“The President of the United States is encouraging the military, police, and bikers to violently attack his critics on the left.”
President Donald Trump delivered a thinly-veiled threat in an interview this week with the far right wing website Breitbart.
“I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad,” Trump told Breitbart (Google cache version.)
The remark was framed as remarks on the “general tensions between conservatives and leftists.”
Trump’s remarks were not widely publicized, as Breitbart, which for years was run by Trump’s former campaign CEO Steve Bannon, is not a mainstream publication. Bannon infamously described the site as the platform for the alt-right.
But Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale, who focuses on tracking and fact-checking all of Trump’s remarks, posted the quote to Twitter. It quickly drew concern, outrage, and condemnation – and repeated charges of fascism.
Here’s what some experts are saying about the threat from the President:
Founder of ThinkProgress and Popular.info:
Authoritarianism expert:
Emmy award-winning MSNBC anchor:
Public policy professor, pundit, and political scientist:
Washington Post journalist:
Senior Writer at RollingStone:
MSNBC host:
Former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama:
Editor-in-Chief of Shakesville.com:
National correspondent for the Los Angeles Times:
Journalist, think tank fellow:
Activist and writer:
Columnist at The Intercept:
Journalist:
Contributing writer for the Washington Monthly:
Image by The White House via Flickr