'Use such comments as a threat'? Where's the threat? A prediction?  Yes. But no threat.

Sometimes those who predict one dire consequence or another end up guaranteeing it. A red rag to a bull. Hence my claim of self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you hadn't made such a pessimistic comment, I probably wouldn't have replied. But your words proved irresistible to me (even though that wasn't your intention).

And I don't hate anyone, but I do loathe pretension. I find those knights of one luminary or another, pretentious to the point of tears.

By the way, I come from neither political direction, but from the heart. (Yeah, I know that sounds pretentious (cheesy, too), but it's true, all the same.