A Brief History
On August 18, 2017, we learned of Missouri State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal, Democrat from Union City, made the idiotic statement, “I hope Trump is assassinated!” on Facebook on August 16, 2017. An African American woman, Chappelle-Nadal has refused demands that she resign. Although the Facebook conversation was removed, Chappelle-Nadal reiterated the comment in an interview with the Post-Dispatch.
Digging Deeper
Needless to say, the Secret Service is aware of the post and reported interview and will be detailing the St. Louis office to look into the matter.
Now claiming that she spoke out of “frustration” and “didn’t mean it,” Chapelle-Nadal so far is declining the demand by the Missouri Democratic Chairman and US Senator Claire McCaskill to resign, as have numerous Americans in various online petitions at here, here, here, etc.
We at History and Headlines call for the immediate resignation of State Senator Chappelle-Nadal and her prosecution if probable cause is found that she made this statement. Seriously, this offense is not something we can just write off as trash talk; this statement is going too far. Regardless of your political views (we trash Donald Trump mercilessly at times) it is so far outside the acceptable political behavior in a democracy that action must be swift and sure. I do not know what the Federal statute consists of for threatening a Government official or a President, but in Ohio normal people can be prosecuted for “Aggravated Menacing” for knowingly causing another to believe the actor would cause serious bodily harm or death to the victim. Even if it is unlikely, if the victim believes the threat may be real, there is a crime involved.
The recent violence in Charlottesville and the terror attack in Barcelona, Spain within the past few days brings home just how important it is that violence is disavowed by all reasonable people, and that all reasonable people demand punishment for those who violate laws violently or with the threat of violence. Maria Chappelle-Nadal must go! And along with her, any other politician that does not understand the basis of our democracy means non-violent participation.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What are your thoughts on this subject?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Martinez, J. Michael. Political Assassinations and Attempts in US History: The Lasting Effects of Gun Violence Against American Political Leaders. Carrel Books, 2017.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by KOMUnews of Sen. Maria Chapelle-Nadal speaking to the press at a conference on Monday, March 4, 2013 in Jefferson City, Mo., is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. This image, originally posted to Flickr, was reviewed on by the administrator or reviewer Leoboudv, who confirmed that it was available on Flickr under the stated license on that date.
