A threat too far - NRA attack on newspaper

HIS presidency is barely eight months old but in that short time some of Donald Trump’s performances have been so bizarre, so unhinged, that many of those who care for democracy have decided to look away, to hope that this strange episode will pass quickly and that America will, at the first opportunity, elect a competent, sane leader, be they Republican or Democrat.

That spare-our-blushes disengagement is no longer possible it seems. President Trump’s excesses have encouraged extremists that would, in most European countries, be considered dangerous blowhards veering towards sedition.

The latest of these interventions comes from the largest gun lobby in the US, the National Rifle Association. That powerful organisation’s spokeswoman Dana Loesch, has, in a thinly veiled threat against The New York Times warned the newspaper that the NRA was “coming for” it.

Even by President Trump’s standards, this is a step too far and he should condemn it. That he is unlikely to, shows how very dangerous the situation has become.