Lt. Col. Vindman Requires Protection Because

[MineralMan]

Trump supporters have been encouraged to post death threads openly against anyone who opposes anything Trump supports. You see them in news story comment areas, on Twitter, and everywhere people are allowed to comment. The instant someone opposes Trump or his corrupt policies, Trump's followers post anonymous death threats. That's just what they do. The goal, of course, is intimidation, and it works far more often than it should.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. My guess is,the Russian Bot Network

kicked in in a major way. As far as those threats go,yes,they seem to be darn organized. The Militia and Nazi groups are ready to go and take down their hero's enemies at the drop of a hat.

[MineralMan]

3. I don't know about Russian bots. The crap I'm talking about is

clearly written by people who are US citizens of poor education. They read like the signs held by right-wingers everywhere.

The "death threat movement" isn't a Russian-sponsored thing. It's pure right-wing crap.

[Wellstone ruled]

7. Your people of poor education is spot on.

Ignorance is Bliss!

[Dream Girl]

2. And Twitter enables this.

[MineralMan]

5. It's not just Twitter, by any means.

Anywhere people post anonymously (or so they think) contains this kind of garbage. A lot of news sources now require people to sign on using their Facebook or other accounts. Unfortunately, Facebook stopped caring if you're using your actual name long ago. Probably a majority of Facebook accounts are attempts at anonymity.

[Dream Girl]

8. What I meant was Trumps directives via Twitter

He’s going to get someone killed

[MineralMan]

9. Yes. Trump's tweets are his way of signaling the angry idiots.

[Dream Girl]

17. They should delete his account. If someone gets killed/hurt, from his Tweets they should go after

Twitter...they've had ample notice of the impact and danger of his Tweets. guess the money is too good...

[MineralMan]

18. Trump attracts readers. Readers click ads. Twitter makes money.

Therefore, Trump is welcome to tweet as much as he wants.

It's a simple equation.

[2naSalit]

4. Internet terrorists...nt

[MineralMan]

6. They are that, but they operate with impunity.

That's regrettable.

[FM123]

10. You are so right.

The trump supporters have been encouraged to go after his "enemies" mostly online but even in person. That nut Cesar Sayoc who sent mail bombs to everyone was found (and arrested) at a local shopping center in my county.

[MineralMan]

12. People who make credible threats or actually do something

are not wanted by the Trump agitators. Only those who threaten without intent to act are wanted.

A man was recently arrested in Rochester, New York for making a threat against Ilhan Omar. If the threats are credible, arrests are made. There are limits, and those arrests send out a signal about such limits.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

11. Let's hope a sizable quantity of these fools go to jail.

I'm betting the U.S. military does not take threats to it's personnel lightly and they will be investigating or insist (with a heavy hand) the FBI investigate these threats. I don't know what the protocols are in this situation.

After all, our military does have very privileged access to the U.S. intelligence system.......

Threatening a soldier would be one of the most stupid things a person could do.

[MineralMan]

13. Yes. There will probably be some arrests.

Credible threats, or threats against public figures often lead to such arrests. Threats that are vague or directed toward unknown or minor characters are ignored. That way, it can be claimed that death threats will lead to prosecution, but such arrests and prosecution are applied very selectively.

The goal with Vindman was to get publicity for a need for protection for him. That could easily inhibit others who might be tempted to speak out. Vindman will probably never be attacked, but the news stories are "pour discourager les autres," more or less.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

16. I would just like to see a large bunch of them scared absolutely shitless.....

with fear the FBI may come knocking.

Probably a tiny percentage of these fools would dare move to carry out a threat but by virtue of their rhetoric, they inflame the wildest emotions of those psychopaths that would take action and so are accessories in a sense.

A more clear message must be sent that there are consequences to these caustic actions........

[gratuitous]

14. The Pentagon has determined that the President is a domestic terrorist

It's pretty obvious that that is the case. A decorated war veteran is at risk for his life and that of his family because the President is issuing a fatwa against him. Remember when conservatives alleged that liberals hated the troops because liberals didn't want military personnel wasting their lives on wild goose chases cooked up by the Bush administration? I don't hear nearly so much of that "support the troops" mumbojumbo anent Lieutenant Colonel Vindman. I wonder why?

[MineralMan]

15. Could be. Trump doesn't actually have 100% support from the military at all.

They will protect Lt. Col. Vindman, which won't be very difficult, really. Threats against him were primarily made to discourage others from speaking out. Threats are often used strategically, but are not really meant to be carried out.

[DBoon]

19. Given Trump's connections to organized crime

It would not surprise me if some of the better crafted, more frightening threats came from them