Anyone in government who has is willing to utter something along the lines of what Trump said about due process has no place in government. Add in his statements about China's new "President for Life" being something "maybe we should try here sometime," and we are approaching a very dangerous point.
If the current President had a (D) next to their name instead of an (R), very few on this forum would be willing to say it was "tactic," "strategy," or "speaking off the cuff." Rather I think there'd be some VERY concerned discussions about maybe we are about to enter a period where the 2nd amendment serves what many of us feel it exists to do, prevent us from facing a tyrannical government bent on depriving us of our rights and liberties. He should not get a free pass because he allegedly is (R) and allegedly is pro-gun. We would NEVER give another person in the political system the benefit of the doubt, if they said due process to take our arms was unnecessary.
Even if the statements above are in fact wily attempts at misdirection, they go against core concepts of American culture and government and are not acceptable. If they are uttered today with no consequence (particularly from those who should be yelling the loudest) they will begin to become the new normal as they are repeated over and over again. Maybe not today or tomorrow, and it make take a couple of decades, but there will be a continual thread of due process being non-important and non-central the American legal system. The idea of electoral terms getting longer and longer, and term limits going away will be tossed around. This leads to a very dark place. I for one have no desire to go there, and no tolerance for those who are willing to take American ideals central to our legal system, government, and culture and throw them into the dust for political purposes. We have castigated, rallied, protested, and vilified those who have said far less from a position of far less power, yet we are willing to give a pass now?
I have contacted my elected officials including my state legislators, governor, senators, and representatives, with a slightly longer and personally directed version of the above.
-Jenrick