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Outside of dystopian fiction or an extraordinarily repressive regime, it’s almost impossible to imagine that a presidential candidate would call for government-sanctioned violence against its own citizens. But that’s exactly what Donald Trump did last Sunday.
It’s hard to imagine, too, that a major American political party would fall silent in response to such atrocious rhetoric. But that is what the Republican party is doing under Mr. Trump’s iron-fisted leadership.
At a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Mr. Trump got onto the topic of retail theft, and complained that police aren’t able to do their jobs, whatever that means. He offered that what’s needed is “one violent day,” implying that the time would be used for police or vigilantes to beat up people caught shoplifting.
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“You know, if you had one day, like one real rough, nasty day," he said, or “one rough hour, and I mean real rough, the word will get out and it will end immediately.”
His campaign doubled down, telling........