You can’t get more tone-deaf, considering what is going on in America right now, than the online rant that Maine state Rep. Scott Hamann recently unloaded on President Donald Trump and his supporters.
With fellow Democrats and liberals in the mainstream media accused of inciting violence against the president, his supporters, Republicans and conservatives in general, the representative of a district that includes the South Portland area decided to write an expletive-laced tirade in which he called those who support the president “ignorant” and Republicans “unpatriotic” before calling President George W. Bush a “fingerpainter” and President Trump an “admitted rapist.”
He then went on to extol the virtues of President Barack Obama, who was prevented from accomplishing more, he said, because of “racist Republicans who would not let a black president succeed.” Then, when you thought he couldn’t stoop any lower, he ended the lengthy screed with the following:
Trump is a half-term president, at most, especially if I ever get within 10 feet of that [expletive].
That last part has attracted the attention of the local office of the Secret Service, which told local media it was aware of the comments. They closely mirror those made by James Hodgkinson prior to his going to Washington, D.C., and shooting Republicans who were practicing for the annual Congressional Baseball Game.
State Republican Party Chairwoman Demi Kouzounas called Hamann’s comments “unhinged and dangerous”:
Words cannot even begin to describe the level of revulsion I feel after reading Rep. Scott Hamann’s recent tirade that has come to light. Perhaps the most alarming aspect of this tirade is an implied death threat against our president.
Soon after, Hamann issued a halfhearted apology:
I regret my impulsive decision to post something aggressively sarcastic and inappropriate in a Facebook exchange with a childhood friend. While the tone of the post was born out of frustration with the vile language currently surrounding politics, I should not have responded with the same language. This is not language I typically use, it does not reflect my personal values, and while misguided, it was intended to make a visceral point about the devolving political discourse in America.
You’ll notice he didn’t apologize for threatening violence against the president. The state Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett blasted the comments, too, but did not mention the threat against the president. {eoa}
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