Why It's Important to Talk About Trump's "ROT IN HELL" Christmas Message

I've been working as a professional journalist for quite a few years now, so I feel I can say with some authenticity that a peculiar thing happens this time of year: the news "slows down." That isn't to say that newsworthy stories aren't happening, but rather that there are fewer printings of these stories, or less attention given to them, than in other parts of the year.

This is due to several reasons, including the fact that many journalists (like other workers) take off time during this part of the year. There is also less demand for the types of stories that are more popular at other times of the year, particularly political stories, which I believe happens because we have a desire to be less political overall when we're with family or loved ones during the holidays.

So when a presidential candidate, indeed the likely nominee for the Republican Party in the 2024 election, delivers a Christmas message in which he tells his political opponents to "rot in hell," it might go unnoticed.

That's exactly what Donald Trump did over the weekend.

On Christmas Day, Trump wrote on his fledgling Truth Social site, "Merry Christmas to all, including Crooked Joe Biden’s ONLY HOPE, Deranged Jack Smith," adding that the special counsel charged with overseeing Trump's federal investigations is an "out of control Lunatic" and engaged in a "poorly executed WITCH HUNT against 'TRUMP' and 'MAGA.'"

Trump went on, writing that his Christmas "wishes" went out also to:

Included also are World Leaders, both good and bad, but none of which are as evil and “sick” as the THUGS we have inside our Country who, with their Open Borders, INFLATION, Afghanistan Surrender, Green New Scam, High Taxes, No Energy Independence, Woke Military, Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Iran, All Electric Car Lunacy, and so much more, are looking to destroy our once great USA.

"MAY THEY ROT IN HELL," Trump added in all caps. "AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

It's very dangerous to ignore this rhetoric, to normalize it as a person's regular outburst, because the action itself is irregular and should be rejected outright. We wouldn't let our family members talk like this at Christmas dinner, and we certainly shouldn't encourage or celebrate political leaders who do it, either. It should, simply put, be disqualifying in the minds of voters.

But mostly, it should be talked about at great lengths because the demonization of the political "other" in American society is causing huge and lasting rifts, resulting in violence and talk of "national divorce" from the right that would, if followed through, result in the denial of long-recognized human rights that generations of Americans have fought for.

Donald Trump is a straight-up fascist who speaks like Hitler and will enact draconian measures if given the chance to. We know this because he's told us so. We should believe him.

One final thought on this: Anyone who uses the birth of Christ to issue a message of hate is clearly trying to weaponize religion in order to achieve his own fascist-nationalistic ends. With just 11 months until the presidential election, it's far past time we start talking about this more regularly.

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr
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