by Amy Kerr Hardin

“I’m getting threats and everything else from some of his supporters. I’m getting them all day long — now they’re kicked up a notch.” —  Chuck Jones on being attacked by Trump.

Among those millions of gormless voters who opted to obtain their “news” from pimply Russki-backed Macedonian teenagers and late night Twitter rants from the great American Putin puppet, few are prepared to accept the consequences of their ignorance. It’s much easier for them to persist with their risky gambit, buttressed by their unpatriotic embrace of a bare-chested sociopathic dictator on horseback. Rapacious casino tycoon Donald Trump understands their compound human failings and thrives on exploiting those character flaws.

He’s playing Russian Roulette with our Constitution while buffeting America with a constant stream of mendacious bluster. Even those who find him utterly repugnant, and they are the majority, find themselves distracted by his circus showmanship — or, as the media now calls it: the latest “shiny thing.”

Every time the insomnolent president-elect decides to shape public policy through a 3 am 140-character salvo, stocks tumble and death threats are made. For those who think inciting instability and incivility is clever statesmanship — they could benefit from a little shoring-up in the values department and a lesson in history. Yet, instead of engaging in serious self-examination, Trump loyalists persist in their adoration of the petty dictator without question. Fran Lebowitz scathingly characterized the vulgar pull of Trump:

“He’s a poor person’s idea of a rich person. They see him. They think, ‘If I were rich, I’d have a fabulous tie like that. Why are my ties not made of 400 acres of polyester?’”

While he’s permanently destroyed the words “great,” “fabulous” and “terrific” for the entire English-speaking world, his real crimes against humanity continue to draw scant attention.

Here’s another word that should be inextricably linked to Trump: Provocateur.

He’s effectively weaponized his cult members — painting targets on whomever is the subject of his churlish ire on any given day. Trump’s gone out of his way to publicly pick fights with individual citizens, journalists, Muslims, the entire intelligence community, the military, the judiciary, Mexico, most of the Middle East, and our second largest trading partner — China. Additionally, he’s scaring the living crap out of the whole of Europe.

On the campaign trail, Trump openly suggested that 2nd Amendment advocates could take care of the threat of Hillary Clinton and her potential Supreme Court nominations. At a rally, he unashamedly ginned-up the crowd with a thinly veiled lone wolf threat to incite the assassination of Hillary Clinton, or perhaps a Supreme Court Justice:

“If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is I don’t know.”

Within minutes of his public statement, there were cries of foul play, including an assertion from former NSA Director Michael Hayden that Trump should be cuffed and taken downtown:

“Well, let me say if someone else said that outside of the hall, he’d be in the back of a police wagon now, with the Secret Service questioning him.”

Then after the election, Trump mean-tweeted at Chuck Jones.

Who’s that ? It’s hard to remember. There have been so many.

He’s just one more among a host of individuals finding themselves in the crosshairs of our tantrum-prone commander-to-be. Jones is the president of the United Steelworkers Local 1999. He criticized the president-elect for telling falsehoods regarding the Carrier Corporation deal.

Remember that? It was only four weeks ago. So much has transpired since then. Trump tweeted that Jones was doing a “terrible” job. Then, he dashed off a follow-up tweet criticizing the whole of the local union membership for its laziness saying they should “spend more time working-less time talking.”  True to form, Trump supporters rushed to their dear leader’s defense. The fact that Trump knew what would happen next is not in doubt. Jones told NBC News:

“I’m getting threats and everything else from some of his supporters. I’m getting them all day long — now they’re kicked up a notch.”

And just this week, Trump tried to release his monkeys on the esteemed Meryl Streep. She, along with all of Hollywood can hold their own. No worries. Good on them for speaking up.

Among Trump’s more serious proxy threats is the time he treasonously invited the Russians to engage in espionage and hack the emails of Hillary from the time she was Secretary of State. His followers roared their approval, while the media pondered and delicately postulated, unable to publicly utter the “T” word — Treason.

When the incalcitrant president-elect didn’t like the content of his security briefings regarding Russian interference in our electoral process, he insulted the competence of the intelligence community, thereby damaging that critical connection well into the future — a relationship that is key to the safety of every American.

Now this week, he tweeted that intelligence officials are acting like Nazis.

Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham will have none of this from the presumptive leader of their party. This is much bigger than politics.

It’s clear we’re not in Kansas any more when FOX News Tweeted Michael Moore’s comments on the grave danger of Trump snubbing the intelligence community.

It’s not just FOX News recalibrating their moral compass. Glenn Beck has had his own come to Jesus revelation. He remains among the very few Republicans who have stood firm in their opposition to the evil forces which swept Trump into office. Warning that a Trump presidency would be an “extinction-level event” for America, Beck has been an unexpected voice of sanity in a dark, dark time for our democracy.

Trump Tweet

The baffling press conference (if we can call it that) this week should be a clarion call for all in the media. Trump stunned the room when he launched into textbook bullying, calling CNN “fake news.” A claim he followed-up with, naturally — a tweet.

The incident prompted FOX News anchor Shep Smith to call out the president-elect over his lack of decorum, saying that journalists should not be subject to “belittling and delegitimizing” by someone in his position.

The press should take note that the only news outlets that are thriving in this corrosive environment are those willing to step up and call it like they see it. The New York Times, Washington Post and Vanity Fair are in ascension while other papers and networks continue to sink.

This is a president who has vowed to curtail the freedom of the press, yet squeamish reporters and their shortsighted editors are focused on protecting their limited access to Trump and his stable of loathsome surrogates. It is obnoxious when television reporters use implied inflection when reading his tweets on-air. They’re aiding and abetting the inarticulate charlatan. They should boycott his immature social media rants and demand a full schedule of real press conferences.

I’m not holding my breath.