Donald Trump's war with the Democrats marked a new milestone on Thursday.
Unsatisfied with his efforts to direct politically motivated prosecutions of his enemies, the president accused several Democratic members of Congress, all veterans, of "seditious behavior, punishable by death" on Thursday.
The implication was clear: The president was threatening members of the opposing political party with the death penalty, reposting one Truth Social user who simply wrote: "HANG THEM!"
At the White House press briefing, Karoline Leavitt insisted that wasn't the case.
"Does the president want to execute members of Congress?" a stone-faced press secretary was asked on Thursday.
"No," she responded. Leavitt went on to insist that the premise of the Democratic lawmakers' video message, which stated that members of the armed services should refuse any illegal orders they are given, was simply impossible because the commander-in-chief would never give such an order.
She made no efforts to suggest that violence against members of Congress or threats to imprison and execute them were unacceptable.
Once again, the Republican Party finds itself unable to escape the shadow of the man in the White House, who repeatedly insists that threats of political violence never come from Republicans or conservatives despite his own actions, statements and clear infatuation with the concept of using all levers of power and influence available to destroy his enemies.
This is, after all, a man who once suggested that protesters escorted out of his rallies should be beaten up.
While the White House spun its wheels trying to change the meaning of Trump's remarks, his allies in Congress took a different, familiar tactic: They closed their eyes.
Two Republicans who spoke to Inside Washington on Thursday, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mike Rounds, claimed they hadn't seen the president's statements and couldn't comment.
"I've just come back from Vice President Cheney's services, and I have not looked at my phone since 10:30 this morning," was Murkowski's excuse. She declined to look at the Truth Social post when The Independent offered to show her.
Speaker Mike Johnson offered up his own explanation, insisting that he thought Trump was merely providing a legal definition of seditious behavior (which he did not do). The GOP speaker had no explanation for why Trump threatened the death penalty for a crime that carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.
"What I read was he was defining the crime of sedition," he told The Independent. "But obviously attorneys have to parse the language and determine all that. What I'm saying, what I will say unequivocally, that was a wildly inappropriate thing for so called leaders in Congress to do to encourage young troops to disobey orders."
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