Wishing death on Trump is not progressive

The social-media response to Trump getting Covid has been ghoulish.

spiked

Topics Covid-19 Politics USA

Want to read spiked ad-free? Become a spiked supporter.

As soon as Donald Trump tested positive for Covid-19, the ghouls started celebrating.

Actor Dominic West, famous for his roles in The Wire and Game of Thrones, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that he ‘leap[ed] in the air with joy’ when he heard the news. He added, ‘what goes around comes around’, implying Trump deserves his illness.

The hacking group Anonymous gracefully tweeted, ‘Zero sympathy and zero f*uck for Trump. He is murderer of 200k+ people’ (sic).

Meanwhile, Zara Rahim, a former national spokesperson for the Hillary Clinton campaign, said in a since-deleted tweet, ‘I hope he dies’.

No social-media hate fest would be complete without a contribution from Carole Cadwalladr. The Observer’s chief conspiracy theorist warned Trump would use his illness as an excuse to ‘tear up key functions of the state’.

These responses are perverse, but not surprising. Trump is constantly talked about as a uniquely evil man – supposedly far worse than any politician in living memory – and so the normal rules of human civility apparently do not apply to him. Trump is seen not as a political opponent to be defeated at the ballot box, but as an enemy to be snuffed out. This is not healthy in a democracy.

Picture by: Getty.

Help us hit our 1% target

spiked is funded by you. It’s your generosity that keeps us going and growing.

Only 0.1% of our regular readers currently donate to spiked. If you are one of the 99.9% who appreciates what we do, but hasn’t given just yet, please consider making a donation today.

If just 1% of our loyal readers donated regularly, it would be transformative for us, allowing us to vastly expand our team and coverage.

Plus, if you donate £5 a month or £50 a year, you can join and enjoy:

–Ad-free reading
–Exclusive bonus content
–Regular events
–Access to our comments section

The most impactful way to support spiked’s journalism is by registering as a supporter and making a monthly contribution. Thank you.

Please wait...

Comments

Want to join the conversation?

Only spiked supporters and patrons, who donate regularly to us, can comment on our articles.

Join today