The Washington Post has a troubling story up, published yesterday afternoon.

It is about Donald Trump, of course, because he is their bête noire, and they can’t resist taking a shot at him whenever possible.

But this time I am with them. I have been willing to defend the former president against most accusations because I thought they were bunk. Usually exaggerations of something very Trumpian, or inventions such as Russiagate. And while I am no fan of how Trump expresses himself, I think most accusations hurled against him are based upon nothing more than emotional reactions to Trump’s offending them.

But this? Sorry, I am not going there.

So what is the sin Trump has committed? He endorsed this sentiment that was posted on Truth Social, sharing it with all his followers:

I am not a user of Truth Social, so I can’t follow the thread, but apparently, the discussion was about attempts to disqualify the former president from running in 2024.

Like the poster, I oppose such efforts for a variety of reasons. First of all, it’s likely unconstitutional. It’s not even clear if Trump could be kept off the ballot if he were convicted of a crime. He couldn’t vote for himself, but he likely could run and win if he got enough votes. I suspect the courts would back him up on that.

But there is a deeper reason than mere legality: politicians should not get into the business of deciding whom the voters should be allowed to vote for, outside the basic requirements laid out clearly in the law. Alcee Hastings was impeached as a federal judge and subsequently won a seat in Congress. That sucks, but it should be legal because his constituents chose him.

But I can’t and won’t defend this. How could I?

Discussing a hypothetical effort to disqualify Trump from office, the user said anyone behind such an effort “will have to figure out how to fight 80,000,000 + it’s not going to happen again.”

“People my age and old will physically fight for him this time,” the user said. “What we got to lose ? I’ll donate the rest of my time here on this planet to do it. And I know many many others who feel the same. They got my 6 and we Are Locked and LOADED.”

I have argued many times that January 6th was a riot, not an insurrection. I did earlier this week and I stand by that assessment.

But this literally is a call for insurrection. It is likely hyperbole from an overly excitable person who would not follow through, but sharing the idea by spreading the message to millions of people without comment is pretty much an endorsement of the sentiment.

Trump is a leader. He wants to be an even bigger, more important leader again. This isn’t a direction a leader should be encouraging people to march towards.

Unlike many of Trump’s previous allusions to political violence, this one contains no real ambiguity or dual meaning that could be exploited for plausible deniability. It was a straight-up assurance that Trump supporters will “physically” fight for him, en masse.

How do I disagree with this analysis? I don’t disagree. That is what it looks like to me, and it certainly would look that way to millions of other people.

Does “re-Truthing” necessarily mean endorsement? I suppose not. But Trump certainly is spreading this idea without comment, and certainly not tamping down on the sentiment. He is amplifying it, since I would assume that Trump would have a few more followers than FREETX1776.

Just a guess on that last part, but it seems plausible.

Trump has always had a gift for hyperbole and has used it freely. But this feels a lot different than his normal musings that outrage the Left so much. There is no need to read into it some nefarious intent–it’s right there in the plain text.

Am I overreacting? I don’t think so. Even if there is some explanation that exonerates Trump from his association with this, he is requiring his supporters to give involved defenses to people who can read the plain text themselves. Requiring 4D glasses to discern the “real meaning” of a statement that has a clear meaning on its face is just wrong.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you are a VIP you can comment below.