Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

EDITORIAL:

Beware of following the lead of playground bullies

It might be tempting to explain away the recent ambush killings of eight police officers, and the wounding of 10 others, as horrific aberrations of an otherwise mostly law-abiding society. Two deranged shooters, one in Dallas and one in Baton Rouge, La., apparently thought they were settling a score.

These killers might have felt emboldened by the inciting behaviors of bullies who challenge authority and threaten to take matters into their own hands.

Las Vegas is no stranger to such tragedies. Two years ago, a married couple who espoused white supremacy executed two Metro Police officers eating lunch at a pizza restaurant. The shooters fled to a nearby Walmart, where she killed herself and police shot her husband to death. An armed bystander at the store engaged the couple and was himself shot and killed.

The couple had recently spent time at the Bunkerville ranch of Cliven Bundy, the law-breaking cattleman who has refused to pay the federal government some $1 million in grazing fees, declaring that his ancestors beat the government to the land so it was his to use as he pleased.

When agents with the Bureau of Land Management showed up to seize Bundy’s cattle, Bundy called for armed, anti-government militiamen from around the country to stand by his side. It became an armed encampment, a showdown highlighted by a Bundy supporter putting his weapon through narrow gaps in concrete barriers and drawing a bead on BLM officers.

Sen. Harry Reid rightly called them “nothing more than domestic terrorists,” even as Nevada’s Republican senator, Dean Heller, empowered them by referring to them as “patriots.” He later reversed. Gov. Brian Sandoval weighed in on behalf of the Bundy gang, calling the BLM’s presence intimidating — a presence that would not have been necessary had Bundy obeyed the law like every other Nevada cattle rancher. Instead, armed men held government agents at bay.

The BLM pulled back, and Bundy and his cohorts are facing a February criminal trial in federal court.

Let’s fast-forward to how Donald Trump sees bullying and violence as good sport.

At a political rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Trump told the crowd: “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise.”

In Warren, Mich., Trump told supporters what to do with a protester: “Get him out. Try not to hurt him. If you do, I’ll defend you in court.” And he added, “Are Trump rallies the most fun? We’re having a good time.”

At a rally in Fayetteville, N.C., Trump sounded sentimental as he harked back to a time when heavies would keep unruly people in line: “In the good old days, this doesn’t happen, because they used to treat them very, very rough. We’ve become very weak.”

At a Las Vegas rally, Trump seemed to begrudge how security guards were dealing peacefully with a protester: “The guards are being very gentle with him. I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you that. … I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.”

We all have an obligation to rein in violence, and the taunting threat of violence. Indulging in thoughts of violently acting out — whether it’s a renegade cattle rancher or a bully presidential candidate — rips at the fabric of law and order that we all depend on as a civil society. Who knows how these violent behaviors and attitudes will play out on a school playground — or in the minds of men angry at police?

Cliven Bundy and Donald Trump are provocative, violence-embracing bullies whose irresponsible, inflammatory actions give license to others to act out. Who is to say how they have influenced others?

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