Politics has always been a dirty business. As far back as the fall of the Roman Republic, Mark Antony replied to Marcus Tullius Cicero’s “Philippics” speeches, in which Cicero called Antony 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 Cicero told them:
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Ego vero consisto. Accede, veterane, et, si hoc saltim potes recte facere, incide cervicem. (I go no further: approach, veteran soldier, and, if you can at least do so much properly, sever this neck.)
Neck was severed, and Cicero’s head and hands, at Antony’s order ended up nailed to the Rostra in the Forum, pour encourager les autres.
Politics today isn’t quite so openly brutal – usually. But on Sunday, we learned that a former political opponent of Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Republican challenger William Braddock, is facing charges for allegedly trying to hire a hit squad.
A former congressional candidate was charged over allegations that he threatened to dispatch a hit squad to murder his political opponent while he was running against Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.)
William Braddock, 41, of St. Petersburg, Fla. is accused of making the alleged threats on June 8, 2021 — including one where he threatened to “call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” to take out his rival.
Prosecutors did not outright name the victim, but at the time, he was vying against fellow Republican Luna and he was allegedly caught on audio calling the lawmaker a “dead squirrel” and “a f—ing speed bump in the road.”
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Seems pretty obvious who the target was intended to be, doesn’t it? Braddock was, it seems, recorded by an activist:
A conservative activist had recorded Braddock making a chilling threat against the future Sunshine State rep.
“I really don’t want to have to end anybody’s life for the good of the people of the United States of America,” he was heard saying in the audio, which was reported by Politico.
“That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a f—ing speed bump in the road. She’s a dead squirrel 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 $16 Million Fine for Spreading Russia Collusion Hoax
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Fortunately for Rep. Luna, hit squads aren’t something one can find just standing around on street corners unless you’re on a street corner in Beirut or Caracas. It’s unclear as to precisely how the case against Braddock developed, other than that he fled to the Philippines and was deported to the U.S. to face charges, and if convicted, his portion could be five years in the crossbar Hilton, which seems a little on the light side for seeking to put the hit on a member of the United States House of Representatives. But Representative Luna has also, according to the article linked above, received a “very serious shooting threat” and, of course, we have in recent months seen not one but two attempts to assassinate a former president of the United States.
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Really, both Democrats and Republicans need to tamp down their hateful discourse. Things are beginning to get out of hand.
Update: This article has been updated post-publication to reflect that Braddock was a Republican challenger to Rep. Luna.