Yeah. We’re going to have to do better than this.

I think Maxine Waters is horrible, too, but death threat-horrible? Not at all. She has a right to her opinions and she should be able to speak freely, without fearing for her life.

A Los Angeles Trump minion took offense to Rep. Waters’ constant hammering of President Trump.

Welcome to politics.

Somewhere along the way, he got the impression that making death threats was the way our system is supposed to work.

From the Washington Examiner:

“If you continue to make threats toward the president, you’re going to wind up dead, Maxine, ’cause we’ll kill you,” Anthony Scott Lloyd, 44, said in the voicemail left in October, per an arrest affidavit cited by the Los Angeles Times.

The affidavit details how Lloyd became enraged when he heard an Oct. 22 report on talk radio about Waters criticizing President Trump.

I’m not sure what “we” he was referring to. Was he in a room full of people when he pulled off his grand stupid? Is he hearing voices? Did he have a mouse in his pocket?

Or, if we can follow the pattern of the 2016 election season, was he referring to the MAGA nation of Trump true believers, who are so swept up in their tribal fervor, that any perceived slight against dear leader is grounds for a death sentence?

In an interview with an FBI agent, Lloyd admitted to making the phone call but denied he had any intent to harm Waters.

Dude, you said: “You’re going to wind up dead,” and “we’ll kill you.”

That sounds like intent to harm, and given the ugly, violent nature our politics have taken on, nobody is going to take that kind of talk lightly. Are you that dumb?

Rhetorical question.

Waters has called for the impeachment of Trump several times, although it’s unlikely they have any solid grounds for beginning impeachment proceedings, at this time. Right now, it’s just wishful thinking, on the part of Democrats.

Here’s the thing: even if it was a true, active effort to have Trump removed, it still doesn’t warrant random citizens to threaten harm against any elected official. That’s just nuts! I’d go so far as to say that if Mr. Lloyd has so tenuous a grasp on his emotions, perhaps some time away from society, in order to get his priorities straight, would do him some good.

Lloyd was arrested on November 9, then released on a $20,000 bond.

He’s to be arraigned on December 7, and he’s staring down a potential 10 year federal stretch, all because he wanted to flex his MAGA muscles.

I won’t say this is the worst time for politics in America. There’s still a civil war in our history, where the nation ripped and separated, all because the people couldn’t agree.

We’ve seen several presidential assassinations and several more attempts.

Apparently, we’re not very good at keeping ourselves in check, so that’s all the more reason to take threats like that from Mr. Lloyd seriously. He attempted to intimidate a U.S. congresswoman. There will be consequences, as there should be. Our Constitution and the rule of law are the threads that are holding us together as a nation, right now. Nothing else, unfortunately, as it seems there is no unity of spirit or shared national pride.

And no, the MAGA crew are not the patriots. They’ve proven too many times over the last couple of years that the whole of their patriotism begins and ends with Trump. They’re not patriots, at all, but fans.

Patriots share common bonds, work for the good of their countrymen, and encourage debate. They don’t threaten violence against anybody for a difference of opinion, and certainly not in defense of a single person.

Unfortunately, at a time when we need them most, patriots seem in very short supply.