NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland—National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre had a message on Friday for Trump supporters who think the election of their beloved tough on crime and terrorism candidate will be enough alone to tackle those two problems: You’re wrong. Dead wrong. “Folks, our long nightmare—it may not be over,” he told CPAC during his address. “The fact is it may be just be beginning. Because right now, we face a gathering of forces that are willing to use violence against us.” Who are those violent and dangerous forces needing to be dealt with, if not criminals and terrorists that the Trump administration will soon deal with? Liberals! From the speech:
I think we all agree we live in a more angry, dangerous world than we’ve seen in a long time. A lot of people, for a lot of reasons, want to blow it all up and tear the whole thing down. It’s in the Saul Alinksy strategy of sowing grievance and indignation to raise holy hell. It’s in the leftist radical plan to tax capitalism to collapse. And it’s in the Rahm Emanuel doctrine of ‘Never let a crisis go to waste.’ And it’s in the ISIS dream of a worldwide caliphate. So, what happens when it all collects and collides like a hurricane? What happens when the national media wind machine blows it up into a firestorm? And what happens, if, God forbid our enemies use that to their advantage?
The protests against Trump’s presidency, LaPierre said, offer an opportunity for terrorists, who could piggyback on left activism to strike Americans. “What happens when terrorists tag along with a flash mob protest at your local airport,” he asked. “What happens when some freeway Facebook protest on your interstate highway brings it all to a screeching halt?”
The protesters, of course, welcome this LaPierre implied, because the protesters are themselves essentially terrorists. LaPierre opened his speech with clips from isolated incidents of violence from anti-Trump actions.“The left’s message is absolutely clear,” he intoned. “They want revenge. You have to be punished. They say you are what is wrong with America. And now, you have to be purged.”
“Another name for terrorism,” he said, “is violence in the name of politics and criminal violence has no place in political debate.”
What to do, then, about these protesters who LaPierre claimed “use the same brutal tactics that the fascists used in Europe”?
“With all the threats facing America today, you are right to protect yourself and your family may be more relevant and more urgently needed than ever before,” he said. “Americans know that in their heart. Americans can feel that in their bones. That is why they joined the National Rifle Association.”
Join the NRA! And purchase these fine NRA-endorsed products.
“Make no mistake, if the violent left brings their terror to our communities, our neighborhoods or into our homes,” he concluded, “they will be met with the resolve, and the strength, and the full force of American freedom in the hands of the American people and we will win because we are the majority in this country.”
It feels safe to assume that by “the full force of American freedom” he might partially mean maximum stopping power.
