Trump Adviser Kellyanne Conway Issues Veiled Threat of Legal Action Against Harry Reid
With all the other awful stuff in the news about Donald Trump’s impending takeover, you might have missed this disturbing sidenote: Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway went on Fox News today and issued a veiled threat of legal action against Harry Reid.
And of course, when challenged she denied that’s what she meant, but how else can we interpret the statement that Reid “should be very careful about characterizing somebody in a legal sense?”
It’s a threat. Obviously. No matter how she tried to disguise it. And she wouldn’t have said this unless it had already been discussed with Trump.
We’re getting glimpses into a future in which the office of the presidency becomes a bludgeon used to silence political enemies.
Harry Reid’s office responds :
“It only took five days for President-elect Trump to try to silence his critics with the threat of legal action. This should shock and concern all Americans.
“Trump has always used threats and intimidation to silence his critics. Now he wants to silence a discussion of the acts of hate and threats of violence being committed in his name across the country. Silencing this discussion normalizes hate and intimidates the victims.
“The facts are stark and shocking. Since Trump was elected, acts of hate against Muslims, Jews, women and people of color have spiked dramatically. The KKK is planning a parade to celebrate Trump’s victory because the KKK sees Trump as their champion. Today, a headline in one newspaper reads, ‘Popular neo-Nazi site urges readers to troll liberals into suicide,’ while another reads, ‘Post-election spate of hate crimes worse than 9-11.’
“But instead of rising to the responsibility of his office, Trump is hiding behind his Twitter account and sending his staff on TV to threaten his critics.
“If this is going to be a time of healing, Trump must take action immediately to stop the acts of hate and threats of violence that are being committed in his name across the country. Trump owes the nation leadership, not petty attempts to silence his critics.”
