When do entertainers entertain and when do they outrageously offend? Why did Ted Nugent get rewarded for his offensiveness while Shakespeare showing Julius Caesar looking like Trump, who gets stabbed in the play gets to lose their sponsors and Kathy Griffin loses her sponsors and her job for political satire? In 2012 a theater company depicted Obama in the same play and no one lost sponsors. In 2002 an English production of the same play depicted President Bush in the same play with no outrage. The Shakespearean play is all about being against assignation! Why are some things boycotted and other offensiveness rewarded selectively? Our democracy allows us to criticize anything we want to.
Do you remember when musician Ted Nugent openly threatened President Obama's life and Hillary's life too? What punishment did he get for his disrespect? Nothing. Trump became President despite occasionally deploying Nugent style rhetoric against Clinton during the campaign. People watched the debates just to see the entertainment Trump provided in turning serious issues facing this country into a series of name calling and insults to other candidates. During a rally in August, Trump infamously suggested that "Second Amendment people, gin owners, might be the last line of dwfense against Hillary Clinton and the gun curtailing judges she'd nominate" Was that threat to Hillary? Should gun lovers take her out? This morning a sick man tried to take out Republican lawmakers in a sea of 50 bullets. Violent frustration is no way to settle any issue.
Recently President Trump dined and posed for photos with rock star Ted Nugent, a man who caused himself to be the target of a Secret Service Investigation after he said in 2012 that if President Obama were reelected, Nugent would "either be dead or in jail by this time next year. "Ted Nugent's repeated threats to Obama's life did not stop Trump from hosting him at the White House. Maybe stuff like this made today's shooter go crazy.
Nugent's 2012 comments about Obama who he has called a "piece of shit" and a "subhuman mongrel" are far from the only threat he's made against prominent Democrats. Nugent discussed shooting Harry Reid during the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in 2015. In January 2016, he called for both Obama and Clinton to "be tried for treason and hung." Nugent once called Clinton a "worthless bitch" and called for her to "ride one of these guns into the sunset." He told Obama to "suck on my machine gun." Nugent can be as offensive as he wants to be but he should not be hosted in the White House as someone we should admire.
Trump harshly criticized comic Kathy Griffin for her offensive attempt at a political joke but thinks Ted Nugent never did anything wrong. He even lied that Nugent never made offensive threats. Ted Nugent's threats didn't stop Trump from hosting him at the White House. Trump has a habit of lying. He has lied 277 times in the past 2 years. Now Trump is claiming that Comey is lying while he testifies under oath. Trump lied when he said that Obama had my wires tapped, Obama was not born in this country. Trump won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally. All lies! In 2007 there was a deposition about Trump's personal wealth where he was found to have lied 30 times by lawyers that were cross examining him. Now he lies about what is or isn't considered offensive.
If anyone especially comics lose their ability to say how they feel without fear, then this country loses the definition of what it is to be American. Sure no one likes to hear anything over the line offensive but some should not be rewarded while others are being punished. Recently Kathy Griffin, Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher got in serious trouble with their employers for the comments they said in public on a few issues. Should they be stifled no matter what? Where is freedom of speech? If anyone offends us we have the right not to endorse them but they still should have the right to express themselves in the venues they occupy.
This morning a man, James T. Hodgkinson shot 50 bullets at Republican lawmakers and now he is dead. A Congressman, Rep. Steve Scalise was hit. The shock that real violence was committed to our lawmakers, prompted Trump to finally preach that we need more unity and less division in our country. The frustration in this country is now bringing people to actual violence and that needs to stop. Anyone who preaches violence like Ted Nugent and Kathy Griffin must be dealt with equally and not in a Republican or Democratic Party affiliation way.
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