There's considerable concern being voiced this week over acts of intimidation perpetrated by putative Trump supporters, and, to the extent that these occur, they must be categorically condemned by everyone dedicated to justice and democracy. Democracies are fragile and cannot long endure if the people are not free of intimidation. It's unfortunate, though, that there seems to be much less concern being expressed over the far more violent threats and physical attacks being perpetrated by leftist opponents of Donald Trump.
Consider just a few examples of the threats and intimidation first. The CEO of Grubhub has told his employees that if they supported Trump they should tender their resignations forthwith.
Film director Joss Whedon tweeted ominously that Donald Trump must not be permitted to serve a term in office. Exactly what does this mean? Is Whedon calling for Trump's assassination? An awful lot of his political allies are.
Assassination threats against Trump are flooding Twitter. Leftist protesters are calling for violence. One site has even been set up to encourage the rape of Trump's wife. The disgusting website is called "Rape Melania."
Add to the threats against Trump and his supporters the riots and numerous instances of actual physical violence that is being visited upon Trump supporters, and one wonders why, if the intimidation of minorities by threatening signs and slurs is worthy of our condemnation, and they emphatically are, why don't these other examples of even more horrible behavior also merit our condemnation? Why is the liberal media seemingly indifferent to them?
Donald Trump was called upon by some in the media to publicly condemn acts of intimidation carried out in his name, and on national television he forcefully responded by telling people to just stop it. Why aren't similar and worse behaviors on the left being condemned by President Obama, Mrs. Clinton and other prominent Democrats? Why aren't the print and broadcast media demanding that the leaders of the Democrat party forcefully repudiate these despicable attacks and threats?
Do they have a partisan or ideological blind spot so large that they can't see evil when it's manifested on the left? Is not the perception that they do indeed have such a blind spot one of the very reasons Trump won the support of so many voters who were fed up with one-sided media outrage? When will the media learn to practice simple fairness?