The Irish magazine The Village is facing controversy after it ran a cover story about whether assassinating Trump would be morally justifiable, along with an image of Trump’s head in crosshairs.
Under the title “Why Not,” the article says: “We have one of the worst men in the most powerful position, one where he can do damage to millions, to billions, to the planet. … So perhaps the solution is tyrannicide. As he might say himself – ‘take him out.’”
After weighing the supposed pros and cons of killing Trump, The Village ultimately concludes that assassination would not be the right solution, asking readers to instead use democratic methods to oppose the new president.
The Village was met with immediate backlash over the piece, which it defended. The article was not an incitement to violence, the editor told Guns, but rather a discussion of why assassination would be wrong.
Michael Smith, the editor of The Village, tells Heat Street by email that he wanted to start a debate “about how fascists need to be treated differently from merely regressive or objectionable [politicians], and about whether Trump will turn out to be a fascist.”
Referencing Nazi Germany, Smith continued: “Wherever fascism threatens, there will be debate about whether democratic institutions are robust enough to pre-empt it, or whether violence could ever be justified against it. We surmise they will be robust enough in the U.S> and that assassination or any violence would be unethical.”
