title:  GOP Official Was Just ‘Emotional’ When He Said Clinton ‘Should Be Hanging From A Tree’
text: It s almost pathetic how quickly and easily our frenemies on the Right jump to hanging people whenever they don t like them. Recently, a West Virginia lawmaker made national headlines when he said the former First Lady hung on the mall in Washington, D.C. Michael Folk, who also worked as a pilot for United Airlines, was suspended indefinitely after his words circulated and his employer was notified. But this sort of thinking, this violent desire to kill one s political enemies, is almost the norm in the GOP.Not only do we hear chants calling for Clinton s arrest and execution at GOP rallies (and even at the convention), but this sort of ugliness rears its head even in local politics. An Ohio lawmaker is under fire after he called for Clinton s execution   not because she has actually committed a crime   but just because he wants her dead.Licking County Commissioner Duane Flowers (R-epugnant), stood in a meeting of the board of commissioners and shared his thoughts Clinton Tuesday. Disgusted that the nation criticized Melania Trump for blatantly stealing part of Michelle Obama s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech, Flowers said that people should be focusing on hanging Hillary. During the meeting, he blurted out:Later in the day, after the criticism began to mount, he sad he regretted the remarks he made while  emotional. I got caught up in an emotional moment,  Flowers said.  She just totally makes my mind want to pop out of my ears. I really can t believe she s running for president. I m convinced 30 years ago, she d been locked up for life. I truly believe she has become above the law,  he added.  That s how far our system has fallen. Clinton, of course, has committed no crimes and the ones of which Republicans say she is guilty would not carry the death penalty (most of them, anyway). Unfortunately, Flowers seems to be a victim of right-wing media s incessant insistence that Clinton is a murderer and many other things she is not. As a Republican, Flowers has no choice given his mindset but to decide she should be dead.Fellow Republican and president of the board, Commissioner Tim Bubb, jumped in to defend Flowers after the remarks went public, saying that his buddy shouldn t be judged for publicly calling for the death of a high-profile political figure. I think he was on a rant and kind of venting,  Bubb said.  He sometimes wears his emotions on his sleeve. I hope you don t characterize it as that s all he is. There s a lot more to him than that. He s a good county commissioner.  Besides, he didn t mean for the public to find out about what he d said, Bubb explains: I don t think Duane meant it to be a statement on the record. We re fairly conversational, but it is a public session. We re not necessarily making statements for the greater world. Technically, we re in public session, and I guess anything you say is a public comment. People get caught up in this  R  versus  D  and blue versus red, and we should probably try to avoid that in public session and on the record,  Bubb said.  Every public official has to decide what they want to say. Unfortunately, contrary to these assertions, this sort of thing is normal for Republicans and the remarks are typically meant for the world to hear. They use statements like this to energize their rage-fueled base, to bring in votes, to keep the divide between Americans going as much as possible. Because the reality is that they depend on this sort of thing to get elected. It s simply what works with their base   and, unfortunately, the very people who want to murder someone when they get  emotional  are the ones who want to remove restrictions on gun sales.Think about that.Featured image via Licking County official website/Getty Images (Ethan Miller)