The extreme rhetoric and violent language that marked the divisive presidential election in 2016 have deteriorated into physical violence and bloodshed in the last two months.

On June 14, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and three others were shot in Alexandria, Virginia, while practicing for the annual congressional baseball game. The Facebook page of James Hodgkinson, the shooter, a volunteer for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, was littered with hate speech toward President Donald Trump, Republicans and other conservatives.Another outbreak of physical violence hook the nation on Aug. 12 when white supremacists and other hate groups clashed in Charlottesville, Virginia. Despite President Trump's condemnation of "all that hate stands for" and denouncing racism as "evil," he was widely criticized for failing to explicitly call out white supremacists and other hate groups in his initial remark and then muddying the waters three days later by commenting that there were "very fine people on both sides" of the violent rally.Since the day he won the election, Trump has made some costly, self-inflicted errors, mostly through his impulsive use of social media. That's only fueled the hostile media, liberal Democrats, academia and the network of never-Trumpers who are quick to pounce on any opportunity to bring the president down.But the culture of hatred against the president descended to a new low when some Hollywood liberals, rappers and social media bloggers have called for the president's assassination.A Dataminr search of Twitter posts containing the phrase "assassinate Trump" found more than 12,000 tweets since Inauguration Day. U.S. Secret Service Director Randolph "Tex" Alles reported that threats - including emails, social media postings and someone reporting a suspicious statement - against Trump have been tracking about six to eight per day.All threats against a president are investigated by the Secret Service, and those deemed most serious are referred to the U.S. Attorney for prosecution. Threats against the president or vice president can result in fines or imprisonment for up to five years.Tim Franklin, a former Secret Service agent, said because Trump talks about controversial executive actions and ideas on social media, he has been targeted more than his predecessors. It's an American right to be able to express opinions, but the line is crossed when free speech turns into talk about inflicting bodily harm, killing or even kidnapping.Some liberal entertainers with an anti-conservative agenda have been stoking the fire of hate-mongering during Trump's first six months. Examples include:• Comedian Kathy Griffin's graphic and disturbing image simulating Trump's bloody, severed head in a video;• Rapper Snoop Dogg's video of a mock execution of Trump using a toy gun;• Rapper Big Sean stating in one of his lyrics: "... And I might just kill ISIS with the same ice pick / That I murder Donald Trump in the same night with."• Actor Johnny Depp asking the crowd at the Glastonbury Festival: "When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?"• Singer Madonna stating in a women's rally that she had thought "an awful lot about blowing up the White House."The list even includes liberal professors such as Lars Maischak, who teaches American history at California State University at Fresno, and John Griffin, a professor at the Art Institute of Washington outside Washington, D.C.In one posting, Maischak said, "Has anyone started soliciting money and design drafts for a monument honoring the Trump assassin, yet?"Last week, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a Democratic Missouri state senator, posted, then quickly deleted, a Facebook comment saying she really hated President Trump and said she hoped he would be assassinated. She said she made the comment out of frustration with the "trauma and despair" the president is causing with his statements about the events in Charlottesville.The U.S. Secret Service's St. Louis field office is investigating, and despite calls from all sides for her to resign, Chappelle-Nadal said she has no intention of stepping down, stating, "I'm not resigning over a simple mistake."A threat or to wish the president physical harm isn't a "simple mistake." For all sides to come together and debate the issues, there must be a respect for not only the free exchange of ideas but for protection under the law and a respect for human life.When the national debate deteriorates into calls for the president's assassination, then the line of social order has been crossed and the rule of law must then be applied for society to survive.By Jim Zbick |

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