We have been discussing the increasing political violence on the left. That includes a student who published a column recently on “when must we kill them?” I noted that such views are often reflections of the many extremists currently in teaching. That was evident this week in Maine, where English teacher JoAnna St. Germain of Waterville Senior High School called upon the Secret Service to kill Trump and his supporters.
On Tuesday, St., Germain called on Facebook for the Secret Service to “step up” and avoid a civil war by killing Trump and his supporters. She insisted that it would not constitute an assassination because Trump is not a legitimate president “duly elected by the American people.”
She explained that “If I had the skill set required, I would take them out myself.”
Whatever “skill set” St. Germain possess, sanity does not appear to be part of it.
St. Germain later responded to the shock of many that a teacher would be advocating murder, posting “People are quite angry with me for stating openly that Trump and his cronies need to die […] If you’re mad that I’m speaking truth to power? F**k you.”
She insisted that she was not advocating mass murder, but just serial killings, stressing that we should kill Trump and “those in the room with Trump, who are permitting and approving his egregious actions.”
As for those upset by such calls for violence, she supplied the names of the school superintendent and others who are her superiors, adding
I posted knowing I’d likely lose my job and benefits. I have zero shame about what I’ve said. I’m not backtracking a single thing.
I believe Trump and every sycophant he has surrounded himself with (this is not you – if you’re reading this, this doesn’t apply to you. You are beneath his notice and mine) needs to die.
I believe this with the same forceful belief that Hitler and his sycophants needed to die, before they murdered 6 million innocent Jewish persons.
St. Germain is not the first academic to use such language.
Indeed, some faculty members continue to make the news for violent political acts.
It is now common to hear inflammatory language from professors advocating “detonating white people,” denouncing police, calling for Republicans to suffer, strangling police officers, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters, supporting the murder of conservative protesters and other outrageous statements. One professor who declared that there is “nothing wrong” with such acts of violence as killing conservatives was actually promoted.
That is the culture that produces this type of extreme rhetoric among students. These faculty members have normalized violent speech.
Of course, some professors have gone further and committed acts of political violence. Such conduct should be prosecuted and those faculty members fired. However, even in those extreme cases, liberal faculty have often rallied around their colleagues.
Years ago, many of us were shocked by the conduct of University of Missouri communications professor Melissa Click who directed a mob against a student journalist covering a Black Lives Matter event. Yet, Click was hired by Gonzaga University. Since that time, we have seen a steady stream of professors joining students in shouting down, committing property damage, participating in riots, verbally attacking students, or even taking violent action in protests.
At the University of California Santa Barbara, professors actually rallied around feminist studies associate professor Mireille Miller-Young, who physically assaulted pro-life advocates and tore down their display. Despite pleading guilty to criminal assault, she was not fired and received overwhelming support from the students and faculty. She was later honored as a model for women advocates.
At Hunter College in New York, Professor Shellyne Rodríguez was shown trashing a pro-life display of students.
She was captured on a videotape telling the students that “you’re not educating s–t […] This is f–king propaganda. What are you going to do, like, anti-trans next? This is bulls–t. This is violent. You’re triggering my students.”
Unlike the professor, the students remained calm and respectful. One even said “sorry” to the accusation that being pro-life was triggering for her students.
Rodríguez continued to rave, stating, “No you’re not — because you can’t even have a f–king baby. So you don’t even know what that is. Get this s–t the f–k out of here.” In an Instagram post, she is then shown trashing the table.
Hunter College, however, did not consider this unhinged attack to be sufficient to terminate Rodríguez.
It was only after she later chased reporters with a machete that the college fired Rodríguez. She was then hired by another college.
Another example comes from the State University of New York at Albany, where sociology professor Renee Overdyke shut down a pro-life display and then resisted arrest. One student is heard screaming, “She’s a [expletive] professor.” That, of course, is the point.
After losing the last election, some on the left are turning to calls for violence or committing political violence. Ironically, they do so in the name of democracy. That is precisely why rage is so addictive and contagious. It gives you license to do things that you would ordinarily never do.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”