Comment by philwelch
5 years ago
I think it’s entirely possible that he remembered a catchy rhyme. I don’t think that supports the theory that he is deliberately referencing Walter Headley. Lots of people repeat catchy sayings without even knowing and endorsing who originally said them or even what those sayings originally meant.
>Lots of people repeat catchy sayings without even knowing and endorsing who originally said them or even what those sayings originally meant.
This I disagree with, particularly since he doesn't have to consciously "know" or acknowledge anything explicitly for him not to understand the basic import of the statement.
I don't think anyone's saying he's capable of giving a brief one paragraph statement for an SAT question concerning Civil Rights activism in mid-20th century Florida, cause biases and prejudices don't need that much formal verification to commerce
So by that logic, would you agree that anyone who cites “shouting fire in a crowded theater” in discussions about free speech is in favor of imprisoning pacifists for distributing pamphlets?
Its not catchy. Say the words out loud. Everything about those words are ominous.
He knew what he was saying. But, coward that he is, he’s claiming to not know where the words came from now that a reporter asked him.
So you might remember about a year back, a doctor got rather violently removed from a United Airlines flight after boarding because they overbooked the flight. There was a joke about it afterwards, some gallows humor: “Not enough seating? Prepare for a beating.”
I remembered that admittedly tasteless joke because (a) it rhymes and (b) it’s pretty violent and offensive, which makes it somewhat vivid. And honestly, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” hits the same notes.
Being catchy and being ominous are not mutually exclusive.
The White House retweeted it. Trump has many advisors. There is NO way this got past all of them without someone knowing what it meant.
No, Trump did this on purpose. The simplest explanation is the most likely.
You’re implying the existence of a filter on Trump’s public comments that, by all evidence, does not seem to exist.