to weep, to lament, to mourn for, to cry over
2 to complain of
3 to lose
4 to despair, to give up on

I think it is deplorable and a disturbing sign of how sick our society has become. And not just because Biden is the target.

Historically effigies of leaders were usually burned and it's been going on for centuries.

 

[RileyG]

This is terrible regardless of how you identify politically. Violence solves nothing