WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT: Off With Their Heads!

Illustration of execution by being hanged, drawn, and quartered

Do to the popularity of Mel Gibson's Academy Award winning film, Braveheart (1995), most people are familiar with the means of execution known as hanged, drawn, and quartered. The movie features a VERY sanitized version of the method being perpetrated on the film's hero, Scottish revolutionary, William Wallace (1270-1305).

In reality, it was the most gruesome of deaths that involved hanging to near death, emasculation, and disembowelment, before your head and limbs were mercifully struck from your body in front of a huge, roaring crowd. Victims were subject to even more torture BEFORE they met their horrific fates.

This hellish act was first used during the reign of King Henry III (1216-1272) to not simply punish those accused of treason but to annihilate them. This barbaric ritual was practiced in England well into the 18th Century when David Tyre became the last man executed in this manner in front of a crowd 100,000 in 1782. The death penalty for treason was all together abolished in the United Kingdom in 1998.

When I listen to President Trump hearken to the good ol' days when we treated spies differently than we do today, I can't help but think that in his black heart, given the option, he would re-institute this terrible punishment on any and all those who would stand in opposition of his leadership. He may not express this publicly but, in his soul, I believe that he would do it - and, not even think twice about doing so.

This accusation may sound far-fetched but I hold fast to my assertion. Partially, because I believe that he is not the only one that feels that way! There is a faction in this Country, led by the President, that believes in ruling with an iron fist and crushing those in opposition. He gives voice to them on nearly a daily basis. The spike in violent hate crimes during Mr. Trump's tenure, especially in areas where he has held rallies, is ample evidence of where his sentiments lie.*

The latest scandal involving the President is a classic example. I have visions of him, storming around the White House, red-faced, veins in his neck popping, raging against those HE believes (i.e. The Whistleblower) committed treason against him, screaming OFF WITH THEIR HEADS, simply for trying to protect the Country from an egoistic, self-serving, bilious, bellicose brute. And, suddenly, it's the 13th Century once again.

Of course, the chances of this happening are virtually non-existent. Hopefully, we have enough safe guards in place to prevent this type of barbarity from every happening again. However, the impetus to control the opposition by eliciting that type of terror in them is very much alive in this President AND his minions.

We, the People, must not accept this. And, we can send a clear message to that effect come November. 

F LoBuono

*https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-campaign-rally-hate-crimes-study-maga-2019-3