Politics has always been a sullied business. Already at the fall of the Roman Republic, Mark Antony responded to Marcus Tullius Cicero’s “Philippian” speeches, in which Cicero called Antony by every Latin name in the book, by sending soldiers to kill Cicero. When the soldiers arrived at Cicero’s estate, he accepted his fate; The Roman historian Aufidius Bassus tells us that Cicero told them:
But I’m standing. Step forward, veteran, and cut his neck if you can at least do it right. (I won’t go any further: step forward, experienced soldier, and, if you can do at least this much right, cut off that neck.)
The neck was severed and Cicero’s head and hands were nailed to the rostra in the Forum on Antony’s orders. to encourage others.
These days, politics isn’t quite so openly brutal – usually. But on Sunday we learned that a former political opponent of Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Republican challenger William Braddock, is being indicted allegedly trying to hire a hit squad.
A former one Congressional candidate was indicted on allegations that he threatened to send a hit squad to assassinate his political opponent while he was running against him Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.)
William Braddock, 41, of St. Petersburg, Florida accused of making the alleged threats on June 8, 2021 – including one in which he threatened to “call my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” to eliminate his rival.
Prosecutors did not immediately name the victim, but at the time he was competing with fellow Republican Luna and was allegedly caught in an audio recording calling the lawmaker a “dead squirrel” and “having a speed limit on the road.”
Seems pretty obvious who the target should be, doesn’t it? Braddock was apparently recorded by an activist:
A conservative activist recorded Braddock making a chilling threat against the Sunshine State’s future representative.
“I really don’t want to have to end anyone’s life for the sake of the people of the United States of America,” he was heard saying in the audio recording reported by Politico.
“This will break my heart. But if it has to be done, it has to be done. Luna hits a speed bump in the road. She’s a dead squirrel that you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.”
Not the kind of political rhetoric we need in this country right now.
See related: Adam Schiff faces a $16 million fine for spreading Russia collusion hoaxes
Anna Paulina Luna fires the first shot and files a resolution to remove Adam Schiff from Congress
Luckily for Rep. Luna, hit squads don’t just stand around on street corners, unless you’re standing on a street corner in Beirut or Caracas. It is unclear exactly how the case against Braddock developed, other than that he fled to the Philippines and was there deported to the USA to face charges thereand if convicted, his share could be five years in the Crossbar Hilton, which seems a little too amateurish for an attempt to kill a member of the United States House of Representatives. However, according to the article linked above, Rep. Luna has also received a “very serious shooting threat,” and of course in the last few months we have seen not one, but two assassination attempts on a former President of the United States.
In fact, both Democrats and Republicans need to curb their hateful discourse. Things start to get out of control.
Update: This article was updated after publication to reflect that Braddock was a Republican challenger to Rep. Luna.
