Celebrated left-wing writers, a professor and a TV host are among famous faces to call for a violent response if Donald Trump succeeds in securing a replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
The Supreme Court justice, who died on Friday at the age of 87, left as her dying wish not to be replaced until after the November presidential election.
However, both Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority leader, and President Trump have said they intend to replace her with a conservative of their choosing as soon as possible.
McConnell’s control of the Senate all but ensures Trump’s choice will be approved to the lifetime position if a vote is held.
Reza Aslan, a religious scholar and former CNN host, tweeted to his 293,000 followers: ‘If they even TRY to replace RBG we burn the entire f****** thing down.’
Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s death on Friday saw critics of the president to call for arson and riots
Reza Aslan said: : ‘If they even TRY to replace RBG we burn the entire f****** thing down’
Aslan told his almost 300,000 followers to prepare themselves for unrest
Aslan’s documentary, Believer, exploring world religions, was canceled by CNN in 2017 after Aslan called Trump a piece of excrement, using an expletive, in June 2017.
Beau Willimon, a screenwriter who produced the U.S. version of House of Cards and the president of the Writers Guild of America, East, told his 164,000 followers: We’re shutting this country down if Trump and McConnell try to ram through an appointment before the election.’
Another writer predicted riots.
‘If McConnell jams someone through, which he will, there will be riots,’ said Laura Bassett, a political journalist writing for GQ and the Washington Post.
Author Aaron Gouveia, whose latest book is about toxic masculinity, tweeted: ‘F*** no. Burn it all down.’
And a professor of political science repeated calls for arson attacks on Congress.
Emmett Macfarlane, who teaches at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, tweeted: ‘Burn Congress down before letting Trump try to appoint anyone to SCOTUS.’
Beau Willimon, celebrated screenwriter, was among those calling for violent unrest
Willimon said he and his followers would be ‘shutting this country down’ if RBG was replaced
Author Aaron Gouveia tweeted, in response to a swift replacement: ‘F*** no. Burn it all down’
Gouveia made his disapproval of plans to replace RBG before November clear
Ginsberg’s dying wish was to not have the battle to replace her play out before the election
A member of the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, responsible for administering state laws regarding campaign finance, ethics and lobbying, echoed the urging for violence.
When Ed Markey, senate candidate for Massachusetts, said that McConnell should not nominate a replacement in an election year, Scot Ross tweeted: ‘F****** A, Ed. If you can’t shut it down, burn it down.’
On Saturday morning Trump said that he would seek to nominate a replacement for Ginsburg ‘without delay’.
‘We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices. We have this obligation, without delay!’ Trump tweeted on Saturday morning from the White House.
Emmett Macfarlane, who teaches at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, tweeted: ‘Burn Congress down before letting Trump try to appoint anyone to SCOTUS’
The tweet was addressed to the Republican Party’s main account, in an apparent rallying cry to the party to move forward to confirm his nominee in the Senate before the November 3 election.
Trump also retweeted a comment noting that the Senate filibuster for judicial nominees had first been abolished by former Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, eliminating the 60-vote super-majority once needed to confirm federal justices.
‘Thank you Harry!’ commented Trump.
In November 2013, Senate Democrats led by Reid used the so-called ‘nuclear option’ to eliminate the 60-vote rule on federal judicial appointments, but not for the Supreme Court. In 2017, the Republican majority in the Senate extended the nuclear option to the Supreme Court to confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch.
The professor urged arson as a response
Trump had retweeted a former Obama administration official who wrote: ‘Harry Reid will go down in history for having handed the court to conservatives when he took the first step toward eliminating the 60-vote requirement for confirmation.’
McConnell has vowed that Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the Senate floor, but in a letter to his caucus on Friday he urged Republicans: ‘keep your powder dry.’
‘Over the coming days, we are all going to come under tremendous pressure from the press to announce how we will handle the coming nomination,’ he wrote in the letter addressed, ‘Dear Colleagues.’
‘For those of you who are unsure how to answer, or for those inclined to oppose giving a nominee a vote, I urge you all to keep your powder dry,’ McConnell wrote.
‘This is not the time to prematurely lock yourselves into a position you may later regret.’
Ross, a member of the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, made his feelings clear