Threatening the President is a crime. And a one-term congressman from New York has issued such a threat. But he’s the Democrat incumbent and his threat made a few local headlines and then ended up in the proverbial memory hole where it will be largely forgotten by the media. It should not be forgotten by voters.
The offending congressman is Democrat Tom Suozzi, who represents the people of New York’s Third Congressional District. The “Third” stretches along much of the northern portion of heavily populated Long Island, and is mostly a New York City suburb. In 2016, he won the seat in Congress by defeating a Republican by about five percent of the vote.
During a recent town hall meeting arranged to meet voters, Suozzi told his audience that Americans who oppose the policies of the president should take up arms against Trump. He volunteered, “This is where the Second Amendment comes in, quite frankly. Because, you know, what if the president was to ignore the courts. What would you do? What would we do?” That constitutes a threat, even an incitement for others to use firearms to attack the president.
In the months prior to the 2016 Trump victory over Hillary Clinton, Suozzi eagerly but unsuccessfully sought a place on the Clinton campaign. There is probably no candidate for the presidency in U.S. history more an enemy of private ownership of weapons than Mrs. Clinton. Before he won his seat in Congress, therefore, Suozzi was an obvious opponent of the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the people’s right to “keep and bear arms.” But he now wants his constituents to consider using their legally possessed weapons against President Trump. In addition to being held accountable for his threat to the president, Suozzi should be named “Hypocrite of the Year.”
National Republican Campaign Committee spokesman Chris Martin responded to Suozzi’s outburst. Calling the congressman’s statement “chilling and very disturbing,” he stated after viewing a video of the meeting that he found it “surreal to watch a sitting member of Congress suggest to his constituents that they should consider taking up arms against the president of the United States.”
Suozzi does have a Republican opponent for the 2018 election. Former Navy SEAL Dan DeBono will give the district’s voters an opportunity to choose a remarkably different individual to represent them. A political novice, DeBono refuses to believe the inevitability of a “the so-called Blue Wave” expected to have Democrats win both houses of Congress next November. He points out that Suozzi has been endorsed by the anti-gun New York Times, champions expansion of Obamacare, supports Planned Parenthood’s abortion practice, and backs amnesty for illegal immigrants. He tells voters, “My children and yours should not have to experience Nancy Pelosi as speaker, or witness people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gain celebratory status for her socialist views.”
To date, no charge of law breaking has been properly posted against Congressman Suozzi. It’s hard to imagine a Republican who uttered a similar threat getting a pass. So it’s up to the voters to render their opinion. November isn’t that far away and we’ll be watching.
John F. McManus is president emeritus of The John Birch Society.
